| CAMBRIA,
Tachwedd 2009
I was searching for a new young harpist to represent Wales
at the 1999 edition of the Interceltic Festival in Lorient,
Brittany and someone recommended Gwenan Gibbard, who was still
a student at the Royal Academy of Music at the time. I booked
her and waited to hear her perform at the concerts that I
had arranged for her. At the most demanding concert, which
took place in a large modern church, with wonderful acoustics,
in the centre of the town she began her set with some delightful
tunes, which were exactly what I had hoped for. She then took
hold of the microphone and told the audience that she was
going to accompany herself on the harp whilst she sang. The
sound that filled the whole space was absolutely stunning;
her voice was so beautiful,so clear and like a bell. The following
day the French press exclaimed that a new ‘star’
was born and that Wales had another major talent to celebrate.
I had booked a harpist and not realised that she sang as well!
I invited her back to the Festival in 2006 when she had recorded
her first album Y Gwenith Gwynnaf . This album confirmed what
I had come to know, that here was a major new talent from
Wales. Some of her tunes were as good as anything that I had
ever heard from Welsh folk music. I love it and still play
it frequently as an example of every thing that is brilliant
in our folk music tradition. So when I heard that Sain was
bringing out her second album I couldn’t wait to hear
it. Her first album announced to the world that Wales has
a major talent in Gwenan Gibbard this second album confirms
it, she should be given the status of “A National Treasure”.
Sidan Glas (Blue Silk) displays a whole range of her talents,
as harpist and singer, as composer and arranger. This album
is a collection of genuine Welsh folk music played with sincerity
and style. It’s so enjoyable to listen to and captures
everything that I feel Welsh music should have. Her knowledge
and love of Welsh traditional music is evident in all the
tracks and her obvious sympathy with the material is spell
binding.
Can y Lleisoniaid and Can y Droell Fach are worth the cost
of the CD alone and you get to hear her beautiful voice on
many of the other tracks too. Gwenno Tir Mawn, where she accompanies
herself on the accordion is one of my favourites, with the
full range of her voice.
When the accompanying musicians are sensitive and add to the
overall sound then they are a great addition, as in the polkas
in track 7, but there are several tracks where she does not
need any other instruments and the introduction of percussion
on track 14 just isn’t necessary in my opinion and I’m
a ‘drummer’!
When she plays and sings on her own she really does create
something very special and rare indeed. She manages to convey
an emotional depth through her arrangements of old standards
seldom experienced nowadays.
To listen to Sidan Glas is to experience a professional musician
confidently performing beautiful uniquely Welsh tunes full
of exquisite subtlety. It has been, superbly mixed and engineered
by Maartin Allcock and is one of the most enjoyable and glorious
examples of Welsh culture that you will ever hear.
David Petersen.
Rock
‘n’ Reel, Hydref 2009
Whilst anything with even the most spurious claim to Irishness
seems to be granted an instant worldwide audience, it’s
a sad fact that other Celtic music, a few Scottish acts exepted,
rarely reaches beyond its niche markets. So, why not do your
part in bucking this pernicious trend by checking out the
second album from this prodigiously talented Welsh harpist,
singer and arranger?
So often Welsh folk music is perceived as being a bit faux
and heritage-y – all doilies and carved spoons –
yet Sidan Glas (Blue Silk) reveals a vibrant, multi-faceted
tradition. It is testament to the expressiveness of Gibbard’s
vocal delivery that even non-Welsh speakers will respond to
the emotional range here, whether in the playful courting
song, ‘liw Gwyn Rhosyn yr Haf’, or the aching
‘Tros y Môr’.
The heart of the album, however, is the harp, the voicings
of which recall its Irish and, in particular, Breton siblings,
nowhere more than on the lively dance tunes. ‘Hen Benillion’
is perhaps the most familiar song here, offering a celebration
of the harp’s many virtues; and if you need to be convinced,
just listen to the remaining tracks on this absorbing album.
The
Independent, 15-21 Awst 2009
Welsh folk doesn’t seem to get much exposure east of
Offa’s Dyke, but Gwenan Gibbard’s second Welsh
language album of airs, shanties, jigs and songs, including
the bardic art of Cerdd Dant (poetry set to harp accompaniment),
offers subtle and beautifully composed ensemble performances.
Best are the duets between Gibbard and the fiddler Stephen
Rees, unwinding their spells through lyrical, labyrinthine
Celtic airs such as the beautiful ‘yr Hafren’.
Taplas,
Tachwedd 2009
This second offering from Gibbard is a lively collection of
songs and tunes. She shows off her extensive knowledge and
learning to full advantage with impeccably crafted tracks
that are indisputably Welsh to the core. Her skills as a harpist
complement an equally melodic vocal that is clear and pure
with well pronounced songs that share tales of a warm, inviting
and very traditional Wales, unfettered by emotion.
It’s entertaining ‘bard-like’ storytelling
through song and music by a master (or mistress!) of the art
– the essence of the eisteddfod tradition. The album
is one of the ‘happiest’ collections I have heard
in a long time – good music that does good for the soul.
You may not empathise with it or be taken on an emotional
roller-coaster journey, but you will feel lighter and generally
more at ease with he world – thank you Gwenan!
Songlines,
Tachwedd-Rhagfyr
2009
Harpist and scholar follows up her debut.
This is the second album by the young Welsh harpist from Llyn
peninsula in north Wales. Sidan Glas (Blue Silk) is a beautiful
record, featuring the brilliant guitarist Maartin Allcock,
who has played with Fairport Convention, beth Nielsen Chapman
and many others, on many of the 15 tracks. It covers ballads,
shanties, jigs and reels from the Welsh tradition, as well
as some stunning airs on Celtic harp that are a part of the
ancient bardic art of Cerdd Dant – poetry sung to harp
accompaniment. Gibbard is something of a scholar as well as
a practitioner, having studied for a masters in Welsh music
at Bangor and later at the Royal Academy of Music; she provides
some valuable, concise notes to the songs to put what may
be unfamiliar material into context. The opening track’s
child-like, lilting harp melody is threaded around a hazily
cosy lyric that sets us by a traditional hearthside wih some
traditional folksong heartbreak. A trio of hornpipes follows,
with playing of great finesse from Allcock and from calan’s
fiddler Angharad Jenkins on the ballad ‘Tros y Môr’.
Gibbard’s arrangements are delicate and nuanced, and
she adds touches of accordion on a scattering of tracks, as
well as taking spring-clear vocals on the likes of ‘Y
Sgwner Tri Mast’; a rousing sea shanty from her native
Llyn peninsula. It’s an easy record to get quite lost
in – a bit like driving through deepest, darkest Wales’
web of country lanes. You won’t regret the journey.
Properganda,
Tachwedd-Rhagfyr
2009
This charismatic Welsh harpist and singer triumphs on this
finely tuned follow up to her acclaimed 2006 debut. Gwenan’s
limpid harpistry, though immaculately judged and executed,
also exhibits a delightful rhythmic flair, while the gently
robust tonal quality and character of her singing voice precisely
complements her playing.
She
can move from playful lyrical with consummate ease, and her
inherently musical way with a song’s melodic and expressive
contours is most persuasive, notably on the charming ‘Trafaeliais
y byd’. Instrumentally, Gwenan scores especially on
the beautiful air ‘Yr Hafren’ and the ensuing
fleet-footed set of jigs.
Throughout
the disc, Gwenan again enjoys the collaborative input of “kindred
spirit” Maartin Allcock and a select few other musicians.
This is a refreshing and wholly stylish collection of songs
and tunes mostly drawn directly from Welsh tradition, and
its abundant charms lift it out of the oft-perceived-esoteric
niche market of that indigenous culture.
Adolygiadau 'Y Gwenith Gwynnaf':
"Gwenan
Gibbard’s harp and voice album is a well-considered
project that ranges from soft lullabies and courtly tunes
to boppish arrangements in which she uses the natural inflections
of the Welsh language as colour and variation. Her rolled
‘r’ consonants and other vocal embellishments
are especially nice counterpoints to her classically smooth
harping. So too are the small contrasting bursts she uses
throughout – quick cascades of notes that add backbeat,
runs that sound more like slides than plucked notes, and rising
scales that give her trained soprano Loreena McKennitt-like
drama.
Gibbard’s
mix is equally winning. ‘Gwenni aeth i ffair Pwllheli’
is a bouncy, cheerful folk song whose upbeat tempo sets the
table for the polkas that follow, not to mention the several
soft lullabies that come later. When she interprets a slip
jig such as ‘Hoffedd ap Hywel’ or a hornpipe such
as ‘Rhif Wyth’ she knows to attack her strings
rather than being stately, as she is on ‘Ty a Gardd’,
the latter a Danish song rendered in Welsh. She does the same
vocally, punching out the notes to ‘Gwcw Fach’
with such vigour as to suggest a march. Gibbard is equally
at home with the old ways and offers a truly lovely example
of Penillion singing, the art of combining poetry and harp
music, on ‘Y Delyn’. Gibbard’s stiching
of old and new material produces a quilt that’s as colourful
as it is tasteful".
R Weir, Sing Out!,
Gwanwyn 2007
“Gwenan
Gibbard plays both the small Celtic harp and the Welsh triple
harp. She has studied the music of the harp at the University
of Wales, Bangor and the Royal Academy of Music, London and
has now returned to her roots in her home town of Pwllheli.
Her lively style is at times reminiscent of the old crwth
tradition. While many of the dance tunes will be familiar,
Gwenan has come up with some excellent new arrangements with
subtle and interesting variations. I particularly like the
Welsh gipsy version of that old chestnut Llwyn Onn.
Her harp develops a rhythm all of it’s own on the hornpipe
set Rhif Wyth/Pibddawns Abertawe and is here played with more
swing than is normally associated with this instrument. Maartin
Allcock provides superb accompaniment on this and other tracks.
More ‘A list’ Welsh musicians appear throughout
the recording but it’s Gwenan alone that really packs
the punch. Her voice is as musical as her harp and the song
Deryn Du may be short but it’s perfect. There’s
plenty here to satisfy the hardened folk enthusiast but still
the album remains very open and accessible to the average
Joe. A cut above the rest.”
Rees Wesson, Shreds
and Patches, Mai 2006
“An
intriguing range of material…melodic intricacy and rhythmic
drive with an emotional depth unusual in dance music.”
Songlines
“Gwenan
Gibbard, from North Wales, debuts with an album of traditional
Welsh song and music, played chiefly on the small Celtic harp
and the Welsh triple harp. Accompanied by Maartin Allcock
on guitar, bass and bouzar, Huw Roberts and Stephen Rees on
fiddle and Dafydd Roberts on flute and whistle, it’s
nevertheless the vocal and instrumental talents of Gibbard
that shine through. Whether in the infectious jollity of songs
like Gwenni aeth i ffair Pwllheli or in the haunting Adar
mân y mynydd, there’s a consistent warmth of delivery
that makes this an engaging and accessible sound.”
Sean McGhee, Rock n
Reel, Ion/Chwef 2007
“From
the Llyn peninsula, harper/vocalist Gwenan Gibbard hits stride
with a debut in the knowing care of Maartin Allcock. Other
support, from members of Ar Log, makes this a competent representation
of Welsh trad sounds.”
Folk Roots
“Her
music is haunting and I hope that this will be the first of
many recordings we can enjoy”.
Safle we Wales United
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