Talk:Ar Log
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[edit] Moved to talk page
Someone has added a great deal of information to this article but has unfortunately overwritten the original content in doing so. There were quite a few comments which need sourcing in both. An encyclopaedia can't say some of the things added, although it can certainly report that someone else said them. So I have tried to merge the original and newer content, and put some of the more obvious "needs a source" here. (I have tried to find some references for some of these, I note. I just wasn't terribly successful.) Some, I think, just needs deleting.
Just needs a cite:
- AR LOG were the first group in modern times to make Welsh traditional music their profession.
- AR LOG pionneered in their introduction of synthesisers to traditional music during the 1980s.
- They also toured into England and beyond on a regular basis to earn their crust. This was a decision which scandalised many in Welsh cultural circles at the time.
- Comparisons with The Chieftans. I'm tempted to put them into the see also section.
- To those outside of Wales it looked as if they had disbanded, but they made a successful tour to Germany in 2001.
- The Breton harpist Alan Stivell has praised their work for the great beauty of the slow tunes. (Closest I can find is the final sentence of [review])
Rewrite or lose?
- In their 1980s heyday, AR LOG could justifyably claim to be a world class folk group in the same league as Capercaillie, The Chieftains and Alan Stivell.
- In the 2000s, there is now a proliferation of Welsh folk groups. On balance, this is probably a healthier situation than in the 1980s when AR LOG dominated on behalf of Wales.
- (Ar Log VI) The album is notable for the encroachment of exterraneous production values on the group, and the fateful introduction of drum and bass."
- Ar Log's story since 1996 is one of regression. Very little (if any) new material has emerged in their increasingly rare performances.
- Worryingly, the group has opted to fall back on drum and bass accompanyment and a pseudo-country style that is all too familiar in Welsh language middle-of-the-road performers.
Needs to go: Wikipedia is not a crystal ball:
- However, it is debateable as to whether any Welsh folk group will ever match AR LOG in three key respects; i) Touring Europe on a back-breaking basis; ii) Carving out an unmistakable group 'sound'; iii)Commanding world-class levels of musicianship amongst all members of the group.
- Hopefully, the groups component members will be able to compose new material again some day. Genius does not disappear overnight.
- Perhaps the brothers Dafydd and Gwyndaf Roberts offer the best hope of a harp / flute collaboration at some point in the future?
- Whether or not new music would bear the name 'Ar LOG' is a secondary consideration.
Looking at what is left, we have a great list of who joined and left when, but little to nothing about what music they actually play. What would someone not from Britain expect to hear if s/he picked up a CD? I have a couple from the eighties: are they typical? Etc. There is also some stuff in the Music of Wales article that can be worked in about harp music. My knowledge is really superficial in this area so I think someone else should do this. But the story ends very abruptly in 1996. It's ten years later: what happened next? I can't find anything about the 2001 tour on the web, annoyingly. But I could swear I saw them on S4C in the last year or so (and not just on the Tân y Ddraig coverage).
