SOAR

Here, at last, is the long-awaited new album from that remarkable duo, the classically trained Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and griot and kora player Seckou Keita. They explore the links between Wales and Senegal in their music and, five years on from Clychau Dibon (their gently elegant debut), SOAR celebrates another such connection. That magnificent bird, the osprey, spends the winter in West Africa but has begun breeding in mid Wales for the first time since the early 17th century. The first Welsh-born osprey in recent years to have travelled to Africa and returned to breed in the UK was christened Clarach, which gives the opening track its name, a gently drifting, tranquil piece that builds into a soaring duet. Then they begin to demonstrate their range. ‘Bach to Baïsso’ includes an excerpt from the Goldberg Variations – surely never played on the kora before – along with an ancient Senegambian tune. ‘1677’ is a brooding, atmospheric piece inspired by memories of French rule in Africa, while ‘Cofiwch Dryweryn’ is another lament, for a Welsh valley flooded to create a reservoir. It's an exquisite album. Even the liner notes, by Andy Morgan, are intriguing, being written from the viewpoint of Clarach the osprey.