New publication: Tant – 101 Welsh traditional harp tunes

Date: April 2013

Arranged for non-pedal and pedal harps
Edited by Siân James and Sioned Webb

Eight hundred years ago, Giraldus Cambrensis claimed there was a harp in every household he visited on his tour of Wales! True or not, the harp has certainly been an integral part of the Welsh musical tradition for a very long time.

At last, here is a collection of Welsh harp tunes where a large proportion of the Welsh repertoire can be found conveniently in one book. This is the first time for at least 150 years that such a collection has been put together!

These are folk tunes, in all their beauty and simplicity, arranged in as basic a form as possible. This means they can be played on a folk harp as well as any other kind of harp – or any other instrument for that matter.

The arrangements have all been made by two experienced harpists and musicians who are well known in Welsh folk and traditional circles.

Siân James is one of the leading folk singers of Wales. She was brought up in the little village of Llanerfyl in Montgomeryshire, where she lives to this day. She started her harp playing under the guidance of Frances Mon Jones who encouraged her to sing to her own harp accompaniment. She studied music in Bangor University under Professor William Mathias and she is now a Honorary Fellow of that University for her contribution to Welsh culture. She has by now released nine albums, the latest being ‘Cymun’, to exemplary reviews.

Sioned Webb is a musician with many years of experience as a music editor. She worked as Head of Music at Ysgol Tryfan, Bangor, and then as Artistic Director of the William Mathias Music Centre, Caernarfon.She is now a freelance tutor, accompanist, composer, lecturer and author. She won the John Weston Thomas memorial prize on the triple harp in the 2007 National Eistedfdfod and has performed as a harpist in Wales and abroad.

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