Search - Robin Bowen :: Harp Music of Wales

An instrument saved from extinction

E. A. Lovitt | Gladwin, MI USA | 12/02/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Have you ever wondered what a polka sounds like when played on the Welsh triple harp?It sounds sprightly and luminous---not at all like it sounds when played on the accordion, thank God. In fact all of the tunes on this CD are played in a sprightly and luminous fashion by master Welsh harpist, Robin Huw Bowen.I was actually expecting music more in the lugubrious Celtic tradition---sometimes even referred to as the `sleep-inducing' tradition---not so, on this album. Two of my favorite somniferous Welsh tunes, "All through the Night," and "The Ash Grove" dance merrily through the three rows of strings. Even the mighty Men of Harlech skip rather than march to Master Bowen's harp.True Welsh traditionalists can read the Cymric version of the included notes, but the rest of us will have to make do with the English version. They contain a brief history of the triple harp, which turns out not to be Welsh at all. It was originally a Baroque instrument, imported from the Continent. Toward the end of the eighteenth century when everyone stopped playing the triple harp except for the Welsh, it acquired its current name.Methodism almost caused this harp's demise in its adopted homeland, too. By end of World War II, only one Welshwoman was still alive and harping. Luckily she was a very doughty woman. She rescued the few remaining triple harps from extinction, then passed on her craft to a new generation of harpists. Robin Huw Bowen is the principal modern exponent of this difficult and beautiful instrumentLong may the Welsh harp sound through its adopted homeland--- `Gwlad y Gân,' the land of song!"