Stephen Rowley works with sound as a musician, sound recordist and broadcaster.
- Musician (this page)
- Sound recording
- Broadcasting
Stephen’s teenage years took him into rock, jazz and folk music. He funded his first degree playing guitar in a dance band.
Introduced to early music was the start of a passion for some of the forgotten instruments. He learned the pipe and tabor (one-handed flute and drum) and concertina before exploring such exotica as the gemshorn, zhaleka, treshottka, hummelchen and laud. His collection now exceeds 300 instruments from simple percussion to electronica.
He has a special interest in the folk music of Catalunya, playing the Gralla (shawm), Flabiol (one-hand flute) and Sac de Gemecs – literally Bag of Groans (Catalan bagpipe).
In the 90s he founded the Wheatstone Concertina Trio and still performs a one-man show about the concertina inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone.
In 1999 he founded the International Pipe and Tabor Festival and soon after became the founder chair of The Taborers Society.
Stephen has performed at festivals across Europe showcasing English traditional and historical music. He is a well-known workshop leader.
Whilst working on historical instruments he has become adept at making copies of medieval bone flutes