Continuing his investigations into ancient Welsh Harps, the Telyn Wrachïod (which translates to the Witches Harp) used pegs or brags emerging from the string-holes, in Welsh called gwrachïod, which could be adjusted to press on the strings to create a buzzing percussive sound used for dancing, here in improvisations by Rhodri Davies using a Urquhart bray harp.
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Rhodri Davies-harp
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UPC: 5904224873196
Label: Amgen Records
Catalog ID: AMGEN 009
Squidco Product Code: 35098
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at Mwnci Studios, in Dolwilymm UK, on August 24th, 2023, by Jethro Chaplin.
This is the eighth solo release by the harpist Rhodri Davies. Bray harp (Telyn Wrachiod) recorded by Jethro Chaplin on the 24th of
This is the eighth solo release by the harpist Rhodri Davies. Bray harp (Telyn Wrachiod) recorded by Jethro Chaplin on the 24th of August 2023, at Mwnci Studios, Dolwilym.
"It appears that on the old Welsh harps of the sixteenth century there were pegs or brays emerging from the string-holes, in Welsh called gwrachïod, (Mersenne called them harpions), which could be adjusted to press on the strings. In later times these brays caused a buzzing effect which added a percussive sound for dancing..." Osian Ellis, The Story of the Harp in Wales
'Precise, angled brays / Speaking every profound feeling.' 'Ceimion Wrachiod cymmwys / Yn siarad pob teimlad dwys.' (From a cywydd requesting a harp by Huw Machno FL. 1560-1637
"Intense clusters of notes bore into the brain, strings scrape in inner-ear-vibrating drones, and precise pointillist drops of sound fall like rain tapping on a tympanic membrane"-Stewart Lee IDLER
2023, at Mwnci Studios, Dolwilym."It appears that on the old Welsh harps of the sixteenth century there were pegs or brays emerging from the string-holes, in Welsh called gwrachïod, (Mersenne called them harpions), which could be adjusted to press on the strings. In later times these brays caused a buzzing effect which added a percussive sound for dancing..." Osian Ellis, The Story of the Harp in Wales
'Precise, angled brays / Speaking every profound feeling.' 'Ceimion Wrachiod cymmwys / Yn siarad pob teimlad dwys.' (From a cywydd requesting a harp by Huw Machno FL. 1560-1637
"Intense clusters of notes bore into the brain, strings scrape in inner-ear-vibrating drones, and precise pointillist drops of sound fall like rain tapping on a tympanic membrane" Stewart Lee IDLER
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Rhodri Davies "Rhodri Davies was born in 1971 in Aberystwyth, Wales and now lives in Gateshead in the northeast of England. He plays harp, electric harp, live-electronics and builds wind, water, ice and fire harp installations. He has released four solo albums: Trem, Over Shadows, Wound Response and An Air Swept Clean of All Distance. His regular groups include: a duo with John Butcher, Common Objects, HEN OGLEDD: Dawson - Davies, a trio with David Toop and Lee Patterson, Cranc, The Sealed Knot and a trio with John Tilbury and Michael Duch. In 2008 he collaborated with the visual artist Gustav Metzger on 'Self-cancellation', a large-scale audio-visual collaboration in London and Glasgow. New pieces for solo harp have been composed for him by: Eliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Christian Wolff, Ben Patterson, Alison Knowles, Mieko Shiomi and Yasunao Tone. In 2012 he was the recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists Award." ^ Hide Bio for Rhodri Davies
9/16/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Agoriad Y Cywair 3:56
2. Cildraeth Sienco 2:33
3. Hanner Dyrned O'r Wermod Lwyd 3:42
4. Asswynaw Rhisiart 1:54
5. Ar Lafar Gynt 2:19
6. Un Dydd 2:16
7. Dygan Gwent 2:50
8. Pe Cawn I Glasfedd 2:34
9. Yr Hen Don 3:27
10. Triban Y Gwyddon 5:52
11. Gardd A Thy 2:54
12. Erddigan Dannau 2:28
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 | Mayas, Magda Filamental (Mayas / Abdelnour / Caddy / Davies / Davies / Mayaas / Parks / Theriot-Ramos / Thieke) Ritual Mechanics (Relative Pitch) |
| The 2nd release from Magda Mayas' Filamental octet of Mayas, Zeena Parkins, Michel Thieke, Christine Abdelnour, Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies, Aimée Theriot and Anthea Caddy, is a fascinating studio composition developed from individual recordings provided by each musician, assembled into two detailed and cohesive works of impressive contours and almost ceremonial beauty. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri / Nikos Velitotis Hotel Art Head [BOOK] (gwasg amgen) |
| A curious book of images from artists including Rhodri Davies, John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Richard Dawson, &c. photographed in a location familiar to a touring musician--a budget hotel room--pictured laying on the bed with each artist's head covered by that room's hotel wall painting, from typically insipid to perplexingly unexpected. | |
 | Mayas', Magda Filamental (w / Davies / Caddy / Theriot / Davies / Parkins / Thieke / Abdelnour) Confluence (Relative Pitch) |
| Composed by pianist Magda Mayas for an octet of superb avant improvisers including Rhodri Davies, Zeena Parkins, Michael Thieke, Angharad Davies, &c. and performed live at the 2019 Music Unlimited 33, in Wels, Austria, this extended work uses a graphic score to interpret 12 photographs taken over an hour observing the merging waters of the Rhone and the Arve rivers. | |
 | IST (Davies / Fell / Wastell) + John Butcher / Phil Durrant A More Attractive Way [5 CD BOX SET + 20 page booklet] (Confront) |
| A comprehensive album of live performances from IST (Rhodri Davies: harp, preparations; Simon H. Fell: double bass, preparations; Mark Wastell: violoncello, preparations) between 1996 and 2000, beginning with their concert at Club Orange in London and including concerts in London, Billericay, Norwich and Cambridge, with a 20 page booklet of photos and text from the band & collaborators. | |
 | Sealed Knot, The (Beins / Davies / Wastell) Twenty (Confront) |
| After twenty years playing together, the Sealed Knot trio of Burkhard Beins on amplified percussion, Rhodri Davies on amplified lap harp, and Mark Wastell on dual 32 past tam tams, gongs & nepalese singing bowls, performed live at Cafe OTO to record this beautifully captured, contemplative concert of tone, texture and ringing sound, like a 20-year dream reflected. | |
 | Granberg, Magnus / Skogen Let Pass My Weary Guiltless Ghost (Another Timbre) |
| First performed in November 2019 at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and then at the Splitter Orchester festival in Berlin, this studio recording of Magnus Granberg's delicately complex and exquisitely dream-like composition features his Skogen ensemble, including Granberg, Rhodri Davies, Toshimaru Nakamura, Erik Carlsson, Petter Wastberg, &c. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Transversal Time (Confront) |
| Assigning different times systems--standard time, decimal and hex time--to different musicians, harpist Rhodri Davies develops an electroacoustic improvisational environment of unusual perception and sensation, performed live in Cardiff in 2018 with Ryoko Akama, Sara Hughes, Sofia Jernberg, Pia Palme, Andre Parkinson, Lucy Railton, Pat Thomas, & Dafne Vicente. | |
 | Common Objects (Davies / Butcher / Davies / Lapelyte / Patterson / Thomas) Skullmarks (Meenna) |
| Distributing the group--John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Lina Lapelyte, Lee Patterson, Pat Thomas, and Rhodri Davies--inside the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, Butcher chose 4 shamanic objects from the museum's ethnographic collection, evoking water, air, earth, spirit, ritual and utility, used as a score orchestrating varying combinations of players; intense and profound improvisation. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri / David Sylvian / Mark Wastell There Is No Love (Confront) |
| Confront initiates their new Core Series with the text piece "There Is No Love" with David Sylvian on voice, vocal treatments and electronics, Rhodri Davies on harp, vibraphone and radio, and Mark Wastel on tam tam and percussion, a sophisticated spoken word piece of shadowy atmosphere and innuendo, leveraging approaches from experimental, improvised and composed music. | |
 | Davies, Angharad / Rhodri Davies / Michael Duch / Lina Lapelyte / John Lely & John Tilbury Goldsmiths (Another Timbre) |
| An extended group improvisation and compositions by Lely, Sarah Hughes, and Jurg Frey, subtle and beautiful performances by Angharad Davies (violin), Rhodri Davies (electric harp), Michael Duch (bass), Lina Lapelyte (violin), John Lely (objects & electronics) & John Tilbury (piano). | |
 | Beuger, Antoine Two . Too (For Erwin-Josef Speckmann) [2 CDs] (Edition Wandelweiser Records) |
| Jurg Frey on clarinet and Irene Kurka on soprano vocals perform Wandelweiser composer Antoine Beuger's extended composition "Two"; then the duo of Rhodri Davies on harp and Ko Ishikawa on sho are layered on the first recording, creating a refreshingly new take on the piece. | |
| Ist (Davies / Fell / Wastell) Consequences (of Time and Place) (Confront) | |
| ist (The Improvising String Trio) of Rhodri Davies (harp), Simon H. Fell (bass) and Mark Wastell (violincello) performing at The Natural Music Club in London, 1997, using unorthodox techniques in indeterminate systems and free improvisation for fascinating results. | |
| Ist (Davies / Fell / Wastell) Berlin (Confront) | |
| Ist - Rhodri Davies (harp), Simon H. Fell (double bass) & Mark Wastell (violoncello) - recorded this fascinating, quietly active lower case work at Total Music Meeting in Berlin 2001. | |
 | SFE - Simon Fell Ensemble Positions and Descriptions (Clean Feed) |
| Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 with an ensemble including Tim Berne, Joe Morris, Rhodri Davies, Jim Denley, Alex Ward & Steve Beresford, this amazing work is organized in traditional movements using a very modern and free language. | |
| Halliwell, Graham Recorded Delivery (Confront) | |
| Saxophonist Halliwell appears here in three duo performances with Rhodri Davies playing E-bowed harp; Steve Roden with extracts from his "resonantlighttones"; and Mark Wastell on tam-tam. | |
| Ist (Davies / Fell / Wastell) Lodi (Confront) | |
| Since 1995 the string trio of Rhodri Davies, Simon H. Fell & Mark Wastell have created sparse, introspective improvisation, performing here at the Contemporaneamente festival in Lodi, Italy. | |
 | Butcher, John / Rhodri Davies Carliol (Ftarri) |
| Dark and beautiful improvisation from saxophonist and electronics artist John Butcher and harpist Rhodri Davies, an incredible display of timbre, technique, and pacing. | |
 | Sealed Knot, The (Beins / Davies / Wastell) and we disappear (Another Timbre) |
| For a decade this trio has created some of the most interesting electroacoustic improvisation, captured in a 38 minute performance at the Ear We Are Festival in Biel, Switzerland, 2007. | |
 | Eastley, Max / Rhodri Davies Dark Architecture (Another Timbre) |
| The duo of sound sculptor Max Eastley and electric harpist Rhodri Davies in an unedited recording performing live at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell, UK. | |
 | Furt plus Equals (psi) |
| The followup to Furt's expanded format as heard on Spin Networks in 2005, in electroacoustic trios with John Butcher, Phil Minton, Rhodri Davies, Ute Wassermann, &c. | |
 | fORCH Spin Networks (psi) |
 | Davies, Rhodri / Pierre Gerard la montagne change le paysage (Ftarri) |
| A fascinating free improvising string duo of textures and sonic interaction from UK harpist Rhodri Davies and Belgian guitarist Pierre Gerard, Davies performing on pedal harp and Gerard on acoustic guitar, though the results feel downright electronic through masterful control of their instruments, eliciting sustain, pitch & amplitude changes as they weave unique and compelling tapestries. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Wyth [8 CD Box Set] (Amgen Records) |
| Collecting eight of avant improvising Irish harpist Rhodri Davie's albums on his Amgen label--Trem, Over Shadows, Wound Response, An Air Swept Clean Of All Distance, Telyn Rawn, For Simon H. Fell, Dwa Dni Telyn Wrachïod--a diverse set of approaches and configurations showing both his interest in the history and in the creative use of his instruments. | |
 | Creiriau y Delyn Rawn (Rhodri Davies / Richard Dawson / Pat Thomas / Spencer Yeh / &c) Relics of the Horsehair Harp (Amgen Records) |
| A companion piece to UK improvising harpist Rhodri Davie's solo album Telyn Rawn , asking some of his favorite musicians to respond to the 18 improvised pieces on that album, instructing them to imagine that the source material was an ancient musical form from the medieval period, and that their responses were to be modern interpretations of those "ancient" forms. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Trem (Amgen Records) |
| Reissuing his 2003 album on the Confront label, Rhodri Davies' first solo album is a captivating set of uniquely voiced free improvisation, using a pedal harp, radio and tape recorders and percussive devices, and recorded in the natural resonance of All Angels, St Michael and All Angels Church in London, creating narrative and drama through Davie's intuitive sense of timing. | |
 | Davies, Rhodri Over Shadows (Amgen Records) |
| An extended solo titled for author Redell Olsen's book secure portable space (Reality Street), performed on Lever harp and EBows by UK electroacoustic improviser Rhodri Davies, recorded at Old School, Bracon Ash, in Norfolk in 2004 by Graham Halliwell and edited by Benedict Drew and John Wall, creating a richly evolving work of haunting plateaus and valleys. | |
