Ancient bards, Welsh gipsies, and Celtic folklore in the cauldron of regeneration

Western Folklore, Fall 1998 by Blyn-Ladrew, Roslyn

Although the descendants of the Wood family would eventually achieve success and respect throughout Wales, the family's early reception was apparently no more favorable than it would have been for any other Gipsies. This is in keeping with the general "settled" response to Gipsies and their image in Welsh literature. The romantic allure of the Gipsy caravan and wandering life had not yet entered the popular imagination, at least not according to the limited accounts available for this time and place. Again, when viewed from today's perspective, it serves as a reminder of how unexpected John Roberts's success was.

As time passed, the Wood family remained in Wales; despite prejudice, there was much intermarriage with the Welsh. Many marriages also took place between both first and second cousins, but there is little mention of extensive interaction with more distant English Gipsies, who would have been an expected source for potential spouses. Although with its many children the family ensured its cohesiveness into the twentieth century, there is little sense of Gipsy identity among current descendants (Jarman and Jarman 1991:141), and many descendants were so aware of "the disapproving society in which they lived" that many ofJohn Roberts's great- and greatgreat-grandchildren would not know the family history, let alone take pride in it (Roberts 1981:8). Eldra Jarman's own Gipsy background was kept hidden from her until childhood inquiries forced her parents to reveal the truth (Jarman and Jarman 1991:ix).

The distinctive physical appearance has diminished and virtually no descendants speak Romani. With the exception of the harp-playing ofJohn Roberts's son William (1865-ca. 1935) and his great-granddaughter Eldra Roberts Jarman, there is little suggestion of musical continuity, despite the twentieth-century folk music revival which has created a more positive environment for folk music than existed in the nineteenth century. The two other players who are described as musically active in the mid-twentieth century, grandsons of Ernest (1862-ca. 1962) and William (1865-ca. 1935), are listed as violinists, one in jazz, the other's style being unspecified (Jarman and Jarman 1991:143).

Ironically, the family's musical tradition, especially the triple-harp play@ ing has been kept alive more recently by non-Gipsy performers, most notably Nansi Richards (1888-1979) and current top performers Dafydd and Gwyndaf Roberts and Robin Huw Bowen (Manning 1994), who claim connection to the tradition through Richards. Richards was from the Newtown area, near the Roberts' home, and says that when she was young she heard the Roberts/Wood Gipsy harpists play and learned from them (Martin n.d.). Several recordings of her playing exist, from which younger players continue to learn. The present revival of interest in the Welsh Gipsy harp tradition by non-Gipsies reverses the process by which the Roberts family achieved fame.

THE DECLINE OF WELSH FOLK TRADITIONS

The decline of Welsh folk music, dancing, storytelling and related traditions following the Welsh religious revivals of the seventeenth to twentieth centuries has often been observed (Blyn-LaDrew 1996, D. Gareth Evans 1989:75-95, 245-70, E. D. Evans 1993:70-97, Gwyndaf 1989:11, Gwynn Williams 1975:119-21, Thomas 1974:80-100). A typical example of the attitude to worldly entertainments was expressed by Rhys Prydderch (ca. 1620-99), a Carmarthenshire minister who listed mixed dancing as the first of twelve sins found in his Gemmau Doethineb [Gems of Proverbial Wisdom], a book which discussed the "Foolhardy Age" in which he lived (Prydderch 1714:107-14; translated in Gwynn Williams 1975:119-20). Other sins included sorcery and having long hair! The work was so popular that an extract of conversations between nine sinners (including a dancer and a musician) and a minister was published separately. The dancer claims that the music makes people happy, that it means no harm and that he never heard of it causing harm. The minister replies that any healing by music is like deceitful teaching, that it will not last, that Moses was angry when he saw the dancing associated with the Golden Calf, and that dancing caused the unwise oath of Herod and the beheading ofjohn the Baptist! (Prydderch 1766: 13-14, translated in Gwynn Williams 1975:120-21). Numerous other examples of such warnings exist.