As founding members of the multi award-winning band CALAN, Angharad Jenkins and Patrick Rimes have spent fifteen years at the cutting edge of Welsh traditional music, constantly bending and beating it into unfamiliar shapes with their relentlessly innovative interpretations of old repertoire. Through five studio albums and gruelling tours across 3 continents has grown a deep musical rapport, a shared instinctive musical language…and a yearning to hear these ancient melodies as they are; raw and unfiltered.
Despite both having extremely broad, multi-instrumental and genre-hopping musical portfolios, Angharad and Patrick are primarily associated with the Welsh fiddle tradition – a style which they have both helped to shape in their own ways in recent years. In ‘Amrwd’ (the Welsh for raw) we hear the unadulterated earthy sound of the strings as both fiddles circle each other in a lively conversation, as well as the pair’s rich singing voices – garnished with occasional foot percussion and piano.
Although ‘Amrwd’ is a debut record for this duo, it has been forged over many years spent honing their craft, mining the archives for tunes and songs, and discovering the secrets of their tradition. Old favourites such as Myfanwy, Calon Lan and Tra Bo Dau sit alongside pieces that slipped further out of Wales’ musical memory – from rousing dance tunes to agricultural work songs, and this traditional material is complemented by the occasional original composition.