Giles Lewin is a British

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist and bagpiper. Currently a member of The Carnival Band, he was also a founding member of the folk band,

Bellowhead Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical sty ...

Biography

He was born in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

in 1960 or slightly earlier. At age nine, he sang the female lead in

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's " Bastien et Bastienne". At

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

he acquired a love of

Irish traditional music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

. His admiration for William Lawes led him to join a group called The Medieval Players (1981–1987). In 1983 they performed Rabelais's "

Gargantua ''La vie tres horrifique du grand Gargantua, père de Pantagruel jadis composée par M. Alcofribas abstracteur de quinte essence. Livre plein de Pantagruelisme'' according to 's 1542 edition, or simply Gargantua, is the second novel by François ...

" with actors, puppets and acrobats. Their version of medieval music was gutsy, compared to most early music consorts of the time. In 1987 he became a founder member of the Dufay Collective. He was also a member of the group "Afterhours" (1989–1995). In 1989 Lewin spent several months in Cairo to study Arabic violin under Ashraf al Sarki. Lewin is a vocalist and plays fiddle, vielle, rebec, gittern, shawms, recorder, mandolin, pipe and tabor. His most remarkable skills are as a player of the Arabic violin and as a player of the single-drone medieval bagpipes. He is an occasional member of the Egyptian group Maqaam. The Carnival Band evolved out of The Medieval Players. The combination of Giles Lewin, Andy Watts, Bill Badley and Jub dates from 1985. They have recorded as a backing band for

Maddy Prior Madeleine Edith Prior MBE (born 14 August 1947) is an English folk rock singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span. She was born in Blackpool and moved to St Albans in her teens. Her father, Allan Prior, was co-creator of the p ...

. Lewin joined up with Vivien Ellis, another member of the Dufay Collective and the Carnival Band to become the duo Alva in 1997, specialising in the music of the troubadours. The songs on "The Bells of Paradise" were first performed at the 2003

York Early Music Festival The York Early Music Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to European classical music, classical music from the 18th century and earlier. It was established in 1977, and takes place in York each July, organised by the National Centr ...

. Alva also performed at St John's, Smith Square in 2001 as part of a live performance for BBC's "Late Junction". Ellis has been a member of Sinfonye since 1989, and is a member of The Broadside Band. She is involved with jazz, singing with

Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "...spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporar ...

. Marguerite Hutchison, a member of

Magpie Lane Magpie Lane is an English folk group, based in Oxford, England. The musicians of Magpie Lane first came together in the winter of 1992–93 to record ''The Oxford Ramble'', a collection of songs and tunes from, or about, Oxfordshire. Originally ...

, also occasionally performs with Lewin as a duo. In 2004 Lewin became a founder member of

and left in 2008, he was replaced by

Sam Sweeney Sam Sweeney (born 27 February 1989 in Nottingham) is a multi-instrumental English folk musician. Career Sweeney was introduced to folk music as a child via his parents' record collection and taught himself to play traditional pieces by ear. ...

. In 2008 he accompanied Maddy Prior at the BBC Electric Proms. Lewin is currently based in Oxford.

Solo release

In 2008 Lewin released a solo album ''The Armchair Orienteer (PRKCD103)'', including a mix of traditional folk tunes and some original tracks. ''Folkworld'' said of the album "the most impressing thing is Giles' versability in quite a lot and quite different styles".FolkWorld CD Reviews
FolkWorld, Issue 38, March 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2013.

Discography

Dufay Collective (with Giles Lewin) * - A L'Estampida: medieval dance music (1991) * - A Dance in the Garden of Mirth: medieval instrumental music (1994) * - Miri It Is: songs and instrumental music from medieval England (1995) Dufay Collective (with Giles Lewin and Vivien Ellis) * - Johnny, Cock thy Beaver: popular music-making in 17th century England (1996) * - On the Banks of the Seine: music of the trouveres (1997) * - Miracles: 13th century Spanish songs in Praise of the Virgin Mary (1997) * - Cancionero - Music for the Spanish Court 1470-1520 (2002) * - Music for Alfonzo the Wise (2005) * - A L'Estampida - 15¾th Anniversary Edition (2005) Afterhours * - Hung Up and Dry (1992) * - Up to Here (1994) Maddy Prior and The Carnival Band * - Carols and Capers (1991) * - Hang Up Sorrow And Care (1995) * - Ringing the Changes (2007) Alva (Giles Lewin and Vivien Ellis) * - Love Burns in Me (2002) * - The Bells of Paradise (2004) Giles Lewin, David Miller, London Camerata et al. *- Shakespeare's Musicke (1993) Philip Pickett, New London Consort, Nigel Eaton, Giles Lewin et al. *- Tielman Susato - Danserye 1551 (1993) Invocation (Julia Gooding, Timothy Roberts, Giles Lewin et al.) *- Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies (1995) Ian Giles, John Spiers, Jon Boden, Giles Lewin *- An English Folk Christmas (2006) Giles Lewin *- The Armchair Orienteer (2008) *- Time's Chariot (2016) Maddy Prior with Hannah James & Giles Lewin *- Three For Joy (2012) *- Shortwinger (2017)

References

External links

The Dufay Collective
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewin, Giles British bagpipe players British male violinists English violinists English folk musicians Living people Musicians from Essex 20th-century births Year of birth missing (living people) Sportspeople from Oxford 21st-century British violinists 21st-century British male musicians Bellowhead members

Biography

Solo release

Discography

See also

References

External links