Доклад: Welsh traditional music

Орехово-Зуевский Государственный Педагогический Институт

Кафедра английского языка

Реферат по страноведению на тему:

Welsh traditional music

Выполнила студентка

5 курса 502а группы

английского отделения

Андрианова Т.В.

Преподаватель:

Абульханов Р.А.

Орехово-Зуево

2002

Contents:

1. The peculiarities of folk music in Wales...............3

2. Plethyn............................6

3. Boys of the Lough......................7

4. Rag Foundation........................8

5.

Fernhill............................9

6. The renaissance of Welsh

traditional music.............12

1.The peculiarities of folk music in Wales

Wales is the only Celtic nation with a completely unbroken tradition of harp

music, where the music, technique, and style have been passed down orally from

harper to harper over the centuries. Wales is best known for its large-ensemble

choral singing. But this principality lying along Britain's southwestern shore

also has a proud Celtic tradition of smaller, more tightly knit bands that

perform native instrumentals and folk songs. Wales is a land of song, sung

either by male voice choirs or crowds at rugby matches. But there has been

singing of all manner of songs in all manner of places, from the Canu'r

Pwnc chanting of scripture in chapel to the scurrilous rhymes sung in pubs.

All that is commonly known about Welsh poetry is that it comes in forms of

mind-boggling complexity. But there is a great variety of metre and tone. Bands

such as Pigyn Clust are mining these veins in new and startling ways,

juxtaposing melodies, and verse forms.

In Ireland and Scotland, because traditional music is better established, the

orthodoxies too are stronger. While musicians improve technically - and there

are some phenomenally accomplished players and singers - there is little

innovation, beyond often misguided collaborations with musicians from

incompatible traditions. If the Chieftains finally stopped coming to town

then a similar band playing similar music would soon fill the vacuum -

Lunasa, for instance. Should Aly Bain, the Boys of the Lough's fiddler, lay

down his bow then Catriona MacDonald would step in.

But in Wales musicians are rediscovering, recreating and reinterpreting their

traditional music, which is crucial to the development of their culture. Of

all the Celtic countries it is Wales where the traditional music is most

interesting and most vital.

The bardic and eisteddfod traditions have long dominated Welsh music and,

partly as a result, the Celtic music boom which propelled Irish, Scots,

Breton and even Galician music into the international spotlight, somehow left

Wales behind. Several excellent artists have made inroads through the years,

notably the harp-playing brothers Dafydd and Gwyndaf Roberts of Ar Log, the

singer/harpist Sian James, 70s group Plethyn and fiery dance band Calennig.

The Welsh have a drastically different style of playing, largely due to the

nature of the music itself. Their music is ornamented through theme and

variation, a more classical style, rather than through the sort of

ornamentation heard in Scottish and Irish music. Due to this love of Baroque-

like style, the Welsh adopted the triple harp as their national instrument,

taking advantage of the three rows of strings to play a wide variety of

variations on traditional Welsh melodies. (Triple-strung harps have two

diatonic rows on either side, and a row of accidentals up the middle, which

the harper plays by reaching between the outer strings to play).

The harp is of course the instrument most closely identified with Wales. But

though it's accorded the highest respect there, the fiddle and the accordion

are perhaps embraced with greater affection. CDs sampling the traditions of

both have recently been released, but for many listeners these will be

introductions rather than surveys. The squeezebox anthology Megin

(bellows) is especially good. The range of repertoire, and even instruments, is

remarkable, from the robust melodeon dance music of Meg and Neil Browning from

North Wales to John Morgan (clearly influenced by harp players) whose duet

concertina combines the gravitas of a church organ with the delicacy of a

flute. The inclusive nature of this selection is significant too; players from

the south-eastern, urban, (post-) industrial region rub shoulders with those

from the Marches, the rural and largely English-speaking area running along the

border. It even includes the Brecon Hornpipe and Dic y Cymro

played by John Kirkpatrick - the most famous of English box players who lives on

the eastern side, in Shropshire. So the CD draws on and expresses the complex

reality and the richness of Wales, recognising that music will not be confined

by city nor countryside, language nor national boundary.

Those instrumental traditions were not well known, and the fiddle certainly

suffered in the religious revivals of the 19th century, when many were

burned. But at least they did not disappear completely. The bray harp, the

instrument of medieval bards, then the peasants of South Wales, and bagpipes

- of which there were various local kinds - were not so fortunate. Tunes and

references to players remain and in recent years Ceri Rhys Matthews and

Jonathan Shorland have recreated bagpipes and researched their repertoires,

while William Taylor has reconstructed the smaller bray harp. Such

enterprises are academically fraught, but musically very exciting. That there

are no masters from whom to learn the nuances of phrasing, accent and the

trick of grace-notes - those details of performance which distinguish

traditional music - is a grave loss, but it does give the contemporary

musician enviable freedom.

Ned Thomas had noted in his revelatory book The Welsh Extremist that

'when two Welsh speakers meet the topic of conversation is the state of the

language'. What Welsh traditional music was played tended to serve the cause of

a culture in crisis, rather than express it. So like a cramped toenail, it grew

inward. "Between about 1980 and 1990 there was almost no awareness of what was

going on elsewhere," a Welsh musician recently told me. "Wales became Albania."

In modern times a whole gamut of outstanding bands are making their presence

felt, including The Kilbride Brothers, Rag Foundation, Aberjaber and folk-

rock band Blue Horses, Fernhill.

2. Plethyn

This trio from Powys in mid-Wales, together for 25 years, are celebrated for

close vocal harmonies laid over a spare instrumental mix of guitar, mandolin,

tin whistle and concertina. Siblings Linda Healy and Roy Griffiths, along

with their friend John Gittins, have pioneered a more intimate singing style,

based on the Plygain choral tradition. Nowhere is that more apparent than in

Plethyn's a cappella rendition of the Welsh traditional song "Cainc Yr

Aradwr" ("The Ploughboy's Song"), from this outstanding 1994 album, whose

title is Welsh for "Yesterday's Cider."

3. Boys of the Lough

Boys of the Lough are one of the past masters of celtic music, combining

members from several celtic traditions with a long history; where other

celtic groups last a few years, the Boys are now in their third decade and

retain two of their earliest members. Like that other long-running act the

Chieftans, their music tends to the formal; impeccable technique and

sensitivity, with large, sometimes classical-style arrangements, and very

tight ensemble playing. They lack the fire and roughness of other groups; the

overall feeling is of a group of skilled, well-integrated musicians playing

together for the pure pleasure of it.

The history of the Boys has several twists and turns. The group was formed in

1967, as a trio of Cathal McConnell, Tommy Gunn of Fermanagh and Robin Morton

from Portadown. Tommy Gunn later dropped out and the remaining duo recorded

"An Irish Jubliee" in 1969. At the sametime, Shetland fiddler Aly Bain and

singer/guitarist Mike Whelans were playing on the Scottish folk circuit. The

two duos met up at the Falkirk folk festival where they played together and

some time later, in 1971 came together for good. Dick Gaughan of Leith

replaced Mike in 1972 and this lineup recorded the first 'official' group

album in 1972. Dick, in turn, left in 1973 and was replaced by Dave

Richardson of Northumberland, bringing in new instruments including, cittern,

banjo and mandolin. This lineup continued for several year, touring widely in

Europe and America and releasing 6 albums, two of them recorded live. Live at

Passim's was recorded at Passim's in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Wish You

Were Here comes from a tour of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Robin

Morton left in 1979 and was replaced with Dave Richardson's brother, Tich, on

guitar. Tich was killed in a road accident in late 1983. After some time, the

band came together again with new members Christy O' Leary and John Coakley

and have kept that lineup ever since.

Current Lineup

Aly Bain Fiddle

Cathal McConnell Flute and Tin Whistle, Vocals

Dave Richardson Mandolin, cittern, English concertina, button accordion

Christy O' Leary Uileann pipes, tin whistle, mouth-organ and vocals

Chris Newman Guitar

4. Rag Foundation

Woollard's band, Rag Foundation, from Swansea, is one of several groups of

young urban musicians who have come to traditional music in the way they have

come to the Welsh language, through questioning their identity, their

cultural distinctiveness. They have been described by the trade press as the

most dynamic band to emerge from Wales for many years. Their current albums

'Minka' and 'South by SouthWest' have been critically acclaimed by press, TV,

radio and festival organisers. They have toured extensively in many countries

as far apart as Canada, Latvia, India, Holland, Egypt, Hungary and France as

well as the UK. Woollard's own story is quite remarkable: introduced to

traditional music by a fiddle player recording a session for a trip-hop

outfit he was in, he began researching songs of his region, came across Phil

Tanner. and discovered he was his great uncle. But Woollard's style owes as

much to Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey - the total commitment to the song of

the working class, pub singer of South Wales - as it does to folk music. When

Rag Foundation performed for the first time in London the people running the

venue were surprised when two busloads of young urban ravers pitched up too.

"We have this following of clubbers who come round with us," Woollard

explained. "What we're doing is dance music, which is what they're into. Ours

is just an older version of it." Even so, it is the power of the traditional

song that inspires Rag Foundation, and Woollard inhabits rather than exploits

the material. "I want to bring these songs to an audience my age, but I don't

want to stick drum and bass all over them. It's in the performance. If you're

honest in your delivery what you're singing about will come across."

5. Fernhill.

Since they formed in 1996, Fernhill have become important cultural

ambassadors for Wales and its music, having toured in 20 countries including

performances for the King of Swaziland and the President of Mozambique.

'These daring musical deconstructionists have become the prime movers in a

crop of talented bands injecting new life and an exciting contemporary

dynamic into traditional Welsh music' .

LIVE BAND LINE-UP

Julie Murphy vocals

Richard Llewellyn guitar

Cass Meurig fiddle

Tomos Williams trumpet

Andy Coughlan double bass

Paradoxically they only had one Welsh member when they achieved national

attention, bagpiper and guitarist Ceri Rhys Matthews from the Swansea valley.

Yet Essex-born Julie Murphy has lived in Wales for many years and, totally

absorbed in the culture and history of the country, sings confidently in the

Welsh language when the occasion demands it. Not that they play exclusively

Welsh music. They also perform English folk songs, impassioned Breton tunes

and vibrant French songs while fully embracing the modern roots ideology,

introducing the influences of their many travels, notably African and Eastern

European music.

Julie Murphy met Ceri Matthews at art college in Maidstone, and when the

course was over she returned to Wales with him, learning the language and

absorbing the culture. Although she had no folk background to speak of,

Murphy developed a natural feel for performing traditional songs, and she and

Matthews started working as a duo. They met Jonathan Shorland in 1986 when

they were on the same bill at the Pontardawe folk festival. Shorland joined

them on stage playing the pibgorn, a Welsh horn pipe, and they started

working together with three other musicians as a music and art group called

Saith Rhyfeddod.

Raised in the New Forest, Shorland had become obsessed by reed instruments as

a devotee of David Munro’s music programme on Radio 3 while at Aberystwyth

University. He became an expert in Celtic traditions, learning to make

bagpipes and travelling extensively in Eastern Europe and Brittany, playing

regularly with Breton musicians. He is said to be the first person to

introduce the bombard into Welsh music.

Murphy teamed up with Blowzabella’s ex-hurdy gurdy player Nigel Eaton,

resulting in the experimental Whirling Pope Joan project which made a big

impact with its alternative rhythms and challenging material. Also involved

in the project was Andy Cutting, a melodeon and accordion ace from Harrow

brought up in a family steeped in English traditional music. When invited on

a British Council tour in Gaza, Murphy invited Andy Cutting to accompany her.

When in 1996 Tim Healey of Beautiful Jo Records invited Julie Murphy, Ceri

Matthews and Jonathan Shorland to contribute to a compilation of Celtic

music, they roped in Andy Cutting.

The result was Fernhill, who have subsequently toured extensively and

produced a series of fine albums which reaffirm the rich spirit of Welsh folk

music while moving boldly into new areas. Mixing oboe with bagpipes, diatonic

accordion, guitar and numerous other instruments they have challenged all

preconceptions about folk music, recognising no dividing line between Welsh

dance music and the roots music of Kenya, Pakistan or any point beyond.

They now work mainly as a trio of Murphy, Matthews and Cutting, but all are

involved with other musicians as they strive to break down further barriers

between musical style and the audience it appeals to.

They have recorded three critically acclaimed albums; the latest, Whilia, was

a top twenty album in the Folk Roots poll 2000. Fernhill created a new

musical landscape from the indigenous dance rhythms and folk poetry of Wales.

Julie Murphy's passionate singing combined with guitar, fiddle, double bass

and trumpet produces a sound both gutsy and enchanting.

In 2001 the band contributed a performance to the film 'Beautiful Mistake'

about the Welsh music scene which includes performances by James Dean

Bradfield, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals, and Gorkys Zygotic Mynci. Julie

Murphy also collaborated with ex velvet underground member John Cale; he

accompanied her on a track from her solo album Black Mountains Revisited (a

MOJO folk album of 99).

6. The renaissance of Welsh traditional music

Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia and even Tom Jones assure Welsh people that

their identity is not naff. Gorki's Zygotic Mynki, Super Furry Animals and

Datblygu prove that indeed it's cool - and that singing in Welsh is no

obstacle to commercial success. People are beginning to remember that the

Velvet Underground founder member John Cale's first language is Welsh

(earlier this year he was in Cardiff working with musicians who prefer to

perform in it).

Neil Browning is part of a growing movement in Wales, one that is not out

to preserve the old folk music, but to make it come alive, to breathe again.

While he has a great knowledge and respect for the old tunes and the old ways,

he is not hestitant to push it as much as the song requires.

Neil has contributed three pieces to the festival. The first is straight

traditional music for accordion, guitar and bodhran. The second is an

original tune that is decidedly contemporary, adventuring into a global turf

while still maintaining a distinct Welsh air to it. The third is another

traditional tune (title unknown), but with the accompaniment of classical

guitar, it takes on a new and different feeling.

Nansi Richards plays orally learned melodies and variations with clarity

and passion. Her variations are vibrant, ringing out with the sound only a

triple-strung harp can make. She also plays the more common single-strung harp

beautifully on several of the tracks.

There are many reasons for this renewed self-confidence; the growing appetite

for the music of other cultures, a degree of political autonomy and, not

least, the success of those who did devote themselves to the cause of Welsh.

They may not have produced much great music, but they assured that not only

is the language surviving, people can converse in it in some security, relax

and just get on with life.

So they are beginning to look about them, hack their way through the

overgrown and almost forgotten paths to the spring of their traditional

music. It's still flowing. The new Rough Guide to the Music of Wales CD opens

with a harp tune by Llio Rhydderch, who was brought up in a master-pupil

teaching tradition that stretches back to the fourteenth century. There's

also a recording she made of her teacher Nansi Richards, who was steeped in

the aesthetic and technique of eighteenth century harpers. What is striking

and refreshing about both players is their power. If you find most Celtic

harp music plinking and fey, the strength as well as the beauty of this

ancient music will be a welcome surprise.

The Welsh tradition is untouched," says Neil Woollard, gleefully. "So the

music is more open to interpretation. I know we've got the perfect

opportunity here, setting the parameters of what you can do.

Tradition" is the organic element of world culture. Pop music by its very

nature is disposable. The only future for a great pop song is as nostalgia.

The tradition however is timeless and recyclable and is renewed as each

generation discovers its roots. - Billy Bragg, musician