Bibiel Hears Things: Orphy Robinson – “Nude, Lewd, Rude, Mood Food”

Hey people! Today I thought I’d share with you a very interesting piece, from a project which I’ve become familiar with quite recently. In January 2020, Welsh harpist Rhodri Davies, who works in the field of free improvisation/reductionism, released “Telyn Rawn”, an album of improvisations played on an instrument of the same name – a mediaeval Welsh harp strung with plaited horsehair, as opposed to the now more normie gut or wire. The earliest known reference to the horsehair harp appears in the 13th century manuscripts of the Laws of Hywel Dda – it would have been the instrument of travelling minstrels and bards – and one of the last that were made in Wales, prior to the one commissioned by Davies, was referenced around two hundred years ago. Four years later, he invited some of his favourite musicians to respond to his improvised pieces, asking them to imagine that the original music was actually an ancient musical form that had fully existed in the mediaeval period, whereas they…