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[Scwîsbocs cover]
"Scwîsbocs"
Pob offerynau / All instruments - Neil Browning

    ac eithro/except:

Gîtar/Guitar - Paul Airey (tracks 2, 5)
Dwsmel/Dulcimer - Jen Whalley (tracks 11, 12)
Bodhràn - David Browning (tracks 7, 9)
Bodhràn - Meg Browning (tracks 3, 7)
Clarinet - Kate Browning (track 6)
[draig]
Price:£9.99
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Some titles appear as links in the following track listing; click them to hear an mp3 sample of the track:

4'00'' The Morning Lily (250K sample)
   Y Lili (The Lily); Seren Y Bore (The Morning Star); Y Lili; Haden Y Fran Ddu (The Black Crow's Wing)
These three tunes are from the Robin Huw Bowen collection 'Tro Llaw', which I fear is now out of print. In true folk tradition the tunes I play together here are to be found close together in the source book! I had learnt Y Lili some years earlier, from an album recorded in the late seventies by Cromlech. It was played on the bagpipes, which explain why my version of the third section of the tune is mostly an octave lower than the version everyone else plays!

2'40'' Hoffedd Eryri
   Hoffedd ap Hywel (ap Hywel's Fancy); Knights of Snowdon
The first 9/8 Welsh tune I ever learnt- I don't remember who from! I first heard the jig 'Knights of Snowdon' while sitting in with local band Aderyn Pryn- the soaring second half of the tune attracted me immediately. A special mention here for Paul Airey on guitar (stalwart of the Bangor sessions), and Meg for composing the infamous 11/8 link bar!

4'12'' Ar Lan Y Môr
   (By the Sea)
A very well known song, given a more unusual instrumental treatment. After the guitars, the tune is played on the Saltarelle C#/D. Special thanks must again go to Meg for the vocals in the coda.

4'19'' Yr Hen Gwcw (200K sample)
   Hen Ferchetan (Old Maiden); Nyth Y Gwcw (The Cuckoo's Nest); Processional Morris
I learned the first tune from Huw 'Bach' Roberts; the other two can be found in the 'Blodau'r Grug' collection, although other versions of the Cuckoo's Nest abound Featuring the one-row Cajun box in C, and Meg and our son David on multiple overdubbed bodhràns. I let my imagination go a bit with this arrangement, with mediaeval and Breton influences, before ending up with a Morris orchestra...

2'10'' Iach i ti, Gymru
   (A Health to You, Wales)
I asked Paul Airey if he had any favourite Welsh tunes, and he came up with this gem he'd picked up from from one of the 'Ar Log' albums. Just a very simple uncluttered arrangement.

3'14'' 'Y Set Morus'
   Chwe Bechgyn Glan Fri (You true-hearted lads); Meillionen (Clover)
Not Morris tunes really, but I gave them the treatment with my Morris box. But perhaps a slight mis-translation of the title of the first one could be 'Six Good Men and True' - a Morris team? Kate, our Never Mind the Bocs woodwind star made her recording debut here (at ten years old!), with a clarinet bass line in the second tune.

3'40'' Y Ffidil Newydd
   Ffidl Ffadl (Fiddle Faddle); Y Delyn Newydd (The New Harp); Ffidl Ffadl
A fairly straight bash through these well known dance tunes on the dry-tuned Hohner D/G. It could be argued that they suffer from being too well known, at least here in Wales, but I still think they're good fun. Look out for me and Meg on 'bendy plastic bodhràns'...

3'45'' Llongau Caernarfon (300K sample)
   (Ships of Caernarfon)
Time for some more atmospherics, with two fretless basses and electric piano backing up the C#/D Saltarelle. I often used to think of this tune when we visited the docks around Caernarfon castle to fish for crabs from the quay, surrounded by coils of rope and other maritime paraphernalia. In fact, the tune came from Norway originally- another stowaway from foreign parts.

3'54'' Ffrindiau Da
   (''Good Friends'' - Lillemor; The Hermit of Myddfai; Meg's Fancy)
Three of my own tunes, each of which relates to a good friend. The waltz was composed in memory of Lillemor Crowther, known as Lillie, a vivacious member of the Eryri Morris team who died rather suddenly and unexpectedly some years ago. The second tune is a hornpipe, and the title refers to the sorry spectacle of Pete (bassist, fiddler, banjo player, co-producer of this album, and now member of Never Mind the Bocs) discovered in fingerless gloves and overcoat huddled in front of a very small fire in mid-winter. 'Myddfai' was the name of the house in Bangor where he rented a room (double glazing not included). Finally, the jig was written for Meg; lots of love, etc...

1'52'' Pibddawns Pen Rhos
   (The Pen Rhos Hornpipe)
Another one gleaned from the Robin Huw Bowen book. I've always loved the special sound of the outer row on my Saltarelle, so I've played this in C# major as if it was a one-row 'box.

2'45'' Lliw Lili Ymysg Y Drain
   (Colour of the Lily among the Heather)
A beautiful, haunting tune- the first of a two-part showcase for Jen Whalley on hammered dulcimer. The 'film score' arrangement came afterwards, but the foundation was always Jen's supremely musical playing. By way of contrast, it leads straight into...

2'25'' Dwr Glân (240K sample)
   (Fresh Water)
... a jaunty melody well suited to both squeezebox and dulcimer. Perhaps the instrumentation and feel suggests a continental café rather than the wonderful 'Pete's Eats' in Llanberis, but there we are...

3'20'' Ffarwel i Langyfelach Lon
   (Farewell to fair Llangyfelach)
A song taken from the excellent 'Mabsant' collection, published by Y Lolfa. I was in some doubt as to whether this arrangement was too far removed in style to fit in with the rest of the album, what with the Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays influences. But then I reasoned that the whole idea was to take some of these tunes further than is usually the case...

4'00'' Machynlleth (150K sample)
This four-part tune starts off fairly sane, but a foray into trad jazz ensues, and then things get even more out of hand...

Total (14 tracks): 46'16''

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