Welsh Traditional Music

If any blues player confesses to playing ‘the harp’ then you know this refers to the harmonica, so players already have a link to the traditional instrument of Wales! It survived the Welsh Methodist movement in the 19th century. There was a need for some light relief from the monotony and continual pressure of industrial work, drunkenness had become a significant social problem. Methodism bore down heavily on the music of the common people, associated with the taverns which developed with the growth of the industrial towns, and folk music and the instruments that had been associated with it were ostracised. Out went the dancing fiddle, the rude and raucous pipes were WELSH pretty rare by then, but the harp survived. Music has been part of the fabric of Wales since TRADITIONAL the Middle Ages. The laws of Hywel Dda from the tenth century state that the King should employ MUSIC a Pencerdd (head of music) and provide him with a harp, a crwth (ancestor of the fiddle) and pipes to appropriately skilled players. No written Meurig Williams notation has been found for this music, but the and Aidan Sheehan National Library of Wales holds the manuscripts of Robert ap Huw (1580-1665) which took some time to decipher and is the oldest collection of harp music in the world. You can find our more about Welsh traditional music, including the harp, crwth and pipes on the bilingual website of the Welsh Traditional Instruments Society, www.clera.org

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.