To Thread - Forum Home

The Mudcat Café TM
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=104596
67 messages

Ever played a Welsh Crwth?

08 Sep 07 - 12:46 AM (#2143763)
Subject: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

Found this very interesting old instrument while looking for bowed psaltery videos on youtube: this video.

Following his instructions, I found some mp3s of superb playing HERE by Cass Meurig.

There is something about medieval musical instruments or at least instruments that sound medieval that I just LOVE.

Enjoy and anyone know how much these are and where to get one? Also, how difficult are they to play? Oh, yeah, and did I hear the pronunciation right, "sith?"

Thanks,

kat


08 Sep 07 - 01:53 AM (#2143778)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: MystMoonstruck

Thank you for the links! That was fascinating~quite an intriguing instrument that I'd love to try my hand at though it likely wouldn't sound anything like in the video. I'd enjoy finding other crwth performances.

I will say that I have never encountered this instrument, but I have read about it and have seen pictures of it, including an etching of one used as an illustration in a dictionary. There's a heated debate about the pronunciation, but "krooth" rhyming with "youth" seems to crop up more times. Check out the argument in Wikipedia! A recording of the word seems at odds with this, sounding more like "krith". It does seem to be a touchy subject.

Thanks to the link, I also was able to watch several of the other videos, including the bowed psaltery players. It's interesting to see the varying methods used, none of which matches my own. By the way, I use one bow because 1) I couldn't afford a second one; 2) I have a left hand that I can type with but not hold and move a bow without damaging the bow or the strings; and 3) It was simpler to learn to crossbow.


08 Sep 07 - 02:01 AM (#2143779)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Genie

A "crwth?" WTH?

I think the Welsh should get together with the Hawaiians, who are short on consonants, and buy (trade for) a vowel.

;-D


08 Sep 07 - 02:06 AM (#2143781)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

I am sure some of our Welsh speakers will come along and let us know how they pronounce it!**bg**


08 Sep 07 - 02:19 AM (#2143784)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: GUEST,Jerry O'Reilly

Curiously one of the Irish names for the harp is Cruit although it obviously doesnt sound anything like the Welsh instrument.


08 Sep 07 - 02:36 AM (#2143787)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Anglo

Well, I can't resist this thread. I do actually own a crwth, though it needs a new tailpiece and restringing. I never did get far with it though, I think you need to be a bit of a fiddle player, even then it's damned awkward, and my main instrument is concertina. So it's decoration for the living room at the moment.

Sometimes I wish I could do more for my Welsh background...

And BTW, Genie, in Wrelsh "w" IS a vowel.


08 Sep 07 - 04:05 AM (#2143800)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Mary Humphreys

I have only ever heard it pronounced as "crooth" to rhyme with "truth". And yes,Anglo is right. "w" is a vowel in Welsh, along with a,e,i,o, u and y. So we have more vowels than the English! "w" is pronounced as something like "oo" in English.


08 Sep 07 - 05:00 AM (#2143807)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Les in Chorlton

Mary I think you should get one it makes a truly original and dramatic sound that would go well in some of your Welsh songs! Mike Pickering sounds his best

Cheers

Les


08 Sep 07 - 05:52 AM (#2143830)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Jack Blandiver

The crwth has been my main instrument for over twenty years with respect to storytelling, medieval, folk & imprised / experimental musics - see Hiberna Desiderium for a short video of me playing a Welsh pattern Crwth (with doromb pelude!) which was made for me by Tim Hobrough in 1986.

See also my wee film of the Cloister Bosses, Norwich Cathedral which was edited against a crwth based improvisation.


08 Sep 07 - 07:13 AM (#2143861)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Mick Tems

Cwrw - I just love our Welsh word for beer! Cwrw is pronounced "coo-roo", just as crwth is pronounced "crooth". In medieval times it was pronounced "crowd", from which the surname Crowther derives. Google crwth, and see what you come up with.


08 Sep 07 - 07:14 AM (#2143862)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: greg stephens

Cruit in Irish, crowd in English, crwth in Welsh. All the same word.


08 Sep 07 - 07:18 AM (#2143864)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Les in Chorlton

Good, I feel better about now, will more people play it?

Jones the Mandola, but only slowly


08 Sep 07 - 07:47 AM (#2143873)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Jack Blandiver

One theory has it that the bow developed from the increasingly long plectra that were used in lyre strumming from earlist times. Certainly the earlist iconographical evidence for stringed instruments being played with a bow depict lyres (crwth / crowd etc.) rather than fiddles, which came about when the bow was later applied to lute type instruments.

As a bowed instrument, the lyre existed in Northern-Europe until comparatively recent times in the form of the Welsh crwth and the various talharp / jouhikko instruments that would appear to be undergoing something of a revival pesently.

For more on the crwth click HERE


08 Sep 07 - 08:06 AM (#2143879)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Mick Tems

The crwth died out in England, but it survived in Wales. However, "modern" violins were imported from Italy, and the crwth went into a quick decline. It did not become extinct, though - there were tales of one or two remote cottages where an ancient crwth was displayed. Even the tuning to the strings was lost.

However, fiddle players with a love of the crwth have been responsible for its rebirth, including Cass Meurig and Bob Evans. Cass recorded a CD for the Welsh label Fflach (she organises the Snowdonia Fiddle Festival) and Bob plays crwth in the duo Bragod and the group Pwngk - he has recorded CDs. Bob delivers a very interesting lecture on the crwth, too. With four crwth makers selling their wares, I can safely say that the instrument has reached the turning point.


08 Sep 07 - 08:13 AM (#2143882)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Sorcha

I want one very badly, but I'd probably never learn to play it.


08 Sep 07 - 08:13 AM (#2143883)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: greg stephens

I am intrigued by Dr Price's staement that the crowth survived: I had imagined it became extinct in Wales as in England. Can we actually see physical specimens in museums, and is their evidence how late they were played?


08 Sep 07 - 08:20 AM (#2143888)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Jack Blandiver

There's a good few extant originals in museums - including one in the Victoria & Albert in London.

I hear that Welshman John Cale flattened his viola bridge to approximate the droning sound of the crwth when playing with the Velvets.


08 Sep 07 - 08:34 AM (#2143896)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Mary Humphreys

I think I have seen one at St Fagans Museum , though I may have been mistaken.
Mary


08 Sep 07 - 08:50 AM (#2143898)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Mick Tems

I think there's one in the Wales National History Museum at St Fagans, Cardiff. In the Norwegian Church Arts Centre in Cardiff Bay, I saw Cass playing her crwth on her launch tour for the CD "Crwth". Cass is a fabulous player of the fiddle and the crwth, and an ex-member of the visionary folk band Fernhill.

The crwth went into decline towards the 18th century, although I have it on good authority that there were a couple of crwths surviving.


08 Sep 07 - 09:16 AM (#2143903)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

We're planning to make an application to the Heritage Fund of the National Lottery to buy 8 pibgorn (hornpipes) and 2 crwth, train tutors and tour schools, community groups and festivals. If successful, there may be a chance we can bring them to the Smithsonian Festival in 2009, as Wales will be a featured nation.

If you want to buy a playable one, you probably won't get any change out of 900 UK pounds.

While we're on the subject of Welsh instruments, I don't know if I've posted the link to the make-your-own-pibgyrn before now. Maybe it should be a separate thread but ... here it is.

sian


08 Sep 07 - 09:25 AM (#2143907)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Dame Pattie Smith EPNS

Bob Evans gave a very informative lecture on the Crwth at the Welsh Fiddle and Competition weekend at the Stackpole Centre, Pembroke last week. He had 3 of them with him and people were allowed to examine them afterwards. He's your man if you need to know anymore!


08 Sep 07 - 10:32 AM (#2143942)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: EBarnacle

So, that's what the line in "Bertha's Mussels" refers to. Having looked at the instruments, I can see why she had triplets.


08 Sep 07 - 07:17 PM (#2144273)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

sian! Thanks for the link. Now I want a pibgorn, too! I just love the medieval sounds! Do you know if the fellows playing have a CD available?

Thanks to you all for the further info on the crwth, esp. how to pronounce it properly. Seems they may be a bit too pricey for me, but I have ordered Cass' CD so I can at least enjoy listening to it.


08 Sep 07 - 07:32 PM (#2144283)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Genie

Anglo, I was really just being silly (above). (And the Welsh aren't the only ones to skimp on vowels, anyway. Check out some Polish names.)

But thanks for clarifying that "w" is a vowel in Welsh. (It is in English, too, sometimes, at the end of a word or syllable, as part of a dipthong.)

:)


08 Sep 07 - 07:50 PM (#2144291)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Genie

BTW, this sounds like a very interesting instrument.


08 Sep 07 - 11:36 PM (#2144379)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: GUEST,Bert on Kelly's machine.

Lark in the Morning have one here


08 Sep 07 - 11:45 PM (#2144388)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

Kewl, Bert, thanks! Still a bit much for me, right now, but something to save up for!


09 Sep 07 - 06:40 AM (#2144481)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: CET

How does the English word "crowd" become the same word as "crwth" and "cruit"?


09 Sep 07 - 02:05 PM (#2144717)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Cats

The Cref [in Cornish] is played by Mike O'Connor [Crowdercref]. If you want to know anything about it try pm ing him.


09 Sep 07 - 03:20 PM (#2144753)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

kat, the same company - Fflach - that issued Cass' CD has one on pipes - 'pibau'. I'm not sure if Ceri Rhys Matthews' newest has a pibgorn on it. Doesn't seem like it from the blurb. A number of groups use the pibgorn (and some the crwth) including Crasdant and Carreg Llafar.

We're also planning a conference for next year which will bring together Cass and aforementioned Mike O'Connor (Crowdercref) and one other (hopefully Breton). The idea is to have a day with people who have dug up old manuscripts, researched them, and republished them for a modern user-ship. Ought to be interesting.

sian


09 Sep 07 - 03:28 PM (#2144754)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Malcolm Douglas

English 'crowd' (in this context) is a loan-word from Welsh. Whether the final consonant has hardened in English from original ð or whether it has softened in Welsh, I don't know; but I'd suspect the former, perhaps reinforced by print and the inevitable confusion of ð with d as the additional letter symbols used in Old and Middle English fell out of use.


09 Sep 07 - 04:04 PM (#2144782)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: greg stephens

It's "crotta" in Latin I believe (but I am emphatically not an authority, don't quote me!)


09 Sep 07 - 04:04 PM (#2144783)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: The Doctor

As has been said before in this context, 'Strwth!'


09 Sep 07 - 04:33 PM (#2144808)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: CET

It certainly sounds like a loan word, but I was wondering about the meaning. I don't see any obvious link between a stringed instrument played with a bow and a large number of people.


09 Sep 07 - 04:35 PM (#2144812)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

Thanks, sian, that sounds as though it will be a wonderful event. I'll look at those CDs, too.


10 Sep 07 - 05:31 AM (#2145245)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: PMB

'Crowd' from 'crwth' is a regular result of the great vowel shift (not 'bowel' as I once wrote- well, the letters are adjacent). So a word like 'loud' would be 'lood' in mediaeval English (and Scots too). I think 'crude' is a word that entered the language too late for the obvious puns that the English would inevitably have made to denigrate something Welsh.


12 Sep 07 - 04:56 AM (#2147088)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

Have checked with a friend who is a translator at our National Assembly and asked him to look in the uber-dictionary which no mere mortal in Wales can afford. He says it says that 'crwth' comes from the Middle Irish 'crott' which means 'harp' or 'crwmp'. It apparently comes from the same word as the Welsh word 'croth' (womb) from the Celtic 'krutta'.

Now what the heck a 'crwmp' is ... I dunno!

Right, so the crwth now becomes 'hot stuff' cuz it's 'really' Irish ...

But seriously, I have some recollection that the bards of Ireland and Wales used to have some pretty serious get-togethers in the dim and distant path and at one of them (it was Ireland's turn to have the boys round 'to theirs') they established the 24 (or is it 25?) official metres of our poetry, which the Welsh still hold to. Rather makes sense that one of the two official status instruments for court bards (the other being the harp) would reflect the collegiate approach of the time.

sian


12 Sep 07 - 06:56 AM (#2147160)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

OK - crump is, apparently, a hump, as in "camel's ... ". Now we know.

And, of course, I did mean 'dim and distant past'. More haste, less speed.

sian


12 Sep 07 - 02:32 PM (#2147558)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Dave Swan

Everybody sing..."She tuned up his crwth, and I'll tell you the truth, she had triplets the very same year"


12 Sep 07 - 02:42 PM (#2147565)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

LOL, El Swanno!

I LOVE it...find a new "old" instrument to learn about and get a lesson in etymology to boot! Thanks!


12 Sep 07 - 03:09 PM (#2147581)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Dave Swan

Don't think for a minute that I wrote that. It was, however, written by a Mudcatter who appears farther up this page.

Eat Bertha's Mussels

Chorus:
Eat Bertha's Mussels, they're the best there is by far
You can eat them in the dining room, you can eat them in the bar
So when you're ashore in Baltimore and you fancy a bite to eat
Just follow your nose to Bertha's, you'll be in for a rare old treat.

All:
Now a sailor came to Bertha's with a problem most severe
His manly pride had been atrophied from a voyage of forty years
A couple of plates of mussels, now he sings in a different key
His jib boom's set right, he'll be in there tonight and he'll never go back to sea

Chorus:

All:
Now a lady came to Bertha's, who wanted a daughter or a son
The doctors had said with a shake of the head that she couldn't have either one
So she ate a plate of mussels and went home to her husband dear
She tuned up his cryth, and I'll tell you the truth, she had triplets the very same year.

Chorus:

All:
They will cure your diarrhea, cure your constipation, too.
Just swallow a box for the chicken pox, the measles or the flu.
Now, if you fancy a healthy life, get your daily doses straight
A plate a day of Bertha's mussels, and you'll live 'til you're 98.


12 Sep 07 - 03:48 PM (#2147637)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

AH! LMAOWROTF!


13 Sep 07 - 03:26 AM (#2148017)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

Hey, that's anatomically incorrect! It should be, "He tuned up her crwth, and I'll tell you the truth, she had triplets the very same year"

BTW, 'cello' in Welsh is 'soddgrwth'. Just thought you'd want to know that.

sian


19 Sep 07 - 02:04 PM (#2152792)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Crowdercref

FYI in middle English and Cornish we find cruit, crouth, crowd. Hence the surnames crouther and crowder.

By the way, sadly I don't have a crwth. I have a three string Cornish Crowd - the functional equivalent of the Welsh crwth trythant - the apprentice instrument. Mine is modelled on iconography dating about 1525 - a pew end carving at Altarnun.

There is also a carving of a crwth (perhaps with 4 strings) at Cotehele house in East Cornwall. But the carving is believed to have come from Wales.

There is no evident of post-medieval crwth survival in Cornwall, though it is hinted at just a bit by the continued use of the words crowd and crowder to mean any sort of fiddle/fiddler.

The cref in crowdercref means 'great' or 'big', hence - big fiddler!

Us crowders aren't proud!

Oll an gwella

Crowdercref


19 Sep 07 - 02:11 PM (#2152795)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

What fun! Thanks for the information, Crowdercref! Do you have any pictures of your Cornish Crowd?

sian, let's see if I am learning anything about Welsh pronunciation:

cello = soddgrwth = sod-g/crooth?


19 Sep 07 - 02:34 PM (#2152812)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

Well, close, kat. The 'dd' is a 'th' sound, but the 'th' as in 'the', not the 'th' as in 'thistle'. Get the difference. So 'sodd' is ... ummm ... sawth(e). Maybe like 'both' in BOTHered?

Crikey, phonetics are tough!

And the 'c' in crwth mutates to the 'g' because it's preceded by a ... mmm ... adjectival whosiebing.

Hiya Mike. I was just reading about the trythant in Sally Harper's new book. There's a photo of the Cotehele House carving in it.

sian


19 Sep 07 - 03:04 PM (#2152841)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

So it's sawthgrooth? (Love that "whosiebing!")


19 Sep 07 - 06:38 PM (#2153020)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

Well, as far as I can tell from typing, yes. Come to think of it, the syllable ends in the "th" sound ("dd") as in "the", and the second one ends in the more aspirate "th" as in "tooTH".

Not sure if that helps or just muddies the water further.

Get on Skype. I'll pronounce it for you!

sian
Skype: tracdir


20 Sep 07 - 04:57 PM (#2153736)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Flatpick

I don't play instruments that can't afford any vowels.


20 Sep 07 - 06:27 PM (#2153810)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

Found some for around 300 pounds, or is it Euros now at this place.

Just got the CD by Cass Meurig. LOVE it!!


21 Sep 07 - 12:34 AM (#2154049)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: EBarnacle

Dave, I appreciate the credit but John Roberts wrote Bertha's Mussels. When Lady Hillary and I visited, they did not know the song, so we sang it for them.


21 Sep 07 - 04:40 AM (#2154103)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

Thanks for the link, kat. I don't think I know the maker but I'll check him out. The price is in pounds which is a very good price - although a lot depends on the quality of the instrument.

I'm glad you like Cass's CD. She really does bridge the historical - contemporary gap wonderfully and composes some really playable tunes.

sian


21 Sep 07 - 10:13 AM (#2154253)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Bryn Pugh

Crowdercref - is the 'll' in Kernoweg pronounced as the 'll' in Cymraeg ? Thread drift, I know, but we ('Catters) seem to have gone from musical instruments to linguistics !

Hwyl fawr, (hoo-oil vower), Bryn

Siaredir Cymraeg yma.


22 Sep 07 - 08:51 AM (#2154859)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Mick Tems

Crwth is most enjoyable, isn't it, kat? But Fflach CDs do not carry much information - probably because they they want to keep the punters guessing, but not much help to those who want to find out more.

Now your appetite has been whetted, try Kaingk by Bragod (translated, Bees.) This is Bob Evans' and Mary-Ann Roberts' vision of what the medieval crwth must have been like, with Mary-Ann's raspish voice imitating the drone of the crwth. She and Bob the crwth-player are like a couple of musical buzz-saws - very educational, but pretty challenging. Try Creighton's Collection to order Kaingk.


22 Sep 07 - 09:57 AM (#2154892)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

Thanks, Dr. Price! Just listening to samples from their album on CD Baby now! Wonderful stuff. Her vocals remind me some of the Tuvan throat singers and Tibetan monks droning.


22 Sep 07 - 07:25 PM (#2155313)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Fliss

Totally brilliant discussion. Best Ive read in ages. Loved the video and music clips.


23 Sep 07 - 09:13 AM (#2155589)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

"... what the medieval crwth must have been like"

Now, Mick, I think it's more accurate to say "what the medieval crwth MIGHT have been like". I think Bob's theories are incredibly interesting but ... should I say, 'subject to considerable discussion'?

Also, the 'bees' bit refers to the word 'bragod', yes? (I didn't know that!) 'Kaingk' is the modern 'cainc' which means 'branch' or 'tune'. Love the album, and comes with a hugely informative booklet. I wish, though, that I could hear more of Mary Ann's 'normal' voice - it's superb. The 'assumed' voice she uses on the majority of tracks is stylistically/technically interesting but I have to approach it in the same mindset as I use for experimental music in general.

sian


24 Sep 07 - 03:01 PM (#2156485)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: GUEST,dafydd

if you say truth, then replace the "t" with a "k", then trooth becomes krooth, that's near enough.


24 Sep 07 - 08:18 PM (#2156694)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: GUEST,ibo

that is one seriously weird instrument


25 Sep 07 - 11:29 AM (#2157128)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Lonesome EJ

I hear that Welshman John Cale flattened his viola bridge to approximate the droning sound of the crwth when playing with the Velvets.
Yes! That's the droning sound in the beginning of Venus in Furs!


26 Sep 07 - 02:52 AM (#2157536)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Jack Blandiver

"... what the medieval crwth must have been like"

Isn't it the case that all contemporary crwth playing is enirely speculative owing to the tradition of crwth playing having died out centuries ago?

What we're hearing now is very much a post-modern re-imagining of a long defunct musical tradition, which is already attracting its fair share of purists, ever eager for authenticity...


26 Sep 07 - 04:51 AM (#2157567)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

Yes, exactly. That's part of the reason why I suggested that 'might' would be a far better word that 'must' in this case. I know that Bob bases his singing theories on a particular passage in some comic poetry and many feel that it isn't enough to support the argument. I'd quote you chapter and verse but, for some reason, I can't seem to put my hands on my copy of Kaingc.

sian


26 Sep 07 - 06:38 AM (#2157599)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Jack Blandiver

Twenty years ago no-one had ever heard of the crwth outside of a very specialised corner of the early music scene, now it almost feels commonplace!

My first crwth came along in 1983, courtesy of Tim Hobrough, based on the hour-glass instrument depicted in the Limoges ms. circa 1100. In 1986 he built the 'Welsh Pattern' crwth which has been the heart and soul of my music & storytelling ever since. See Hiberna Desiderium for an example of how I approach this instrument, a technique which is founded as much on ergonomics & creative pragmatics as on the iconographical & written evidences concerning the cruit / crwth in Bardic cultures.

Nothing Welsh as such of course, although as a native Tynesider I'm often taken for Welsh even by native Welsh speakers - and as a life-long devotee of The Manband I fear something of their Welshness must have rubbed off on me somewhere along the way. That said, back in 1999 when I was playing at the Aust Festival of Early Music as part of the medieval group Misericordia, I was fortunate to play crwth with the late Siwsann George, albeit in an impromtu performance in the graveyard! A memorable moment with a truly wonderful person which has remained in my heart, and my playing, ever since.


26 Sep 07 - 07:41 AM (#2157616)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Crowdercref

A Bryn ker,

My drifting friend (!),

You asked 'll' in Kernoweg pronounced as the 'll' in Cymraeg ?

No it's not. It's just an 'l' s to speak.

We do have some fine (usually circular) arguments about pronounciation, but that's not one of them! Our problems stem from the fact that our 'classical' Cornish literature is largely late medieval, (1400-1540) but place names and later literature show many signs of linguistic evolution (as you might expect).

Some of the fun items are
dh=th (soft)
th=th (hard)
gh=h (aspirate)
wh=h (aspirate)
f=v (often but not always)
hard c, k and g are often equivalent depending on whch old MS you're studying.

Initials mutate in a way analagous to Welsh

Oll an Gwella

Crowdercref


26 Sep 07 - 08:02 AM (#2157627)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: Bryn Pugh

Anwyl Crowdercref

Diolch yn fawr iawn o honno.

Hwyl fawr, Bryn

(Dear Crowdercref, Thank you very much for this. Cheers, Bryn)


28 Jan 09 - 06:21 PM (#2551432)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: katlaughing

Just wanted to say, again, how much I LOVE listening to my Cass Meurig CD!! Wonderful music!


02 Feb 09 - 06:44 PM (#2555668)
Subject: RE: Ever played a Welsh Crwth?
From: sian, west wales

We held a 3 day residential event at the end of October and Cass was one of the tutors. We got together a few crythau (crwths) and she ran some "Introduction to ... " tutorials to great hilarity and effect. We have a great photo of Brian McNeill (formerly of Battlefield Band, and our Guest Tutor) having a turn on one, brow furrowed and concentration streaming from his pores.

sian