From the Cledry Plays collected and written by Robert Morton Nance, the Cornish Language scholar and revivalists during the early part of the 20th Century.
Lastly, could you tell me more about Cornish Bagpipes? I’ve heard the pairing of the words many times, but not much about their history. The earliest reference to pipers and bagpipes in Cornwall are found in the Cornish Mystery plays where the piper is told to play for dancing.
I want to talk to you about the recently established Cornish National Music Archive. How and why was this formed? The inspiration really came from the Cornish Music Guild. This was set up in the 1980s to highlight the work of Cornish musicians and composers and create a platform
Could you tell us more about yourselves: How you & and Alison introduce Cornish Step Dancing to local schools? Yes, Alison and I take on various persona and costume from history to tell the story of Cornish dance, people like Harry and Carrie. They were itinerant entertainers in
How were you discovering Cornish tunes? Travelling to the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland encouraged us to look out for Cornish tunes and dances, it created a demand for performance material if you like. There was already a small cannon of material there anyway, people like Ralph Dunstan and
On the 25th November, Chris Trevena met with Merv Davey in St. Austell. This is the first article. We cover when music first happened, finding a Cornish community in London, and some Cornish music roots. Pur dha, I’m Merv Davey I usually describe myself as an itinerant bagpiper. I’m
Saint Dennis Male Voice Choir was formed in 1922 with Marsh Kessell as its first musical director. Upon his retirement, Captain Hedley Martin took over until the outbreak of World War Two forced the choir to disband. The choir was re-formed in 1946 by Stanley Treloar whose son, Harold, took
