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Written in fRoots issue 210, 2000

LLIO RHYDDERCH
Melangell
Fflach Tradd CD234H (2000)

Not to have heard Llio Rhydderch is to have missed out on a big chunk of the culture of the British Isles. To draw parallels, imagine if Carolan or Robert Johnson were alive today and playing at the height of their powers.
      Not only is she a brilliant triple-harpist in the unbroken Welsh tradition, but she is a high point of that tradition, with playing that’s ongoingly fresh, creative and impeccable, exploring and improvising around strong traditional and her own melodies, expanding them into tightly-structured, flowing pieces of music that continue to change each time she plays them..
      The triple row of strings allows fast reiterative techniques and an incisive playing style far from that of most players of the gilt-laden pedal concert harp which somehow muscled in on the Welsh eisteddfod scene. The album’s clear and upfront production by Ceri Rhys Matthews and Owen Thomas brings out the bright guttiness of Llio’s tall, shapely high-headed instrument, and she has a particularly finely-developed sense of pitch, tuning by ear to intonations which ring together better for the scales she uses than would compromisingly mathematical equal temperament.
      The first album left one intrigued about the origins of the source material, and this time her booklet notes give some indication. As on its predecessor, some of her young students join her here on a few tracks; their playing, and in particular Elin Wyn Jones’s variations, show the effect of Llio’s energy and generosity in making sure that her great tradition, largely ignored for many years, continues with a new generation.


© 2000 Andrew Cronshaw
 

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