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Paul Nicholas | |
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My musical interests are very diverse ranging from folk and popular music to the classics. Although I enjoy playing and performing both guitar and keyboards my main interests are in composition, recording and using computers for midi and hard disk recording. Many of my works have been recorded on disc and have been performed on radio and television. more...  Rhossili |
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Biographical NotesI was born in 1952 in South Wales, U.K. Having a very lively and supportive musical home background encouraged me to study music at Trinity College Carmarthen, guitar under the Cardiff College of Music and Drama and later obtain a degree with the Open University. Since leaving college I have worked as a guitar tutor in local schools and colleges.The Music department at Trinity College Carmarthen has always been supportive of my work in both original composition and in arranging material for small college ensembles and folk groups for use in college concerts and radio broadcasts. Also I was asked to write a number of educational pieces i.e. solos and duets. These were mainly written for guitar and some were used by students in their practical examinations. Consequently in the mid 80's I was commissioned by the music department at Trinity College Carmarthen to write 'Three Sketches for Treble Recorder and Guitar' which had its first performance at the college. 'The Three Sketches' also had performances at Brecon, Aberavon, and St.David's Cathedral. Next came the opportunity to write the 'Tryptych' for five players (flute, clarinet, violin, cello and guitar) - a mainly rhythmic piece with some Spanish and Caribbean flavours. After the success of the Three Sketches I was asked write another guitar and recorder work. On a hot summers day in a beautiful village on the Gower peninsula in Wales I was inspired to write 'Rhossili' for Recorder and Guitar. This was again performed at the college and later had a performance on S4C by the Ji-Binc ensemble. From 1975-84 I was a member of a Celtic folk ensemble called Carraig Aonair. I arranged and/or co-arranged their first and second LP records as well as composing the instrumental tracks, 'Maypole Dance' (Dawns Y Fedwen Fai), 'River in Summer' (Yr Afon yn yr haf), and co-writing 'Llydaw' (Brittany). These have been used as theme and background music extensively on radio and television and one co-written instrumental with John Honour has been used on a Canadian film. The first and second albums recorded on the Gwerin label took the many influences of the Celtic countries and contained electric and acoustic styles with some classical touches. One of the trademarks of the group was the use of a wide variety of acoustic and electric struments as well as synthesizers. The music was very much a blend of the old and the new. continue... |
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On the second recording the instrumental 'Bells of Aberdovey' was constructed using tape loops and overdubbed with multilayered voices and extraneous percussion effects. The Welsh tune 'Lisa Lan' had influences of the German synthesizer band Kraftwerk and was used as a theme tune on Radio 4 Wales. The ensemble made numerous radio and television appearances and were chosen twice by the BBC to represent Wales in the InterCeltic festival in Lorient, Brittanny, where we supported Alan Stivell and Silly Wizard in concert. In the early 80's I was a member of a zany tongue-in-cheek Rock band by the name of Andy Pandemonium. Influences ranged from Frank Zappa and circus music to reggae and funk. The band was very popular on the University circuit and also played at the Lyceum and Dominium theatres in London. We had some success by appearing on BBC1 TV in the final of a national Rock competition. I wrote or co-wrote much of the material for the group and my own composition 'She's my digital alarm clock' was recorded on RCA records. The group also recorded on Original records (published by Chappell) the label used by Spike Milligan and we also did two recordings on our own label Dummy Records. The group's songs were played on local radio and a number of times by John Peel, Anne Nightingale and Alexis Corner on Radio 1. In 1984 I co-wrote the score (with Robert Marks) for theme and background music for a television play called 'Rita'. It was recorded by BBC Wales and televised on S4C . Later the main themes for the programme were amalgamated and used to write a voice and orchestral version called 'Rita' which appeared on a recording by Elin and Eleri on Gwerin records. I have recently arranged and written music for choir and group from North Wales which was recorded by Sain records and sung by Cor Eifionydd on TV and radio. It has also been sung as a solo on S4C. I reached the semi-final of a HTV carol competition and in 1996 was very pleased to be shortlisted in the Cornelius Cardew Composition Prize for my Saxophone quartet called 'The Quantum Self'. At present I am working on a piece for full orchestra which has some Welsh connections. Recordings still available:
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