Evan Roberts: a waxwork revival

by John Harvey

	/

Streaming + Download

Purchasable with gift card

1.	Part 1 20:00	buy track
2.	Part 2 15:55	buy track
3.	'First piece: Abort Nerves' 03:30

about

In 2002, a wax cylinder containing a unique recording of a short speech by Evan Roberts, the charismatic figurehead of the Welsh religious revival of 1904-5, was deposited at the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, Aberystwyth. The cylinder had been broken into eleven extant pieces. After a painstaking restoration by an American dentist, it was able to be played during the centenary of the revival. Against the insistent noise of surface clicks and crackles and the rhythm of the stylus as it ploughs through the spinning furrows, the febrile voices of Roberts and a small choir of male singers are discernable. A digitized version of the recording was prepared by a sound studio in Pasadena, California and the British Library, London.

The presentation is, here, in two parts (which does not reflect the divisions of the paper), followed by a recording of the sound presentation.

Further information about the R R B V E Ǝ T N Ƨ O A album is available at:

evanroberts.johnharvey.org.uk

credits

released July 18, 2019

Personnel: John Harvey.

Context: Public lecture presented at Drwm, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK (November 16, 2011).

Source for sound presentation: 'Evan Roberts (1905)', transfer to CD (Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 2002), Cell E123 3622.

license

about

John Harvey Aberystwyth, UK

I’m a practitioner and historian of sound art and visual art, and Emeritus Professor of Art at the School of Art, Aberystwyth University, UK. My research field is the sonic and visual culture of religion. I explore the sonic articulations of the Christian religion by engaging visual, textual, and audible sources, theological and cultural ideas, and systemic and audiovisualogical processes. ... more

contact / help

Contact John Harvey

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like John Harvey, you may also like:

Bonjour Mon Amour
by Camille Bertault

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 6, 2023
go to album
Hope/Currency
by rPH and Kins of Spade

This album by Kenyan electronic producer rPH and poet Kins of Spade reflects on the impact of religion in their lives and society. Bandcamp New & Notable May 12, 2023
go to album
Playing with Esu / Where will Ogun Live
by Neo Griot & The Afrocentric Prince

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 25, 2022
go to album
Fodder
by Douglas Kearney & Val Jeanty

Poet Douglas Kearney and composer/producer/drummer Val Jeanty link up for a a compelling LP that feels like the written word come to life. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2021
go to album
Nekomata EP
by Mikado Koko * o g i v e

On her new EP, Japanese producer Mikado Koko deconstructs the traditional, mixing avant-garde vocals and glitch breaks with koto. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 15, 2020
go to album
aint about me
by aint about me

In a lane all his own, aint about me lays moody spoken word over rippling soundscapes on songs that feel cinematic in scope. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 23, 2020
go to album
This Is Madness
by The Last Poets

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 23, 2020
go to album