Review: Aberjaber

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RECORD REVIEWS

ABERJABER Sain/Cambrian

The second and final record by the Welsh group CROMLECH featured, as its finale, an instrumental set of three traditional Welsh tunes played by Peter Stacey (gaita), Stevie Wishart (fiddle) and Delyth Evans (harp). From a slow buildup on the beautiful slow air ‘Hindeg’, the perfectly judged entry of the bagpipe provides one of my favourite moments of recorded music. This line-up now comprises ABERJABER and it was hoped that their debut album would take up where CROMLECH left off. This record does not disappoint, and it points to a brave new direction for Welsh folk music, away from the bland Eisteddfod formality or the artificially imposed Irish style. The music on this album, both traditional and composed, exhibits a delicacy and restraint which can, where appropriate, flex its muscles to great effect. The arrangements have obviously been thought out very carefully and the wide range of sound textures invariably complement the tunes.

The record opens with a Stacey composition, ‘Hofedd Mistress Wishart’, a simple but memorable tune in which the gaita makes a quiet entry, coming more to the fore for the Galician ‘Aires de Pontevedra.’ The latter track is, unfortunately, taken at a rattling pace which does not leave enough space for the stately nature of the tune to come across. The drum part sits rather uneasily on the tune, particularly as Stevie’s trompetting on the hurdy-gurdy provides ample rhythm. That aside, the blend of gaita, hurdy-gurdy and harp is very successful and is enhanced by being well-recorded and sympathetically produced. The normal problem on recordings of drone instruments seems to be missing out the drone entirely and consequently missing out one of the main features of the instruments (particularly with pipes where chanter and drone are some distance apart). Happily, the balance is achieved on this record with the drones present but not overwhelming, particularly when the harp provides a chordal accompaniment.

Delyth’s harp playing, whether as accompaniment or melodist is often understated but is a vital presence; her composition ‘Berwyn’ is gentle and moving, and is given a very sympathetic reading by the group.

Stevie’s fiddle playing is an essential cornerstone of ABERJABER’S sound and her use of double-stopping, especially on the faster pieces, allows her to play solo without any diminution of the energy or presence of the tune. She has a very distinctive style which transfers well to the crwth, the bowed lyre which only went into decline in Wales in the nineteenth century. The stringing of this instrument with its flat bridge and two drone strings is exploited to good effect in ‘Three fires,’ a piece based on a melody from

the Ap Huw manuscripts. It provides the perfect foil for the gaita in the Breton An Dro which follows it.

Other high spots are ‘Cynghansail Cymru’, a set of twenty-four variations on a ground by Edward Jones (a composition first published in 1784 in his Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards) which is given a very spacious and baroque treatment, ‘Diddanwch Gruffydd ap Cynan’ a slow air from the same collection, and ‘Stevie’s Tune’, composed by Stevie for flute, fiddle and harp.

Peter Stacey is a fine bagpipe player and has avoided the easy course of using the pipes at every possible occasion, playing flute or recorder on most tracks, and only bringing in the pipes when they make most impact. The open, sweet tone of the gaita gallega makes it an ideal choice for an ensemble such as this. Since double-tracking is used on some tracks it would have been nice to hear two pipes in harmony as in traditional Galician music, this might be a point worth bearing in mind for future records. Allowing for the paucity of written and iconographical evidence for the bagpipe in Wales, it is a reasonable assumption that a cylindrical-droned, conical-chantered bagpipe such as the gaita gallega would have been used in Wales (although the double hornpipe chanter in St. Fagan’s, the National Museum of Wales, points to the possible existence of a quite different instrument). The pipes lead the finale of three Welsh dance tunes (Machynlleth, Pwt ar y bys, and Llanofear Reeli) and demonstrate most eloquently the place of drone instruments in Welsh music.

I cannot think of any folk group with which to compare ABERJABER in terms of the sound they create, and I find it most pleasing that, in this age of synthesizers, they have managed to create such an original sound using instruments of such an antique and venerable pedigree. An important album for Welsh folk music, this, and let us hope only the first step along a new path.

Simon Owen

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