ABSTRACT
During the 18th and 19th centuries slate from Llanberis, Bethesda and Blaenau Ffestiniog was shipped all over the world for use as a roofing material – as far as Valparaiso in Chile for example. The quarries employed thousands of craftsmen and laborers and were responsible for roofing the factories of the early industrial revolution in Manchester and the north of England. This was part of the complex jigsaw of social and geographical conditions that led England to industrialize its production earlier than the rest of the world. Will Menter gradually developed the idea that a performance that was about slate, that used slate to make the sounds and that was performed in the heart of the slate quarrying area would be particularly resonant and set heart on achieving this. The musical idea was expanded to include other art forms. The music was built up around the llechiphones, but also incorporated traditional instruments.
