Carreg Lafar is a contemporary traditional

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

folk band. Formed in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

by Rhian Evan-Jones, Antwn Owen-Hicks, James Rourke, Linda Owen Jones, and Simon O'Shea, ''Carreg Lafar'' means "a speaking stone", or "echo stone". Carreg Lafar is one of the bands that has been at the forefront of the Welsh traditional music scene. The group has performed throughout

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and uses a mix of traditional and original music to convey a contemporary and fresh approach, whilst staying firmly rooted in the language and tradition of Welsh song and dance music. The material is arranged for traditional and contemporary instruments including

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, pibgorn (hornpipe),

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

, and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, together with dynamic vocals. The group has made three albums with

Sain Records Sain (Welsh for ''Audio'', ), in full – ''Sain (Recordiau) Cyf.'' (Audio (Records) Ltd) is a Welsh record label, which took part in the Welsh folk revival. History Sain was founded in Cardiff in 1969 by singers and songwriters Dafydd Iwan and ...

, Ysbryd y Werin ( cy, Spirit of the People), Hyn ( cy, This) and Profiad ( cy, Experience). Carreg Lafar released their debut album ''Ysbryd y Werin'' in November 1995. The album received great reviews from the folk music press in the UK and North America. In 1997, Carreg Lafar launched ''Ysbryd y Werin'' in North America with a two-week tour of the States. The band's second album, ''Hyn'', was released in August 1998 and also received rave reviews in folk and roots music magazines in the UK and North America. ''Living Tradition'' called it "Welsh folk music at its best." The band launched its third album, ''Profiad'', in August 2002, at the Lorient Interceltic Festival in

. Living Tradition magazine said that "This (Profiad) is the most impressive album yet from Welsh band Carreg Lafar." and "I hope....they are able to use this terrific album as a springboard to the wider audience they so obviously deserve."

fRoots ''fRoots'' (pronounced "eff-Roots", originally ''Folk Roots'') was a specialist music magazine published in the UK between 1979 and 2019. It specialised in folk and world music, and featured regular compilation downloadable albums, with occa ...

magazine also reviewed Profiad. "At a time when so many Welsh releases are pushing the envelope and seeking to stand in line with a wider world - all honorable and worthy aims - it's refreshing to come right back to the core and listen to the excellence that Welsh trad, done well, can conjure." The current line up still includes four of the original band members, Linda Owen Jones (voice), Rhian Evan Jones (fiddle) James Rourke (flute and whistles) and Antwn Owen Hicks (voice, pibgorn, bagpipes and whistle). Since 2007, Danny KilBride has been the guitarist. Other musicians that have performed with the band are; Dylan Davies (guitar), Lawson Dando (guitar and keyboards) Gafin Morgan (pibgorn and bagpipes), Gerard KilBride (pibgorn and bagpipes),

Robin Huw Bowen Robin Huw Bowen (born 1957) is a player of the Welsh triple harp, known in Welsh as ''Telyn Deires'' ( en, Three-row Harp),. He was awarded the Glyndŵr Award in 2000. Born into the Welsh community in Liverpool, England, into a family originall ...

(

triple harp The triple harp is a type of multi-course harp employing three parallel rows of strings instead of the more common single row. One common version is the Welsh triple harp (Welsh: ''telyn deires''), used today mainly among players of traditional W ...

) and Andy Mclaughlin (flute, whistle and pibgorn).

References

External links

Carreg Lafar.

Welsh pipers Antwn Owen Hicks and Gafin Morgan (Dwylaw Cwyth) and Bagad Pibau Morgannwg.
{{Authority control Celtic music groups Musical groups established in 1994 Welsh-language bands Musical groups from Cardiff Welsh-speaking musicians 1994 establishments in Wales