Giles Lewin is a British
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist and
bagpiper. Currently a member of
The Carnival Band, he was also a founding member of the folk band,
Bellowhead.
Biography
He was born in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
in 1960 or slightly earlier. At age nine, he sang the female lead in
Mozart's "
Bastien et Bastienne". At
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
he acquired a love of
Irish traditional music
Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland.
In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...
. His admiration for
William Lawes
William Lawes (April 160224 September 1645) was an English composer and musician.
Life and career
Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral, ...
led him to join a group called The Medieval Players (1981–1987). In 1983 they performed
Rabelais's "
Gargantua
''The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel'' (french: La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais, telling the adventures of two giants, Gargantua ( , ) and his son Pantagruel ...
" with actors, puppets and acrobats. Their version of medieval music was gutsy, compared to most early music consorts of the time. In 1987 he became a founder member of the
Dufay Collective. He was also a member of the group "Afterhours" (1989–1995).
In 1989 Lewin spent several months in Cairo to study
Arabic violin under Ashraf al Sarki. Lewin is a vocalist and plays fiddle, vielle, rebec, gittern, shawms, recorder, mandolin, pipe and tabor. His most remarkable skills are as a player of the Arabic violin and as a player of the single-drone medieval bagpipes. He is an occasional member of the Egyptian group Maqaam.
The Carnival Band evolved out of The Medieval Players. The combination of Giles Lewin, Andy Watts, Bill Badley and Jub dates from 1985. They have recorded as a backing band for
Maddy Prior
Madelaine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the police ...
. Lewin joined up with Vivien Ellis, another member of the Dufay Collective and the Carnival Band to become the duo Alva in 1997, specialising in the music of the troubadours. The songs on "The Bells of Paradise" were first performed at the 2003
York Early Music Festival. Alva also performed at St John's, Smith Square in 2001 as part of a live performance for BBC's "Late Junction". Ellis has been a member of
Sinfonye since 1989, and is a member of The Broadside Band. She is involved with jazz, singing with
Keith Tippett
Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary ...
. Marguerite Hutchison, a member of
Magpie Lane, also occasionally performs with Lewin as a duo.
In 2004 Lewin became a founder member of
Bellowhead and left in 2008, he was replaced by
Sam Sweeney
Sam Sweeney (born 27 February 1989 in Nottingham) is a multi-instrumental English folk musician.
Career
Sweeney was introduced to folk music as a child via his parents' record collection and taught himself to play traditional pieces by ear. ...
.
In 2008 he accompanied Maddy Prior at the
BBC Electric Proms.
Lewin is currently based in Oxford.
Solo release
In 2008 Lewin released a solo album ''The Armchair Orienteer (PRKCD103)'', including a mix of traditional folk tunes and some original tracks. ''Folkworld'' said of the album "the most impressing thing is Giles' versability in quite a lot and quite different styles".
FolkWorld CD Reviews
FolkWorld, Issue 38, March 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
Discography
Dufay Collective (with Giles Lewin)
* - A L'Estampida: medieval dance music (1991)
* - A Dance in the Garden of Mirth: medieval instrumental music (1994)
* - Miri It Is: songs and instrumental music from medieval England (1995)
Dufay Collective (with Giles Lewin and Vivien Ellis)
* - Johnny, Cock thy Beaver: popular music-making in 17th century England (1996)
* - On the Banks of the Seine: music of the trouveres (1997)
* - Miracles: 13th century Spanish songs in Praise of the Virgin Mary (1997)
* - Cancionero - Music for the Spanish Court 1470-1520 (2002)
* - Music for Alfonzo the Wise (2005)
* - A L'Estampida - 15¾th Anniversary Edition (2005)
Afterhours
* - Hung Up and Dry (1992)
* - Up to Here (1994)
Maddy Prior and The Carnival Band
* - Carols and Capers (1991)
* - Hang Up Sorrow And Care (1995)
* - Ringing the Changes (2007)
Alva (Giles Lewin and Vivien Ellis)
* - Love Burns in Me (2002)
* - The Bells of Paradise (2004)
Giles Lewin, David Miller, London Camerata et al.
*- Shakespeare's Musicke (1993)
Philip Pickett, New London Consort, Nigel Eaton
Nigel Eaton is a British multi-instrumentalist and composer best known for playing the hurdy-gurdy. Born in Lyndhurst, Eaton played the piano and cello before switching to the hurdy-gurdy in 1981 when his father, Christopher Eaton, began manufact ...
, Giles Lewin et al.
*- Tielman Susato - Danserye 1551 (1993)
Invocation (Julia Gooding, Timothy Roberts, Giles Lewin et al.)
*- Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies (1995)
Ian Giles, John Spiers, Jon Boden, Giles Lewin
*- An English Folk Christmas (2006)
Giles Lewin
*- The Armchair Orienteer (2008)
*- Time's Chariot (2016)
Maddy Prior with Hannah James & Giles Lewin
*- Three For Joy (2012)
*- Shortwinger (2017)
See also
* British violinists
References
External links
The Dufay Collective
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewin, Giles
Bagpipe players
British violinists
British male violinists
English violinists
English folk musicians
Living people
People from Essex
20th-century births
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Oxford
21st-century violinists
21st-century British male musicians
Bellowhead members