Deuair – coming all the way from Wales!
Elsa Davies and Ceri Own-Jones comprise Deuair. The name is an old Welsh poetic form (pronounced
day-ire). Ceri plays crwth (an archaic stringed instrument associated with Welsh music) and triple harp
(Welsh: telyn deires) - a harp with three rows of strings instead of the typical single row. Today this harp
is found mainly among players of traditional Welsh music. Elsa Davies plays fiddle. Much of their music is
instrumental. They sing too. Listen: http://deuair.moonfruit.com/ We are thrilled to add them to the
The Christmas Revels cast as tradition bearers.
Welsh folk music is related to the Celtic music of countries such as Ireland and Scotland. Its distinctive
instrumentation and song types are often heard at a twmpath (folk dance sessions), gŵyl werin (folk
festivals) or noson lawen (a traditional party similar to the Gaelic "Céilidh"). Davies and Owen Jones have
not only participated in many such events and gatherings, but with Gwilym Hardy (fiddle) started a folk
music collective called a cerddcegin (kerth-keggin - welsh for 'kitchen music. Their intent is to bring to
life a lost soundworld of traditional Welsh music for people today.
They find, revive, and reconstruct suppressed or forgotten old tunes and songs (suppressed due to the
Act of Union that promoted the English language and due to the rise of the Methodist church in the 18th
and 19th centuries). They learn tunes and songs from older players and singers in Wales and from
material in Welsh archives and libraries. Wales’s documented musical history is quite old. For example,
in 1187 medieval chronicler Geraldus Cambrensis wrote that the Welsh sing “in as many parts as there
are people”, and that small children harmonize. This is the tradition Deuair brings to our production.
They have performed throughout Wales and in Canada. Highlights below:
They have participated in the annual Celtic Festival Interceltique Lorient (Lorient, Brittany, France).
http://www.festival-interceltique.bzh/
They have twice participated in an international music residency at the Banff Centre in Canada (just
completed the second residency in October of this year).
September, 2016 they played for the North American Festival of Wales in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
They are working now on a second recording. Their first CD and other information about them is at
www.deuair.moonfruit.com and www.soundcloud.com/deuair
YouTube Elsa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA17ecw3WhM
Last August, they performed at the Bath Folk Festival (Bath, England)
From the Aberystwyth Music Fest:
Elsa Davies (fiddle and voice) and Ceri Owen-Jones (harp and voice) play traditional tunes, learnt from
friends or brought to life from sleeping manuscripts, and dream mash-up folk music on the West Welsh
coast: a music shaped in warm kitchens and tramping dark, gorse- patched cliffs. New and rare material
is whispered into being – intuitive and emotive, stories colour and glide behind every set.
“Amazing, magical, inspirational, picture forming fantastic music” Aberystwyth Music Festival Fringe 2013