Recreating Bardic Music – Trailer

BIRDS ADAR

Medieval poetry and string music – the universe made audible.

Mary-Anne Roberts and Robert Evans reveal a sound-world rich in acoustic phenomena, unlike any suggested by classical or folk music. They dance the formal binary structures of this ritual music which contrasts fixed and movable notes.

Medieval poetry and string music – the universe made audible.

BIRDS is a sung performance of The Seagull and The Woodland Mass, two well-known poems from the golden age of Welsh poetry, followed by Arthur’s Talk with the  Eagle, a short, comic drama in verse, all from 14^th century sources. The crwth accompanies the singing, with audacious music drawn from Robert ap Huw’s manuscript of 1613.

‘They are, it seems, as transfixed by the sound as I was when I first heard this extraordinary music.’                           Verity Sharpe, BBC Music Magazine

Tour Dates

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Y mae Mary-Anne Roberts a Robert Evans yn datgan byd sain sy’n gyfoethog mewn ffenomenau acwstig annhebyg i’r rhai a awgrymir gan gerddoriaeth glasurol neu werin.  Maen nhw’n dawnsio patrymau ffurfiol deuaidd y gerddoriaeth ddefodol hon sy’n cyferbynnu nodau safedig a symudol.

Barddoniaeth a cherdd dant y canol oesoedd -  y bydysawd a wnaed yn glywadwy.

Y mae ADAR yn berfformiad ar gân Yr Wylan ac Offeren y Coed, dwy gerdd adnabyddus o oes aur barddoniaeth Gymreig, wedi’u dilyn gan Ymddiddan Arthur a’r Eryr, drama-gomedi fyr ar fydr, i gyd o ffynonnellau o’r bedwaredd ganrif ar ddeg.  Y mae’r crwth yn cyfeilio’r canu, gyda cherddoriaeth anturus wedi’i thynnu o lawysgrif 1613 Robert ap Huw.

‘Ymddengys bod nhw’n cael eu swyno gymaint ag y cefais innau’r tro cyntaf y clywais y gerddoriaeth hynod  yma.’   Verity Sharpe,  BBC Music Magazine

Awdl Ll. ‘Y Gododdin’

CANU ANEIRIN AWDL LI.
STANZA LI. FROM THE BOOK OF ANEIRIN, 6th CENTURY

In his paper, Canu Aneirin Awdl LI, Dr. G. R. Isaac tells us that this poetry ‘…has nothing to do with accentual metrics,… but is a structure of responding syllable and word patterns, carefully regulated, balanced and intertwined with patterns of responding phonemes (i.e. in rhyme, consonance etc.).

CANU ANEIRIN AWDL LI.

Welsh edition and English translation from G. R. Isaac, ‘Canu Aneirin
Awdl LI.’, Journal of Celtic Linguistics, 2 (1993), pp. 65-91.

 


Awdl LI.

Llech lleudud, tud lleufre,
Gododdin stre, stre angad,
angad cyngor;
tymor tymestl,
tramerin llestr,
tramerin llu,
llu meithliawn, lledlin llu,
o Ddindywyd dywofu:
sgwyd Grugin rhag tarw trin talfriw fu.

 
Stanza LI.

[By] the hill in the open country,
…the country of the bright hill,
[on] the border of the Gododdin,
? the keeper of the border,
? the keeper of counsel/council;
[in] a season of storm,
a foreign vessel,
a foreign host,
a mongrel host,
came from Dindywyt:
Grugin’s shield was in splinters.

Description of a Crwth – The White Piper’s Kaniad

Dyfaliad Crwth – Kaniad y Gwynn Bibydd

‘Dyfaliad Crwth’ is an extract from a long poem, ‘Cywydd Requesting a Crwth’, by Gruffudd ap Dafydd ab Howel (early 16th century). ‘Kaniad y Gwynn Bibydd’ is a piece music from the Robert ap Huw Manuscript (British Museum Additional Manuscript 14905).

Video filmed at Patricio Church, Nr. Abergavenny by Ben Stammers and Sarah Roberts .

BIRDS ADAR at Small World Theatre

Saturday, 2 March 2013 19:30
Adar/Birds at Small World Theatre, 

Small World Theatre | Theatr Byd Bychan
Small World Centre | Canolfan Byd Bychan
Bath House Road
Cardigan | Aberteifi
Ceredigion
SA43 1JY

Tickets: £10.00 Adults

www.smallworld.org.uk

 

Bragod: Lunchtime Concert and Workshop

Sunday, 10 March 2013
Bragod at Cecil Sharp House

Lunchtime Concert and Afternoon Workshop

Cecil Sharp House
2 Regents Park Road
Primrose Hill
London NW1 7AY
Phone: 020 7485 2206
info@efdss.org

BIRDS ADAR

Friday, 1 March 2013 19:30
Adar/Birds at Y Tabernacl, Machynlleth, Powys

Y Tabernacl
Heol Penrallt
Machynlleth, Powys, SY20 8AJ
Phone: 01654 703355
Website: http://www.momawales.org.uk
Tickets: £10.00, £8.00 concessions, £5.00 children.

 

 

Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Eisteddfod of Wales

DYDD MAWRTH 7fed AWST / TUESDAY 7th AUGUST

Darlith / Cyngerdd

14:00 – 15:00 Robert Evans hefo’r deuawd Bragod- Gwreiddiau cerdd dant: y crwth a miwsig y nefoedd

Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru, 4 – 11 Awst

Llandŵ, Bro Morgannwg 

Maes Gwyrdd 

Llwyfan e-Coleg

 

Lecture / Concert

14:00 – 15:00 Robert Evans with the duo Bragod-  Origins of cerdd dant: the crwth and the harmony of the spheres

The National Eisteddfod of Wales, 4 – 11 August

Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan 

Maes Gwyrdd

e-Coleg Stage

Kaingk Ryffydd ab Adda ab Dafydd

Crwth: Robert Evans, Voice: Mary-Anne Roberts

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The englynion by Lewis ap Sienkyn and Sion Mowddwy, date form the 16th century and show the anxiety of trained poets, (and no doubt, harpers and crwth-players) concerning the growing taste among the Welsh aristocracy for the new amusements of the pipe, pipe and tabor and the fiddle. Their anxiety was well-founded as patronage for bardic music and poetry had almost dwindled to nothing by 1600.

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ffei dabwrdd dwmbwrdd difwynder / kanu

ffei or kene sy iw harfer

ffei or bib, nid offer ber

ffei o adlais y ffidler./

Sion Mowddwy

Translation.

Fie dinning tabor, unenjoyable song,

Fie the knave who uses it;

Fie the pipe, not a sweet instrument,

Fie the fiddler’s echo.

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The verse above is from ‘Detholiad o Englynion’ Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, Part III, (1953), p.187.

BIRDS ADAR – Tour Dates

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7-8 September / Medi

Chapter Arts, Cardiff / Chapter, Caerdydd 029 2031 1050 enpuiry@chapter.org  www.chapter.org

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25 October / Hydref

Aberystwyth Arts / Canolfan y Celfyddydau, Aberystwyth 01970 623232 www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk/

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16 November / Tachwedd

Pontio, Powis Hall, Bangor University / Pontio, Neuadd Powis, Prifysgol Bangor 01248 382828 www.pontio.co.uk

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17 November / Tachwedd

Ucheldre Centre, Holyhead / Canolfan Ucheldre, Caergybi 01407 763361 www.ucheldre.org