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ENCORE!
(Cymraeg)

If you’ve ever wondered why Wales is called the ‘land of song’, The National Library of Wales’s summer exhibition will aim to answer your question.

Held from 3 May to 29 October 2005, Encore! – Music in Wales records Wales’s strong relationship with music from the Middle Ages to the latest CDs and fanzines.

One of the most important exhibits at the exhibition will be the famous Robert ap Huw manuscript of c. 1613. This is the earliest manuscript containing Welsh traditional music and the oldest example of music for the harp. Part of the manuscript’s fame is that it is written in Robert ap Huw’s unique notation. The manuscript, which was referred to by composers as far from Wales as Vivaldi, has caused heated debate over the centuries as musicians try and decipher the music it contains. Ap Huw’s manuscript is in fact gaining in popularity and prestige as a new generation of musicians in Wales and especially in Ireland play his music. The manuscript is kept at the British Library in London but has graciously been lent to The National Library of Wales for the Encore! exhibition.

Encore! is supported by Cwmni Recordiau Sain cyf. Sain will also publish their whole back-catalogue on an MP3 player and it will be given free as a prize during the exhibition.

Among the other fascinating collections at the Encore! exhibition are:

• The original manuscript of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau (under its original title, Glan Rhondda)
• A copy of the London Illustrated News 1873 when Wales was given the title, ‘the Land of Song’ following the resounding success of the United Choir of South Wales, winning the Challenge Cup at the Crystal Palace
• Antient British Music – the oldest printed publication of Welsh music, 1742
• The archive of Y Blew – the first Welsh-language pop group
• Editions of Welsh language pop magazines - Asbri, Sgrech and Selar
• Photographs of Ivor Novello, Cerys Matthews, Super Furry Animals and Tom Jones and numerous other past and present Welsh music stars
• Portrait of Bryn Terfel and Syr Geraint Evans
• A jukebox of some of Sain’s most recent releases

Many events have also been organised to coincide with the exhibition, including a night in the company of the singer and record label founder, Dafydd Iwan; a performance of the traditional Welsh triple harp by Robin Huw Bowen, a talk about the significant ap Huw manuscript, films and jazz, folk and classical evenings.

Encore! – Music in Wales
3 May – 29 October 2005
Free entrance
For further information:
Siôn Jobbins, Press Office: 01970 632902 sij@llgc.org.uk