Tros
y dwr i draeth Llansteffan - Over
the sea to Llansteffan - is the title of this old Welsh
tune. To harpists who came
to the summer schools organised by Ysgol y Delyn at Ferryside
in the 1970s, Llansteffan really was the romantic village
just across the water, the sandy estuary of the river Tywi,
site of an ancient river crossing on the route to Pembroke
and Ireland.
In the BBC television film 'Their Harps of Gold', the five harpists
who gave the first performance of this arrangement - Caryl Thomas,Valerie
Aldrich-Smith, Siwan Jones, Shan Llewellyn-Jones and Adrienne
Cowen - can be heard and seen playing it on the beach at Ferryside,
with the sun shining on the river Tywi, the fishermen plying
their nets, and Llansteffan and its castle in the background. |