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

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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

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

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

Peis Dinogat

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    Peis Dinogat                                      Dinogat’s Smock

.Peis Dinogat, e vreith, vreith, o grwyn | balaot ban | wreith. Chwit, chwit, chwidogeith, gochanwn | gochenyn | wythgeith.	Dinogad’s smock, speckled, speckled,I made from the skins of martens.Whistle, whistle, whistly we sing, the eight slaves sing.
Pan elei | dy dad ty | e helya, llath ar y ysgwyd, | llory en y law ef gelwi gwn gogyhwc, ‘Giff, Gaff, dhaly, dhaly, dhwc, dhwc!’, ef lledi bysg yng corwg, mal ban llad llew llywywc.	When your father used to go to hunt, with his shaft on his shoulder and his club in his hand, he would call his speedy dogs, ‘Giff, Gaff, catch, catch, fetch, fetch!’, he would kill a fish in a coracle, as a lion kills an animal.
Pan elei | dy dat ty | e vynyd, dydygei ef penn ywrch, | penn gwythwch, penn hydd, penn grugyar vreith o venyd, penn pysc | o rayadyr | Derwennyd	When your father used to go to the mountain, he would bring back a roebuck, a wild pig, a stag, a speckled grouse from the mountain, a fish from the waterfall of Derwennyd
Or sawl yt gyrhaedei | dy dat ty ae gicwein, o wythwch | a llewyn | a llwy[n]ein, nyt anghei | oll ny vei | oradein.	Whatever your father would hit with his spit, whether wild pig or lynx or fox, nothing that was without wings would escape.

.Welsh edition from G. R. Isaac, ‘Mydr a Pherfformiad yr Hengerdd ‘, Dwned 7, (2001). English translation by Dr. Isaac.

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Welsh poetry of this period has no stress save a light, upward, melodic stress at the ends of phrases and this feature is reflected in the contour of the melody. The lines may be a simple unit, divide into two or into three phrases (see Dr. Isaac’s indications in the poem above).

Dr. Isaac divides the poem into four parts and Bragod assigns each of the first three parts a different tetrachord taken from the hexachord – CDEFGA:         1. DEFG, 2. EFGA, 3. CDEF. The fourth part uses all the tetrachords together, 4. CDEFGA.

In the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries the poet, lyre-player and singer would probably have been the same person. This poem is not part of ‘The Gododdin’ and possibly of later date but one of the scribes of The Book of Aneirin wrote it in a blank space. It is a poem commemorating a fallen hero, written by a professional poet, possibly in the voice of Dinogat’s mother.

MUSIC FESTIVAL, CHAPTER ARTS CENTRE, CANTON, CARDIFF.

13th September 2008 

Hosted by Pulse Wholefoods.

CARLINGFORD CELTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL, LOUTH, IRELAND.

31st May – 1st June 2008, Concert of Irish, Welsh and Breton music and workshop on Music of the Spheres.

TOUR OF MEXICO

November 2007, Concerts and workshops for the University of Quintana Roo, Cozumel and at Universidad del Caribe, Puerto Juarez, Cancun.

WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE

28th September 2007, FOYER CONCERT, 1.00 P.M.

WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE

29th September 2006, Bragod perform Ystorya Trystan (The Welsh Tristan Story) using a text prepared by Dr. Dafydd Johnston. Robert Evans and Mary-Anne Roberts have set this largely 12th century text to newly-composed music following the compositional principles of the time using the crwth, a bowed lyre with a fingerboard. The drama is in the Menippean form: prose with verse, and has all the signs that it was meant to be sung. Bragod is the first ensemble to perform Ystorya Trystan since the middle ages.

This performance comes a day or two before the performance of Wagner’s ‘Tristan and Isolde’ on the Wales Millennium Centre’s main stage.

Bragod will also perform stanzas from Llyfr Aneirin, The Book of Aneirin, using the 6th century North-European lyre played with a plectrum.