Antonio Agnelli
Studied guitar and lute at Welsh College of Music and Drama and currently is reading philosophy at the University of Bristol.
Has toured throughout the UK, into Europe and across to Canada playing with a variety of people in early music ensembles, bands as well as solo lute.
Recently, Antony has also been extending his music activity to composing music for plays, including Grimm Tales, Eye of the Storm and One Day for Theatr Iolo.
The invention of the OUD (or UD), according to Persian mythology, is traced to Lamak, a decendant of Biblical Cain. According to the myth, Lamak hung his dead son's remains on a tree and the desicated skeleton suggested the form of an oud. Mawardi, in 9th century Baghdad, extolled its use in treating illness, a principle allowed and defended in Arab Spain by the 11th century theologian Ibn Hazm, continuing to the 19th century: 'the ud invigorates the body. It places the temperament in equilibrium ... It calms and revives hearts' (Muhammad Shihab al-Din).
The oud spread towards the Arab peninsula in the 7th century, established in Iraq in the 9th century and transferred to Spain where the cities of Cordoba, Seville and Granada were centers of great cultural, artistic, and religious activity. These centers, under the inspiration and influence of the Sufis, were to have a tremendous impact on medieval Europe. Eventually the oud was introduced into western Europe by the Knights Templar returning from the Holy Land and by the Troubadours from Provence.
Leicestershire Smallpipes
The guitar gradually replaced the vihuela (which could be plucked with fingers or plectrum and bowed like a violin). The Baroque Guitar was typically double strung with two strings to each course, like the lute.
The guitar is a valuable continuo instrument, as a solo accompaniment or equally in an ensemble.
The Leicestershire Small Pipes are based on a brief specification from the music and pipes of the English Midlands. They have a slightly nasal, rich, sweet tone that blends beautifully with other instruments. In addition to the traditional pipe music of Scotland and England, a great deal of early music sets nicely on the chanter. This set has chanters made of Yew-wood, with the rest of the woodwork being done in cherry.
Chaucer Great Pipes
The Great Pipes are based on a marginal illumination found in Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" found in the Huntingdon Manuscript. To give you some idea of the scale of the instrument, the drone is 37 inches long when tuned to the Low "D" (6 finger note) on the Chanter.
Both sets of bagpipes designed and made by Julian Goodacre