'Unto the raven' – tune for Dark Age lyre by Andy Letcher

This is me playing one of my compositions for Dark Age lyre, 'Unto the raven'. While on holiday in Wales I found the perfect place to play, sat between two oak trees on a small hill.

My lyre was made by Breton luthier, Benjamin Simao. It is a replica of an instrument discovered in Trossingen, Germany, and like the original it has just six strings. Find Benjamin here:

http://www.trinoxsamoni-lutherie.com

Fellow lyre nerds will want to know that I have the lyre in the hexachord tuning suggested by the ninth century music theorist Hucbald, namely the first six notes of the major scale (in E, but I didn't check the tuning). Strings are tuned in Just intonation, that is, to be perfectly in tune with the natural harmonics of the E string, though I have adjusted the sixth string to make a perfect fifth between ii-VI.

Fellow rhythm nerds will want to know that I'm playing with a 2 against 3 polyrhythm, inspired by African lyre and harp players, but also by the style of playing 3-time bourrées in the Auvergne.

I make no claim to historical authenticity: the style is just what emerges when I play this beautiful instrument.