Rhodri Davies (musician)

Rhodri Davies (born December 1971) is a Welsh musician and composer. He is a harp player working within the field of free improvisation. He was one of the most prominent members of the London reductionist school of improvised music that was active in the late 1990s and early 2000sBell, Clive, ”The Other Side of Silence”, The Wire, (issue 260, October 2005) pp.32–39 and which has been described as being "extremely influential over the last decade".Saunders, James, The Ashgate Research Companion to Experimental Music, (Ashgate, 2009), p.228 More recently (2013-present), Davies has been a member of the band Hen Ogledd alongside Dawn Bothwell, Richard Dawson and Sally Pilkington.

Davies is also active in the field of contemporary composition where he has commissioned new works for the harp from leading avant-garde composers. He has also worked as an orchestral player and as a session musician for Charlotte Church and Cinematic Orchestra amongst others.Hamilton, Andy, "Invisible Jukebox: Rhodri Davies", The Wire (issue 318, August 2010) pp.28–31 He has appeared on over 60 commercially available recordings.

He has created a number of installations and performances which involve destroying or disassembling the harp. In 2010 he was longlisted for the Northern Arts PrizeLonglist for the 2010 Northern Arts Prize and in 2012 he received the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award.“Foundation for Contemporary Arts Announces Grants to Artists for 2012”, FCA, January 2012

He was a board member of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2008-2014) and a trustee of the AV Festival (2010-2015).Artist biography at Foundation for Contemporary Arts website

Improvisation

Davies started playing the harp at the age of seven and went on to study with Hugh Webb and Sioned Williams. Writing in Coda magazine David Lewis described him as "the most radical" of the harp players working within the field of improvised music as "he approached [the harp] as a sculptural sound object rather than as an established musical tool with a pre-designated musical role." Davies uses preparations such as wine corks along with a variety of beaters and resonators to tease out different timbres from the instrument. He sometimes employs an ebow to induce a harmonic drone.Lewis, David, "Changing Harp: The Radical Art of Rhodri Davies”, Coda (May/June 2004), pp.6–7

According to Davies, the reductionist school of improvisation with which he was associated in the late 1990s and early 2000s emerged as a result of "being disinterested in the busy, non-stop, energetic gesture playing. We associated that more with a link to free jazz, remnants of which were in Improv." Critic Ben Watson described Davies' playing as "[Derek] Bailey's guitar writ large, the soundworld of Pierre Boulez shot through with the funk and low humour repartee of the improvisor [sic]".Watson, Ben, "Company, New York Tonic" in The Wire, (issue 208, June 2001), p.87

His collaborators have included David Toop, Max Eastley, Derek Bailey and Evan Parker and he has long-term musical relationships with John Butcher and the groups The Sealed Knot (with Burkhard Beins and Mark Wastell), SLW (with Burkhard Beins, Lucio Capece and Toshimaru Nakamura), Cranc (with Angharad Davies and Nikos Veliotis) and Common Objects (various musicians).

In 2011 he was part of a group of musicians selected to represent the British improvised music scene in a festival entitled "Just Not Cricket" in Berlin which was filmed as the basis for a forthcoming documentary.Graham, Steven, “Just Not Cricket Festival of Improvised Music Confirmed For Berlin”, Jazzwise (August 2011)

Other improvising harpists include Alice Coltrane, Zeena Parkins, Anne Le Baron, Clare Cooper, Helene Breschand and Carol Emanuel.

New music Davies is also active in the field of contemporary composition and new pieces for harp have been composed for him by leading avant-garde composers including Éliane Radigue,Cain, Nick, "Triptych: The Music of Eliane Radigue" concert review The Wire (issue 330, August 2011)Schutze, Paul "Surround Sound" interview with Eliane Radigue in Frieze (issue 142, October 2011) Phill Niblock,Programme note AV Festival 2012 Christian Wolff and Ben Patterson.Programme note Huddersfield Contemporary Music 2010 He has performed and recorded the music of Cornelius Cardew and Otomo Yoshihide and is a member of the new music ensemble Apartment House.Group membership list at Apartment House artist website

He was part of an ensemble selected to interpret new aural scores by Luc Ferrari, David Grubbs and others at Tate Modern in 2005."The Sound of Heaven and Earth" Tate Modern event page In 2009 he performed as part of British composer Richard Barrett's ensemble fORCH at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in a concert recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3 "Hear and Now" (25 January 2010) programme details

He is a co-founder & co-organiser of NAWR, a multidisciplinary concert series in Swansea and Hay-on-Wye of experimental music, free improvisation, film, lo-fi, free jazz, sound art, alternative folk and new music.

Installations and performance art

Davies has had an interest in destruction and creation in relation to the harp which he has explored in several recent performance and installation works. In 2008 he collaborated with the founder of Auto-Destructive Art, Gustav Metzger, on a series of events under the title of "Self-Cancellation"”Vanishing Point – Gustav Metzger & Self-Cancellation: Round Table Discussion, Chair Brian Morton” published in Art & Research (Volume 3. No. 1. Winter 2009/10) which took place at the Instal Festival in GlasgowGlasgow Instal 2008 Festival Programme and Beaconsfield in London.Beaconsfield gallery Self-Cancellation event page His performance "Cut and Burn" involved cutting and burning the strings of a concert pedal harp and then restringing the harp. His installation "Room Harp" was exhibited at the Hatton Gallery in Newcastle's Great Northern Museum in 2010.BBC Radio 3, "Hear and Now" (15 May 2010 programme note

Selected discography

Davies appears on over 60 published recordings. Besides those listed, Davies also appears on recordings by Charlotte Church, Cinematic Orchestra, Richard Dawson, Apartment House, Zeitkratzer, Otomo Yoshihide, Furt, fORCH, Chris Burn's Ensemble and Simon Fell's SFE. A full discography can be found at European Free Improvisation Pages.Rhodri Davies, European Free Improvisation Pages

Solo Trem (2002), Confront Recordings Over Shadows (2004), Confront Recordings Duo with John Butcher Vortices and Angels (2001), Emanem – split CD with Derek Bailey/John Butcher Carliol (2010), Ftarri The Sealed Knot (with Burkhard Beins and Mark Wastell) The Sealed Knot (2000), Confront Recordings Surface/Plane (2001), Meniscus Unwanted Object (2004), Confront Recordings And We Disappear (2009), Another Timbre SLW (with Burkhard Beins, Lucio Capece and Toshimaru Nakamura) SLW (2008), Formed Fifteen point nine grams (2009), Organized Music from Thessaloniki Cranc (with Angharad Davies and Nikos Veliotis) All Angels (1999), Edo Copper Fields, (2010), Organized Music From Thessaloniki IST (with Simon H Fell and Mark Wastell) Anagrams to Avoid (1997), SIWA Ghost Notes (1998), Bruce's Fingers lodi (2005), Confront Various Improvising groups Malthouse (1999), 2:13 Records – with John Bisset Company in Marseille (2001), Incus – with Derek Bailey, Simon H Fell, Will Gaines and Mark Wastell Strings with Evan Parker (2001), Emanem – with Evan Parker and various string players Ieirll (2005), QBICO – with Ingar Zach Done (2007), Quakebasket – with Matt Davis and Mark Wastell Cwymp Y Dŵr Ar Ganol Dydd (2006) Confront Recordings – with Traw Valved Strings Calculator (2009), Hibari – with Robin Hayward and Taku Unami Kravis Rhonn Project (2009), Another Timbre – with Annette Krebs Dark Architecture (2009), Another Timbre – with Max Eastley Wunderkamern (2010), Another Timbre – with David Toop and Lee Patterson ""Cornelius Cardew: Works 1960–70" (2010) with John Tilbury, Michael Francis Duch and Rhodri Davies

See also List of free improvising musicians and groups Harp

References

Rhodri Davies (musician)

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