The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #138897   Message #3182515
Posted By: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
06-Jul-11 - 01:06 PM
Thread Name: Steamfolk
Subject: RE: Steamfolk
Here's a corker of a crwth I stumbled on whilst scrambling through the misericords of Worcester Cathedral a couple of weeks back:

Worcester Crwth

Look at that whilst listening to Venus in Furs...

Yeah, I like the Crwth Purists too. I've had them question my authenticity because both of my crwths have ever-so-slightly curved bridges to faciliate a more subtle style of playing (!?) than the all-strings-at-once approach that sounds like a bad hurdy-gurdy to my ears, but there you go (not that I've any objection to bad hurdy-gurdies in the wild). My interest is in playing music rather than historical musical pedantry, though I think some of the new Talharp & Jouhikko stuff (Pekko Kappi especially) is pretty amazing. Those horse-hair strings, man! I made a Jouhikko myself once back in 82 which doesn't sound too bad actually, considering, horse-hair strings and all, but Pekko's something else... One of the crwth highlights of my life was an impromtu duet with Susan George back in 1999 at the Aust Festival - just a wee sesh in the graveyard but it felt real enough.