Cornish Music Page
Welcome to my Cornish music page! This page contains information about the music of Cornwall - types of tunes, unique instruments, notable musicians and groups, and more.
General Information
Cornwall, in the far southwestern part of England, is an area that often seems to be overlooked when one thinks of Celtic music. In fact, I have to admit that I overlooked it myself when putting my site together. But, thanks to an e-mail from a very helpful visitor to my site, I've been able to correct that oversight.
Cornish music, dance, and language are quite similar to that of Brittany. One of the interesting components of Cornish music is the noze looan, which literally translates to "happy night." The noze looan is essentially a lively, informal night of music, singing, and dancing. At these events, everyone is encouraged to join in the dancing - if you don't know how, you can learn by watching.
Since this page is still very new, I don't have too much information yet. I'll continue to try finding more information to add, but in the meantime here are some useful links to more information on the music and culture of Cornwall:
- Wikipedia - Culture of Cornwall
- An Daras: The Doorway to Cornish Folk Arts
- Second Wave Dance - A Cornish dance site
Notable Musicians & Groups
- Dalla
- I don't have much information to put here yet, but I hope to have some more soon.
- Group members:
- Hilary Coleman - clarinet, vocals
- Neil Davey - bouzouki, mandolin, fiddle
- Pentorr
- I don't have much information to put here yet, but I hope to have some more soon.
- Group members:
- Will Manley - fiddle
- Helen Manley - bass guitar
- Martin Jump - mandolin
- Louis Phillips - guitar
Unique Instruments
- Bagpipes
- One of the traditional instruments in Cornwall is the bagpipes. Cornish bagpipes are unique in that they are double chanter bagpipes (the chanter is where the fingerholes are). Unfortunately, I have not yet had the opportunity to hear them played, so I don't really know what they sound like.
- Crowdy crawn
- The crowdy crawn is a Cornish version of the bodhrán, which is a type of drum most commonly associated with Irish traditional music. At this point I don't know what differences there may be between the crowdy crawn and the bodhrán.
- Other instruments
- Other instruments that are found in Cornish traditional music include the fiddle, bombarde (which is common in Breton traditional music), and the harp.
Types of Tunes
At this point, I don't know much about the types of tunes that are common in Cornish music. Because of the ties between Cornwall and Brittany, I would imagine that some of the types of tunes listed on my Breton music page are also found in Cornwall. As I find more information on this, I will update this section accordingly.