Harp Music of Wales [Import]

Robin Bowen (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 24, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Saydisc
• ASIN: B00000453R
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #509,518 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #6 in Music > Folk > British & Celtic Folk > Welsh Folk

Track Listings

1. All Through the Night

2. Pibddawns y Gof/Dyn y Geg

3. The Ash Grove

4. Saiforella Polka

5. David of the White Rock

6. Gypsy Hornpipe/PWT-A-Y-Bys

7. Meillionen O Feirionnydd [The Clover of Meirionnydd]

8. Moel Yr Wyddfa/Nos Galan

9. Hwylio Adref

10. The March of the Men of Harlech

11. Y Llinyn Arian

12. Pant Corlan Yr Wyn

13. Merch Megan/Wyres Megan

14. Cader Idris

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An instrument saved from extinction, December 2, 2001

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Harp Music of Wales (Audio CD)

Have you ever wondered what a polka sounds like when played on the Welsh triple harp?

It sounds sprightly and luminous---not at all like it sounds when played on the accordion, thank God. In fact all of the tunes on this CD are played in a sprightly and luminous fashion by master Welsh harpist, Robin Huw Bowen.

I was actually expecting music more in the lugubrious Celtic tradition---sometimes even referred to as the `sleep-inducing' tradition---not so, on this album.

Two of my favorite somniferous Welsh tunes, "All through the Night," and "The Ash Grove" dance merrily through the three rows of strings. Even the mighty Men of Harlech skip rather than march to Master Bowen's harp.

True Welsh traditionalists can read the Cymric version of the included notes, but the rest of us will have to make do with the English version. They contain a brief history of the triple harp, which turns out not to be Welsh at all. It was originally a Baroque instrument, imported from the Continent. Toward the end of the eighteenth century when everyone stopped playing the triple harp except for the Welsh, it acquired its current name.

Methodism almost caused this harp's demise in its adopted homeland, too. By end of World War II, only one Welshwoman was still alive and harping. Luckily she was a very doughty woman. She rescued the few remaining triple harps from extinction, then passed on her craft to a new generation of harpists. Robin Huw Bowen is the principal modern exponent of this difficult and beautiful instrument

Long may the Welsh harp sound through its adopted homeland--- `Gwlad y Gān,' the land of song!