Robin Huw Bowen harping on

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 29 May 02 - 08:01 PM

Well Sian, I do know a flute player/ singer from Anglesey named Jeff (or Geoff) who has been a regular on the Friday night sessions for a long while but I'm not sure he's the same person and I don't know the band.

It is possible of course that the Nelson do have another night or that the session on the Friday has shifted in direction. I've been out of North Wales for over a year now and wasn't a regular for at least the last two years of my living there (I loved the session though, it always was my favourite in my area).

Total thread drift but the session I used to go to started in a pub called the Ship Launch at some point in the 1960s - well before my time and seems to have the version of Napoleon Bontparte in the dt credited to Tommy Flynn the landlord there... On the Sunday at the end of the Bangor weekend, we sang the song and someone asked if any of us remembered Tommy Flynn and there was not one of us present at the time who had ever met him.

By the strangest of co-incidences, when I went to the Norwich session the following Tuesday, I mentioned the trip to Bangor and one of the regulars took an interest. It turned out he was a student there at the time and had a lot of memories of the early days. I think I learned more about the Bangor session that night than I did when I lived near by.

Jon

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: sian, west wales
Date: 29 May 02 - 05:13 PM

Jon, I was speaking to a singer named Jeff at the sesh mentioned above - he's from Anglesey, I think, and sings Welsh songs at the Nelson, maybe on another night? He also sings with Cass Meurig (crwth); maybe you know him/them?

PP - Sut hwyl, or 'sut hwyl sydd', kinda means "how's tricks?" "What spirit are you in?" (ie. 'good' is supposed) One of those rather difficult things to explain. For that matter, how would I explain, 'how's tricks' to a non-English speaker?

Ain't life complicated?

sian

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 29 May 02 - 08:33 AM

Yep, congratulations to Robin

Pied Piper, North Wales Welsh sessions. There used to be one in the Tap And Spile, Bangor on a Monday but I've no idea if it's still going.

The Nelson is still going strong on a Friday night but that tends to be more Irish or it used to be and was the other weekend when I managed to get down that way. There will however be people there who could point you to Welsh sessions. In particular, try to look up Andy Mac.

Jon

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: Pied Piper
Date: 29 May 02 - 08:24 AM

Helo Sian I play Highland Pipes and also have a set of Giata in C ish. I'm a bit cofused by your use of "hwyl", my dictionary says it means "goodbye or fun". Thanks for your info on sessions nearer me. What instruments do you play? (sorry I couldn't manage that in Welsh).Wela i chi PP

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: sian, west wales
Date: 29 May 02 - 04:41 AM

Robin is anything if not diverse - he's recorded for several companies, including his own:

Cyfarch Y Delyn / Honour the Harp, (Sain 600)

Telyn Berseiniol Fy Ngwlad / The Sweet Harp of My Land (Teires/Flying Fish FF70610)

Hela'r Draenog: Telyn Sipsi Cymru / Hunting the Hedgehog: The Gipsy Harp of Wales, (Teires - which I think is Robin's own label)

Cerddoriaeth Telyn Cymru / Harp Music of Wales, (Saydisc 412)

There's info about him here ... maybe. I have NO confidence in doing blue clickies.

Just in case ...http://www.welshfolkdance.org.uk/grwpiau/aberystwyth/rhb/robinhuwbowen_cd.htm for cut-and-paste!

Glad that George put up that Pibgorn site - I didn't know John Tose had one! He makes good instruments, from what I've heard. Pibgorn - right up there with the bombard as an instrument which you do NOT want to hear first thing in the morning after a heavy late-night session ... Otherwise, great fun at a party.

sian

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From:
Date: 28 May 02 - 09:41 PM

Have a look

Pibgorn

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: Mr Happy
Date: 28 May 02 - 08:59 PM

sian,

forgive my saesnach ignorance,

what's a pibgorn?

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: RangerSteve
Date: 28 May 02 - 08:51 PM

I had the pleasure of seeing Robin at a Celtic festival in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania a few years ago. He's a great performer and deserves whatever awards he gets. What label (labels) does he record for? I have one of his CD's but I want more.

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: sian, west wales
Date: 28 May 02 - 11:49 AM

Sut hwyl, Pibydd?

I'm afraid I don't know of any particular sites for Welsh dance tunes - although someone here probably will! I'm west Wales based, but I hear that there are good sessions in the Nelson, in Bangor. Get on the Trac mailing list ([e-mail]) and they may be able to put you in touch with likely suspects. I know there are a couple of harpers in Wrexham (father and son) but can't remember their names. The father is a chiropodist, of all things... so presumably should know all about dancing!

I understand that Ceri Matthews, here in the west, has done a lot of work on creating a Welsh repetoire for pipes. I can't remember if he's published anything or not...

sian

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: Pied Piper
Date: 28 May 02 - 11:31 AM

Pnawn da Sian do you know if there any regular sessions playing Welsh dance music in north Wales a bit nearer my stamping ground in NW England? Also while I'm here, any good sites for Welsh dance tunes? Diolch PP.

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: sian, west wales
Date: 28 May 02 - 11:13 AM

I saw Robin weekend before last - a 'sesh' of about 25 of us, with Robin in fine form. (A sesh including 2 triple harps, 1 celtic harp, 11 fiddles, 4 accordions, 2 melodions, 2 wooden flutes, 1 whistle, 3 guitars, a boran, a pibgorn and 4 singers - well, we all sang!)

Anyway, Robin LOVED Celtic Colours. Can't say I had a full report, but it's obvious that he'd go back there in a wink!

sian

Subject: RE: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From:
Date: 28 May 02 - 10:49 AM

Congratulations to Robin. Met him at last year's Celtic Colours. What a gentleman! Good on him! Thanks for the information, Sian.

Subject: Robin Huw Bowen harping on
From: sian, west wales
Date: 28 May 02 - 09:48 AM

I know that some of you may know the Welsh triple-harper, Robin Huw Bowen. Well, he's just won a BAFTA Cymru (the Welsh Emmy) for his original score for the S4C film "Eldra" which was shown this past Christmas. The film is about Eldra Jarman, who taught Robin the Welsh Gypsy dance melodies and their interpretation on the Welsh triple harp. (Eldra is from a long line of harpers including some of Wales' most famous ones.) Robin subsequently released his collections of Eldra's music on his 1994 album "Hela'r Sgwarnog/Hunting the Hedgehog."

In his acceptance speech, Robin said that the award was a victory for traditional Welsh folk music, the potential use of which is so often ignored by the contemporary media.

Well said, Robin!

sian