As a parallel project to his Telyn Rawn album, the harpist Rhodri Davies invited his friends to produce a specific musical response to each of his eighteen improvisations. The contributors on Relics of the Horsehair Harp (AMGEN 010) are all talented outstanding improvisers and players, and it so happens some are known to us for their previous highly individual contributions to music, including the worlds of modern folk and acoustic playing – Phil Tyler, C Joynes, Richard Dawson…there’s also Jem Finer, Stevie Wishart, jazz genius Pat Thomas, Angharad Jenkins, Laura Cannell…many if not all of these will have previously collaborated with Rhodri in some context.
The original Telyn Rawn came out in 2020 – it was played on a horsehair harp, which was built for him specially (requiring a small team of specialists); presumably it’s all part of Rhodri’s plan to reinvigorate Welsh culture and identity through the history of its music, and these historical instruments (as he did on Telyn Wrachiod, where he explored the pegged Bray harp). In passing his original 2020 improvisations to the players on this record, he devised quite specific instructions; they had to imagine that Rhodri’s music was somehow “ancient”, dating from the medieval period, and their response had to be something that took place centuries later. Using prose instructions for directions, interaction, gameplay or role-playing has been used by certain improvising players in history (Chris Cutler, John Zorn, Rova Saxophone Quartet), but Rhodri’s approach is unusual – requiring the use of creative thought, inviting speculation on history, and thereby (we hope) arriving at new insights into the way that music, art, and culture can evolve. It seems less formulaic than just handing out colour-coded cards, or printed with prose updates on Oblique Strategies.
The resulting miniatures here are more than just good music, and the project somehow amounts to something more than an intriguing collaborative experiment; at its best, the album invokes the deeps of musical history so profoundly that it almost allows us to travel through time and space, an impression I personally felt most strongly when hearing Dawson’s ‘A Garden Farewell’, with its gentle off-beat guitar work recorded with birdsong in the open air. Besides guitars, you will also hear the hurdy-gurdy, the recorder, the banjo, the fiddle, the Scots small pipes, the flute, the viola – and even some electronics and computer music. I think this release is testament to the power of imagination. The album presents a fascinating enigma in 18 chapters; Rhodri Davies has enabled and realised a profoundly human and moving statement. (02/04/2024)