Divided between a prototype digital resource and a written companion, this research implements and examines some of the possibilities and prospects offered to the study of Welsh traditional music by digital humanities methods and approaches.
Built on a relational database, the digital prototype functions as a server-based annotated index of a sample of sources from the collections of the National Library of Wales. The user interface of the prototype uses hyperlinks and geographical mapping to express connections between sources of, figures involved with, and reception information relating to Welsh traditional music.
Its written companion serves as a contextual review and exposition of some of the research interests that have informed the creation of the prototype. Philosophically, these interests include the concepts of cultural geography, national identity, collective memory, archive, and their intersections with music. Musicologically, the research centres around twin axes: the traces of Welsh traditional music in the theoretical and literal archive constituted by the National Library of Wales, and the integration and inter-referencing of these traces in a virtual space in order to consider Welsh traditional music and its material record as a situated cultural activity
