PIBDDAWNS

"Ceri Rhys Matthews is a one-man Welsh music industry: he plays flute and guitar in the innovative trio Fernhill and collaborates with, and produces, Welsh musicians ranging from harpist Llio Rhydderch to rapper Nobsta Nutts, great exponents both of their respective traditions. At the same time he has diligently researched Welsh music and instruments, such as the pibgorn (hornpipe) and bagpipes - he even runs an international bagpipe festival in his home village.This is the first solo album of music played on the pibe cyrn, a bagpipe / hornpipe combination. It was built using measurements by John Glenydd, with a chanter ending in a bell made of cow's horn, and a single drone. The sound is somewhere between the border pipes, with a hint of their crackling rawness, and Northumbrian smallpipes, and their characteristic popping notes. It is very attractive.Pibddawns includes several hornpipes, such as the haltingly chirpy 'William Southern Clarke's Hornpipe', some jigs ('Evans' Jig' is lovely), and a valedictory homage to Bedwas (a village in Caerphilly and home to a colliery that was shut down in the mid-80s). As with all piping, the attraction lies in the play of melody with (not against) drone, producing chordal textures; and in the limited range of the instrument - tunes are explorations of themes and variations of them. This lends a reflective quality to the music, which is countered by the feeling that, accomplished as the piper may be - and Rhys Matthews certainly is - he is never entirely in control." (Julian May, Songlines)