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CD
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GB 178CD
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Acclaimed Welsh composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Cerys Hafana's third album, Angel, is a deep exploration of minimalism, traditional and avant-folk music and Hafana's primary instrument the Welsh triple harp. The album alternates between vocal songs (all sung in the Welsh language) and instrumentals, often buoyed by a deft trio of sympathetic and exploratory musicians (drums, double bass, alto sax). The uncommon breadth and innovation of Angel soundly confirms Hafana as one of the UK's most exciting young contemporary folk artists. Their spellbinding music is rich with atmosphere and heart and stubbornly resistant to genre boxes and easy classification. Hafana has been self-releasing their music for a few years, with 2022's Edyf making the Guardian newspaper's Top Ten Folk Album Of The Year list. They also recently had an album of piano pieces called Difrisg released on Instant Karma Classics. Although Hafana is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and considers the piano to be their "main instrument, technically," it's for their work using the Welsh triple harp that they've gained a reputation as an innovative, exploratory, singularly powerful musician. Hafana's harp has a distinct sound, in part because they had the idea of damping the harp's strings using blu-tac to produce a woody, muted sound, after hearing about other harpists threading strips of paper and other material to create a 'buzzy' effect. It's this kind of experimentation that sees them both reach back to artists in the Welsh triple harp tradition like Llio Rhydderch and forward to fellow contemporary artists and sonic adventurers like Rhodri Davies. Hafana's music manages to be immersed in and informed by Welsh harp traditions but also embraces minimalism, jazz, the avant-garde and, particularly on the track "Angel," contemporary Breton folk styles. Hafana says: "on this album I wanted to try to push the musical limits more than I have previously, and to swing between the extremes of dynamics and texture as much as is possible on the instruments at my disposal. Lots of the writing also draws from contemporary Breton folk music with its driving and repetitive dance rhythms, more sparse, contemporary styles of composing and improvising, and some brief moments of very Welsh and traditional harp playing and unaccompanied singing."
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LP
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GB 178LP
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LP version. Acclaimed Welsh composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Cerys Hafana's third album, Angel, is a deep exploration of minimalism, traditional and avant-folk music and Hafana's primary instrument the Welsh triple harp. The album alternates between vocal songs (all sung in the Welsh language) and instrumentals, often buoyed by a deft trio of sympathetic and exploratory musicians (drums, double bass, alto sax). The uncommon breadth and innovation of Angel soundly confirms Hafana as one of the UK's most exciting young contemporary folk artists. Their spellbinding music is rich with atmosphere and heart and stubbornly resistant to genre boxes and easy classification. Hafana has been self-releasing their music for a few years, with 2022's Edyf making the Guardian newspaper's Top Ten Folk Album Of The Year list. They also recently had an album of piano pieces called Difrisg released on Instant Karma Classics. Although Hafana is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and considers the piano to be their "main instrument, technically," it's for their work using the Welsh triple harp that they've gained a reputation as an innovative, exploratory, singularly powerful musician. Hafana's harp has a distinct sound, in part because they had the idea of damping the harp's strings using blu-tac to produce a woody, muted sound, after hearing about other harpists threading strips of paper and other material to create a 'buzzy' effect. It's this kind of experimentation that sees them both reach back to artists in the Welsh triple harp tradition like Llio Rhydderch and forward to fellow contemporary artists and sonic adventurers like Rhodri Davies. Hafana's music manages to be immersed in and informed by Welsh harp traditions but also embraces minimalism, jazz, the avant-garde and, particularly on the track "Angel," contemporary Breton folk styles. Hafana says: "on this album I wanted to try to push the musical limits more than I have previously, and to swing between the extremes of dynamics and texture as much as is possible on the instruments at my disposal. Lots of the writing also draws from contemporary Breton folk music with its driving and repetitive dance rhythms, more sparse, contemporary styles of composing and improvising, and some brief moments of very Welsh and traditional harp playing and unaccompanied singing."
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