Music of Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wales is a part of the United Kingdom, but is a culturally and politically separate Celtic country. Its traditional music is related to the Celtic music of countries such as Ireland and Scotland. Welsh folk music has distinctive instrumentation and song types, and is often heard at a twmpath (folk dance session), gŵyl werin (folk festival) or noson lawen (traditional party or ceilidh). Modern Welsh folk musicians have sometimes had to reconstruct traditions which had been suppressed or forgotten, as well as compete with imported and indigenous rock and pop trends. The record label Fflach Tradd has become especially influential. There is also a thriving modern musical scene which spans several genres and two languages. Wales is also traditionally associated with the music of male choirs, with many Welsh Male Choirs, such as the Morriston Orpheus Choir, enjoying a world wide reputation.
| Celtic music | Music of the United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Brittany and Northern Spain | England |
| Cornwall | Scotland |
| Man | Wales |
| Ireland | Northern Ireland |
| Celtic Canada and Celtic America | Caribbean and Indian |
Contents |
[edit] Traditional music
Welsh folk is known for a variety of instrumental and vocal styles, as well as more recent singer-songwriters drawing on folk traditions.
The most traditional of Welsh instruments is the harp. The triple harp (telyn deires, "three-row harp") is a particularly distinctive tradition: it has three rows of strings, with every semitone separately represented, while modern concert harps use a pedal system to change key by stopping the relevant strings. It has been popularised through the efforts of Nansi Richards, Llio Rhydderch and Robin Huw Bowen.
Another distinctive instrument is the crwth, which, superseded by the fiddle, lingered on later in Wales than elsewhere but died out by the nineteenth century at the latest.
The fiddle is an integral part of Welsh folk music. Among its modern exponents are The Kilbrides from Cardiff, who play mostly in the South Welsh tradition but also perform tunes from throughout the British Isles.
See also Welsh Folk Revival, Welsh Bagpipes, Pibgorn and Crwth.
[edit] History
For many years, Welsh folk music had been suppressed, due to the effects of the Act of Union, which promoted the English language, and the rise of the Methodist church in the 18th and 19th century. The church frowned on traditional music and dance, though folk tunes were sometimes used in hymns. Since at least the 12th century, Welsh bards and musicians have participated in musical and poetic contests called eisteddfodau; this is the equivalent of the Scottish Mod and the Irish Fleadh Cheoil.
Welsh traditional music declined somewhat with the rise of Nonconformist religion in the 18th century, which emphasised choral singing over instruments, and religious over secular uses of music; traditional musical styles became associated with drunkenness and immorality.
In the 1860s, however, a revival of sorts began, with the formation of the National Eisteddfod Society, followed by the foundation of London-area Welsh Societies and the publication of Nicholas Bennett's Alawon fy Nghwlad ("Tunes of my Land"), a compilation of traditional tunes, in the 1890s.
By the late 1970s, Wales, like many of its neighbours, had seen the beginning of a roots revival, the beginnings of which can be traced back to the 1960s folk singer-songwriter Dafydd Iwan. Iwan was instrumental in the creation of a modern Welsh folk scene, and is known for fiercely patriotic and nationalistic songs, as well as the foundation of the Sain record label. The Festival Interceltique de Lorient saw the formation of Ar Log, who spearheaded a revival of Welsh fiddling and harp-playing, and continued recording into the 21st century. Welsh folk rock includes a number of bands, such as Moniars, Blue Horses and Bob Delyn a'r Ebillion.
Sain was founded by Iwan, Brian Morgan Edwards and Huw Jones. Originally, the label signed a bevy of Welsh singers, mostly with overtly political lyrics, eventually branching out into a myriad of different styles. These included country music (John ac Alun), singer-songwriters (Meic Stevens), stadium rock (The Alarm) and classical singers (Aled Jones, Bryn Terfel).
The folk revival picked up energy in the 1980s with Robin Huw Bowen and other musicians achieving great commercial and critical success. Later into the 1990s, a new wave of bands including Fernhill, Rag Foundation, Bob Delyn A'r Ebillion, Moniars, Carreg Lafar, Jac y Do, Boys From The Hill and Gwerinos found popularity. Jac y Do, as well as several other bands (including Llawer Mwy), now perform twmpathau all over the country for social gatherings and public events. The 1990s also saw the creation of Fflach Tradd, a label which soon came to dominate the Welsh folk record industry with a series of compilations, as well as thematic projects like Ffidil, which featured 13 fiddlers. Some Welsh performers have mixed traditional influences, especially the language, into imported genres, especially John ac Alun, a Welsh language country duo who are perhaps the best-known contemporary performers in Welsh.
[edit] Pop and rock
In the non-traditional arena, many Welsh musicians have been present in popular rock and pop, either as individuals in groups (e.g. John Cale of the Velvet Underground, Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, Julian Cope of Teardrop Explodes), or as bands formed in Wales (e.g. the Alarm, Man, Budgie , Badfinger), but not until the 1990s did Welsh bands begin to be seen as a particular grouping. Following on from an underground post-punk movement in the 1980's, led by bands like Datblygu and Fflaps, the 1990s saw a considerable flowering of Welsh rock groups (in both Welsh and English languages) such as Catatonia, Manic Street Preachers, Feeder,Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals, and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.
The 21st century has seen the emergence of a number of new bands, including Bullet for My Valentine, The Automatic, Lostprophets, Goldie Lookin' Chain (GLC), People in Planes and Funeral for a Friend. There is a thriving Welsh-language contemporary music scene ranging from rock to hip-hop which routinely attracts large crowds and audiences, but they tend to be covered only by the Welsh-language media. More abrasive alternative acts such as Jarcrew and Mclusky - both well-known within the independent music community and known as Welsh acts - have also received modest commercial success in the UK (and, in Mclusky's case, in the US and Australia).
Welsh bands have the outlet for audiences, on such media as BBC Wales, BBC Cymru, S4C and The Pop Factory.
In particular, BBC Radio 1's Bethan and Huw and BBC Radio Wales' Adam Walton support new Welsh music on their respective networks (currently on Thursday nights 19:30 - 21:00hrs and Sunday night 22:00 - 01:00hrs respectively).
[edit] References
- Price, William. "Harps, Bards and the Gwerin". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 313-319. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
- Mathieson, Kenny. "Wales, Isle of Man and England". 2001. In Mathieson, Kenny (Ed.), Celtic music, pp. 88-95. Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-623-8
