Chris Knowles
Musical biography......
The past.....
From starting out playing electric and acoustic guitars, Chris went on to explore various styles of music, and many other instruments including tin whistle, fiddle, shakuhachi, mandolin, dulcimer, bouzouki, crwth, bowed psaltery, hammered dulcimer, and others.
Eventually taking up the celtic harp in 1986, he decided to concentrate on that as his main instrument, and traditional celtic music in particular- including much Welsh, Scottish, and some Manx and Cornish folk music, as well as Irish- this soon evolved into a full-time profession.Based in Wales, from the late 80's & throughout the 90's Chris played solo harp performances, including private bookings, public recitals and live background music, work with theatre productions, and events for CADW at many castles in Wales. He also did recording and live performance work for various projects, including recording and festival performances with nature poet and artist Clyde Holmes, plus session recording work for various studios and artists, and appearances on TV & radio programs.
During this time he also played in a duo with uilleann piper Allan Moller, and they appeared at many festivals, arts centres, folk clubs and other venues throughout the UK. At the time they were one of very few acts in the world playing the rare combination of uilleann pipes and celtic harp together in a duo; the duo repertoire was mostly Irish music, with some Welsh and other celtic material. Their appearances included headlining at Pontardawe International Music Festival Festival (1989 & 1990) and at the week-long Isle of Islay Celtic Festival for 2 years running (1990 & 1991), Glastonbury Celtic Festival (1991), and they played privately for H.M. The Queen on her first visit to Conwy Castle in 1991.In the mid- 90's Chris and Allan teamed up with the trio 'Hin Deg' from South Wales consisting of renowned Welsh singer Heather Jones, plus fiddle & bouzouki player and arranger Mike Lease (an all-Ireland competition finalist and 2nd in the UK Irish fiddle competition, Mike was a founder member of the legendary Welsh band 'Yr Hwntws') and fine fiddler, bodhran player & clog dancer Jane Ridout. This 5-piece trad. Welsh folk band was called 'Hafren', and over a period of 4 years or so they played concerts, festivals (including Cambridge folk festival) and appeared on live radio sessions and several TV programmes for BBC, HTV and S4C.
Another musical partnership during this time was with acclaimed acoustic guitarist Anthony Griffiths, including occasional performances as a harp/guitar duo, and recording several tracks together on Anthony's CD "Ysbryd".
In 1998 Chris and Allan formed a trio called 'Howling at Ravens' with Ben Walker, an excellent jazz multi-instrumentalist from Manchester, who had become involved with trad. Irish music. Ben played flutes, whistle, uilleann pipes, keyboards, saxophone, synth, percussion and other instruments. Although this band was short-lived, they played some concerts & festivals including Glastonbury Festival (2000), and they recorded a CD 'Lovely Molly', an intriguing mixture of some pure traditional Irish and other celtic pieces, and some rather surreal arrangements (with a dash of quirky musical humour here and there...) - the album attracted considerable critical acclaim in some trad. folk music circles and was played on radio including Mike Harding's folk programme on BBC Radio2, a 1 hour special feature with live interview on Radio Scotland, and various stations in the USA and Canada. (See Recordings page)
Chris was also a member of a contemporary folk band called 'Roam' for four years (1999-2003); this band featured the original songs of Colin Rudd and the versatile voice of singer Rachael Anne Davies. Roam recorded two CDs, and played many folk clubs and a few festivals, mainly in the North of England.
From 2004 to 2009, Chris performed mainly in a duo with Ben Walker, playing both private bookings and public performances, festivals etc. including a short tour of concerts in Canada in July 2005.
The present.....
Chris presently plays both public and private solo bookings, and also in duos with Ben Walker or fiddler Gary Matthewson.
Both duos play traditional celtic music for private bookings such as weddings, corporate events etc. as 'The Gold Ring' - (Website: www.celticweddingmusic.co.uk ).
In the duo with Gary Matthewson, the music is specifically trad. Irish instrumental, and Chris plays harp, bouzouki, whistle and low D whistle.In their public concerts, Chris and Ben Walker normally play a very different kind of set consisting mainly of Ben's own songs, with just a few celtic instrumentals for variety.
These songs are more contemporary in style, with a subtle eclectic mixture of musical influences including appalachian, jazz, latin and other styles. In these songs Chris plays bouzouki and electric mandolin, as well as harp (see videos on links page for a few examples).Other current collaborations include occasional performances and recording with singer/songwriter and bodhran player Catrin O'Neill , and Mike Lease.
Chris also often plays for ceilidhs with local North Wales-based ceilidh band Mooncoin, where he plays mainly fiddle, whistle, low D whistle & alto sax.
(Mooncoin website: www.mooncoin.co.uk).
He is also available for other types of music performance, including early/mediaeval music for mediaeval banquets (celtic harp, whistle, low G whistle, mandolin) and recording session work (celtic harp, bouzouki, whistles).