Chair’s Message

I hope this edition finds you all safe and well. Since the last magazine, a lot of work has been going on in many areas of HarmonicaUK in addition to our normal day-to-day running. Thank you to everyone who has been canvassing new members for us. Early indications are very positive. Davina Brazier’s team looking at compliance is making great progress, as is Richard Taylor’s team with rebranding. Richard and Steve Pardue are also making substantial progress. I feel confident that the new look HarmonicaUK will happen over the summer. Our study into a new IT system has made real progress too. Slawomir Nowordski, Barry Nichols, and Barry Elms have lent their IT expertise in creating an IT specification for us. Dave Hambley and Sam Wilkinson’s weekly Zoom meetings continue to attract a lot of really positive feedback. It is so heartening when our members take time to send feedback via email and telephone. Thank you for confirming that we are going in the right direction. I am pleased to announce that our annual Chromatic Weekend in June will be a virtual event once more. This gives us the assurance to go ahead and plan with certainty. In the Jan/Feb edition I wrote a page introducing the editorial team; since then, that team continues its progressive journey, and I’m pleased to announce that Rowena Millar has offered subeditorial support alongside Sophia Ramirez, with Sam Spranger and Jim Davies joining the wider team too. We are very fortunate to have a large pool of proofreaders now, and we will ensure that everyone has an input at some stage. Finally, over the next few editions I would like to invite you all to meet the current team of HarmonicaUK. In this edition I would like to introduce the officers of our charity who make up the Executive Team. Keep well and happy harping

The magazine for HarmonicaUK The triple harp, an Italian development, was the instrument of the great houses in Wales in the 18th and early 19th centuries until it was ousted by the heavy, trolley (and Volvo-estate!) demanding pedal harp of formal music. The triple harp is light enough to be carried on the harpist’s back and so was popular around the taverns; it was on one of these that the Welsh national anthem was first played, as a jig. Fortunately the Romany musicians who made their living from playing the harp were able to get their hands on the obsolescent instrument cheaply and continued the tradition through to the 20th century. The instrument and the associated style of playing continued into the present century. It survived in this unbroken tradition of harp playing, in songs which were enthusiastically gathered over a 70-year period in the 20th century, but also in many melodies which became hymn tunes, in the chapels. I went to a Welsh chapel and sung many of these tunes and to a Welsh primary school in the 1950s, where one of the parents was a traditional harpist, so it’s no surprise that I am now hooked on these. Little attention was paid to Welsh instrumental folk music until the second half of the twentieth century, following the formation of the Welsh Folk Dance Society which needed music for the dances. Enthusiastic musicians played the tunes still around and also searched the manuscripts of the old harpists in the National Library collection and published collections of these which, can be purchased from the society website (www.dawnsio.cymru). Our society, Clera, was formed in 1996 with the aim of playing Welsh traditional music with workshops and sessions, promoting the traditional instruments in their contemporary (fiddle, flute, whistle, pipes) and original (harp, crwth [like a violin] and pibgorn [‘pipe-horn’]) forms. Since then, the society has actively promoted the playing of Welsh traditional music on any instrument, preferably those acoustic instruments associated with folk music today; so guitar, banjo, mandolin, bouzouki, ukelele, viola, cello, accordion, concertina and of course the harmonica are all welcomed to join in sessions, with the occasional amplified instrument not ruled out. The Wales Arts Council has supported Clera in three national projects which have helped us in our work, starting and maintaining workshops and sessions across Wales, with each one resulting in the development of a website which we still maintain. Sesiwn Dros Gymru (Session across Wales) generated www.sesiwn.com which lists sessions, workshops and activities across Wales (currently dormant due to Covid). Alawon Cymru (the tunes of Wales) generated www.alawoncymru.com which has published a session set of tunes monthly since 2011 and contains scores and MP3 files for hundreds of Welsh tunes. Telynor Cymru (Wales’ harpist), led by world-renowned triple harpist Robin Huw Bowen, celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of gypsy harpist John Roberts. John’s family was largely responsible for maintaining the unbroken aural harp-playing tradition in Wales. John Roberts’ lively style of playing was taught in workshops across Wales, and the associated website www.telynor.cymru holds the scores and tutorial videos. Meurig Williams is the Chair of Clera, the Society for Welsh Traditional Instruments. He started singing and playing traditional music at the Port Talbot Folk Club with guitar and banjo and whistle when he was 17. His passion for music has continued for over 50 years, moving on to the fiddle, mandolin, fiddle, ukulele, concertina, accordion, harp and pibgorn, and has also dabbled with the harmonica and autoharp. Since joining Clera in the early 2000s, he has devoted his attention to Welsh traditional music and was part of the Clera band which had around 50 members, Y Glerorfa, playing a major part in the Lorient Folk Festival in 2008 when Wales was the featured nation. He joined the Cardiff Welsh Session in 2006 and until Covid, led its weekly meetings on a Monday evening at the Goat Major in the centre of the city, and is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get re-started.

Carl DeAbreu Photography