053 - HARPS & HORNPIPES

NANSI RICHARDS & GYPSY WOODS

NANSI RICHARDS (1888-1979) foremost exponent on the Welsh Triple-harp, with clog-dancer, HYWEL, & brother, MANFRI WOOD, Welsh Romany gypsies. Welsh Romany language spoken & explained, with some fishing & poaching stories, riddles and step-dance tunes together with songs: 5 in Welsh and 3 in English.

1. GYPSY HORNPIPE - Hywel step-dancing to Nansi playing the harp - 1'48"

2. Romany conversation between Manfri and his brother Hywel - 6'34"

3. FURTHER HORNPIPES Nansi (harp) - 2'27"

4. Some Romany words from Hywel - 2'57"

5. NOS GALEN Nansi (harp) - 0'49"

6. Bala Lake fishing story told by Manfri - 3'09"

7. THE FAIRY REEL Nansi (harp) - 1'14"

8. Another fishing story told by Manfri - 3'09"

 9. MOEL YR WYDDFA Nansi (harp) - 1'07"

10. Talk about poachers by Manfri - 3'12"

11. MEN OF HARLECH Nansi (harp) - 2'49"

12. WAS YOU EVER SEE ?(Cosher Bailey) introduced & sung by Hywel - 1'56"

13. THE WREXHAM HORNPIPE Nansi (harp) - 1'36"

14. Y LYFANT A MEDIODD sung in Welsh by Hywel - 0'55"

15. THE GYPSY'S HORNPIPE introduced and played by Nansi (harp) - 2'32"

16. BLWY PENDERYN (Maid from Penderyn) sung in Welsh by Hywel - 3'12"

17. NAPOLEON'S GRAND MARCH Nansi (harp) - 0'22"

18. HORSE-DEALER'S SONG sung in Welsh & English by Hywel - 3'12"

19. THE TAVERN IN THE TOWN Nansi (harp) - 0'33"

20. THREE MEN WENT A-HUNTING introduced & sung in English by Hywel - 1'43"

21. CODIADD YR EHEDYDD (The Rising of the Lark) Nansi (harp) - 2'02"

22. I WAS IN THE HAYSHED sung in Welsh by Hywel - 0'19"

23. RHIF WYTH (Dance) Nansi (harp) - 1'07"

24. THE LADY IN THE PARLOUR (Tune: Mochyn Du) sung in Welsh by Hywel - 1'04"

25. OLD ROBERTS'S BREAKDQWN Nansi (harp) (talk bef) - 0'47"

26. RIDDLES told by Manfri - 4'33"

27. LLWYN ONN (The Ash Grove) Nansi (harp) - 1'20"

Recorded by Peter Kennedy, Penybontfawr, near Oswestry, November 1954. Edited by Peter Kennedy & first published on Folktrax Cassettes 1975. Phonographic copyright control. Unauthorised public performance, broadcasting or copying is prohibited except by permission of FOLKTRAX.

NANSI RICHARDS JONES (1888-1979) started playing the harp when she found an old one standing on a schoolhouse landing. The schoolmaster's son showed her how to play and she played her first air, in her nightdress, at the age of 10. She started learning with Tom Lloyd at 12 years old. She won first prize at the World's Fair in Chicago for both making and playing harps. She attended the Guildhall School of Music for only one year and then left to join the comedienne, "Happy" Fanny Fields, on the Music Halls. There she learned all kinds of stunts, such as playing 2 different tunes simultaneously on 2 harps. She also learned to play the triple harp from travelling street musicians and Welsh Romany gypsies such as David Wood, Jeremiah Wood (Jones) and especially from John Roberts of Newtown, who, with his 9 sons, played for Queen Victoria. Nansi believed that the triple harp, although much harder to play, being made entirely of wood, had a superior tone to the improved Concert Harp. Instead of having pedals for the change of key, the triple harp has 3 sets of strings, the accidentals being played by the left hand. She gave over 2,000 performances, was he official harpist at the National Eisteddfod and in 1967 received an MBE for "her services to music in Wales". Her reminiscences are: CRWPWRDD NANSI (publ. 1972).

MANFRI & HYWEL WOOD, who both died in the 60's, were the last to inherit the authentic Welsh Romany. Buried in adjoining graves alongside their favourite fishing water, Bala Lake, they were two of the five children of the famous Matthew Wood, storyteller and harpist, who was befriended by the painter, Augustus John, and by John Sampson, the most important writer on English and Welsh gypsies in the early part of the century. Manfri, with his specialised knowledge of poaching, was an effective gamekeeper at Maesybronydd, near Bala. Hywel, of Parc, was renowned for his skill as a clog-dancer and can be seen in a film, THE LAST DAYS OF DOLWEN.

J.Sampson: DIALECT OF THE GYPSIES OF WALES (Oxford University Press 1926) & WELSH GYPSY FOLK TALES (in English) (Gregynog Press, Newton, Monmouth, 1933) - IN THE LIFE OF A ROMANY GYPSY ed. John Brune (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973) is Manfri's account of his way of life, taken down on tape by John Brune - "It may clear up some of the misunderstandings that exist to this day between my people and the Gorgios" - see TRADITIONAL MUSIC Magazine No. 6 (1977) p.15.

There is more harp-music by Nansi Richards on 351