Cloth of gold is a fabric woven with a gold-wrapped or spun weft - referred to as "a spirally spun gold strip". In most cases, the core yarn is silk wrapped with a band or strip of high content gold filé. In rarer instances, fine linen and wool have been used as the core.

History[link]

It is mentioned on both Roman headstones for women and in the Book of Psalms^[Ps 45:14] as a fabric befitting a princess. The Ancient Greek reference to the Golden Fleece is seen by some as a reference to gold cloth. Cloth of gold has been popular for ecclesiastical use for many centuries. Under Henry VII, its use was reserved to royalty and higher levels of nobility.^[1] It is also used today by companies such as Charvet for neckwear.

Few extant examples have survived in Roman provincial tombs. Later producers of cloth of gold include the Byzantine Empire and Medieval Italian weavers, particularly in Genoa, Venice and Lucca.^[2] A similar cloth of silver was also made. It is still made in India and Europe today.

Other[link]

Cloth of gold is not to be confused with various gold embroidery techniques that date to the early Middle Ages, though the type of goldwork thread called "passing" is identical to the weft thread of cloth of gold.

Most modern metallic fabrics made in the West are known as lamé.

"Cloth of gold" is a familiar name occasionally applied to the venomous Conus textile species of cone shell, [1] presumably because of its Byssus or fine hair. Byssus from some species has been made into a very fine cloth.

See also[link]

• Samite
• Field of the Cloth of Gold

Resources: "The Roman Textile Industry and Its Influence. A Birthday Tribute to John Peter Wild", edited by Penelope Walton Rodgers, et al.

Sources[link]

v t e Fabric Woven Aertex Airdura Airguard Barathea Barkcloth Batiste Bedford cord Bengaline silk Beta cloth Bombazine Brilliantine Broadcloth Buckram Bunting Burlap C change Calico Cambric Canvas Chambray Capilene Cedar bark Char cloth Charmeuse Charvet Cheesecloth Chiffon Chino Chintz Cloqué Cloth of gold Cordura Duck Coutil Crape Cretonne Dazzle Denim Dimity Donegal tweed Dowlas Drill Drugget Foulard Flannel Gabardine Gauze Gazar Georgette Ghalamkar Gingham Grenadine Grenfell Cloth Grosgrain Habutai Haircloth Harris Tweed Herringbone Himroo Hodden Irish linen Jamdani Kerseymere Khādī Khaki Khaki drill Kente cloth Lamé Lawn Linsey-woolsey Loden Longcloth Lumalive Mackinaw Madapolam Madras Moleskin Muslin Nainsook Nankeen Ninon Oilskin Organdy Organza Osnaburg Ottoman Oxford Paduasoy Percale Pongee Poplin Rakematiz Rayadillo Rep Rinzu Ripstop Ripstop nylon Russell cord Saga Nishiki Samite Sateen Satin Saye Scarlet Seersucker Serge Scrim Shot silk Stuff Taffeta Tais Toile Tucuyo Tweed Twill Ultrasuede Ventile Vinyl coated polyester Viyella Voile Wadmal Wigan Whipcord Zephyr Zorbeez Figured woven Brocade Camlet Damask Lampas Songket Pile woven Baize Chenille Corduroy Crimplene Fustian Mockado Moquette Plush Polar fleece Terrycloth Velours du Kasaï Velvet Velveteen Zibeline Nonwoven Felt Cedar bark Knitted Boiled wool Coolmax Machine knitting Milliskin Jersey Velour Netted Bobbinet Carbon fiber Fishnet Lace Mesh Needlerun Net Ninon Tulle Technical Ballistic nylon Ban-Lon Conductive Darlexx E-textiles Gannex Gore-Tex Silnylon Spandex Stub-tex SympaTex Windstopper Patterns Argyle Bizarre silk Herringbone Houndstooth Paisley Pin stripes Tartan (Plaid) Tattersall Textile fibers Acrylic Alpaca Angora Cashmere Coir Cotton Hemp Jute Kevlar Linen Mohair Nylon Microfiber Olefin Pashmina Polyester Piña Ramie Rayon Sea silk Silk Sisal Spandex Spider silk Wool Finishing and printing Androsia Batik Beetling Bingata Bògòlanfini Calendering Decatising Finishing Fulling Heatsetting Mercerization Moire Nap Rogan printing Rōketsuzome Roller printing Sanforization Tenterhook Textile printing Waxed cotton Woodblock printing Indienne Related Dyeing Fiber History of textiles History of silk Knitting Pandy Shrinkage Synthetic fabric Terminology Manufacturing Preservation Weaving Yarn

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Nick Harper
Nick Harper performing at the De Montfort Hall Summer Sundae
Background information
Born	(1965-06-22) 22 June 1965 (age 47)
Origin	England
Genres	Folk, Rock, Folk rock, Alternative rock
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Singer, Guitar
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Sangraal
Website	www.harperspace.com

Nick Harper (born 22 June 1965) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is the son of English folk musician Roy Harper and a past member of the English New Wave band Squeeze.

Early life[link]

Nick Harper was born in London in 1965 to the famous folk singer-songwriter Roy Harper. Influenced both by his father and the continual procession through the Harper household of his dad's famous friends; Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and David Gilmour amongst others,^[1] he started playing guitar at the age of 10. He made his recording debut on his father's 1985 Whatever Happened to Jugula? and subsequently toured with him for a few years before beginning a career of his own.

Career[link]

His first solo release was the 1994 EP Light at the End of the Kennel which he quickly succeeded with his 1995 album Seed. In 1996, after this release, he had a chance meeting with Squeeze frontman and songwriter Glenn Tilbrook, which led to Harper being given the support slot for the forthcoming Squeeze tour and his being signed up to Tilbrook's own Quixotic label.

Following tours in the UK, US and Japan, Harper recorded both the 1998 album Smithereens and 2000's Harperspace with Tilbrook as producer. After moving to the Sangraal label in the early 2000s, a further EP (2001's Instrumental), live double album (2002's Double Life) and studio album (Blood Songs in 2004) were released.

His 2006 album Treasure Island was a change of direction, seeing both a concerted shift to more overtly political themes (songs such as Knuckledraggers, Sleeper Cell and Intelligent Design - spliced together from audio clips of George W. Bush's speeches on the war on terror - were all highly critical of the Bush regime) and to more historical perspectives. The album's title track is inspired by an obscure Liverpudlian philanthropist who employed destitute men returning from the Napoleonic Wars to dig tunnels for no other reason than to give them something to do.

May 2007 saw a special iTunes download release of his first single "Blue Sky Thinking", taken from his sixth studio album Miracles for Beginners on behalf of the Love Hope Strength Foundation, a cancer charity founded to provide a global support network for cancer survivors. It reached no. 1 in the iTunes folk chart^{[citation needed]} and received favourable reviews and radio airplay across the UK and Europe. All proceeds from the single went to the Foundation. Miracles for Beginners itself was released in June 2007.

After taking a three year hiatus from recording to focus on touring and charity work, he announced that in February 2010 he would embark on a UK tour to promote his forthcoming album, The Last Guitar. The album was released the following month and features his then-13 year old daughter taking a guest vocal slot on one of the songs Silly Daddy.

The tour and album served as a prelude to his prestigious gig on the Glastonbury Festival Avalon stage on June 26, 2010.

Touring[link]

Harper frequently plays solo acoustic tours of the UK as well as European dates and festivals across the UK and Europe. In 2003, he was awarded a Herald Fringe Angel award for performance excellence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where he has played many residencies in recent years.

He performed at the 2004 Cropredy Festival and Leicester's Summer Sundae. He has also played sets at the Glastonbury and Beautiful Days festivals numerous times, including both in summer 2005, then again in summer 2010.

In summer 2006, he again played a multitude of festivals, including the Moseley Folk Festival, Jersey Live, Beautiful Days and Clonakilty's second annual Guitar Festival, along with appearances at festivals in France and Catalonia. In November 2007, he performed at the International Guitar Festival of Great Britain for the fourth time.

In 2008 he performed at Trowbridge Village Pump Festival, Beautiful Days, Newquay's Rip Curl Beach Sessions and Tenby Folk Festival and appeared at London's Royal Albert Hall on 27 September 2008, where he brought his 12-year-old daughter Lily on stage at the end of the set to accompany him on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s "Our House."^[2] This was of some historical note as he had done the same with his own father Roy Harper some 35 years before on the same stage.

During 2009, Harper played at Celtic Connections in Glasgow in January before starting ‘The 38’ tour, covering 38 dates across the UK. During the summer of that year he performed in Norway, France and Italy before a series of dates on America's East Coast in September, returning to the US in November for a coast-to-coast tour with Cy Curnin of The Fixx.

Charity work[link]

In January 2005, Harper played 2 shows in Thailand to raise money for Indian Ocean tsunami relief.

In 2007, 2008 and 2010, he climbed Mt. Snowdon with the Love Hope Strength Foundation to play near the summit and then played at evening gigs, all in aid of cancer charities in the surrounding area.

In October 2007, he joined a 38-strong team of musicians including Glenn Tilbrook, Mike Peters and Cy Curnin, along with mountaineers and cancer survivors, who, again in aid of the Love Hope Strength Foundation. The group took part in a 14-day trek to 18,500 ft Mt Everest base camp, where they performed an acoustic concert. This Everest Rocks trek culminated with a grand finale concert in Kathmandu on October 29 and raised more than US$250,000 for the only charitable cancer hospital in Nepal, situated at Bhaktapur (approx. 10 miles east of Kathmandu). Alex Coletti (producer of MTV's Unplugged series) filmed the trek for a documentary, Everest Rocks, which premiered on the Palladia channel on September 7, 2008 and was also released on DVD.

In October 2008, the setting was Macchu Picchu and the concert was Peru Rocks. Then, in September 2009, he again joined Love Hope Strength trekkers to undertake another charity trek called Kilimanjaro Rocks. The musicians, supporters and cancer survivors scaled the 19,341 feet (5,895 m) peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The trek raised funds for bone marrow drives and the main cancer centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

Harper now hosts his own Love Hope Strength fundraiser, Avebury Rocks, which first took place on July 9, 2011 and will again be held on July 7, 2012. The day's events include a 20-mile walk starting and ending at Avebury Stone Circle, a 6-mile walk for those who join in the afternoon, and a concert in the evening. Headliners at the 2011 concert included Newton Faulkner, Cy Curnin and Jamie West-Oram of The Fixx, and Harper himself.

Critical Acclaim[link]

While not having reached the levels of popularity - or notoriety - of his father, Harper has received critical and popular acclaim as a live performer, especially for his acoustic guitar playing. The Times stated that he "...does things to his [guitar] that would have had Segovia weeping into his Rioja"^[3], and a critic stated that he could count "at least eight fingers on the neck of [Harper's] guitar".^[4]. His unique style of playing has also been called "nothing short of genius".^[5]

Though he has received more plaudits for his live work than for his recordings, his albums have also received significant critical acclaim. Speaking of his album Miracles for Beginners, Mojo called it "his most focused, warm and triumphant album to date" (4 stars), the Herald (Glasgow) said the album is "borne on masterful acoustic guitar patterns... ten minor miracles." (4 stars) and The Sun stated that "like his dad, he's a fine folk troubadour and a great guitarist... this is a witty, vibrant affair... a rewarding listen." (3.5 stars).

BBC Online took a less enthusiastic viewpoint, saying that "this Harper set is a little patchy, especially if compared alongside 1995’s Seed and 2004’s Blood Songs which updated brilliantly the folk confessional",^[6] but the author still admits that "Harper though must be applauded for trying be a politically inclined sort of modern troubadour".

Influences[link]

Some of the major musical influences on Nick include his father Roy Harper, Killing Joke, Public Enemy, Stephen Stills, Gang of Four, Frank Zappa, Eric Idle of Monty Python, Django Reinhardt, Jeff Buckley and Led Zeppelin. He has covered songs by many of these artists in concert.

Work with other artists[link]

Harper's first recordings and major live exposure were with his father Roy Harper. He still works and tours with Roy occasionally.

He was a touring member of British pop/rock band Squeeze from 1996–97 and played on one track on their 1998 Domino album. Glenn Tilbrook of the band produced Nick's Smithereens and Harperspace albums, which were released on Glenn's Quixotic label. The pair often work together, with Nick most recently appearing on Glenn's 2004 solo album Transatlantic Ping-Pong.

He has played lead guitar and sang backing vocals, as well as playing support, at a number of Cy Curnin solo gigs in the USA and elsewhere since the pair met in 2007.

Nick has written and played with Brighton-based political indie group The Levellers. He guested on the band's Top 40 UK single 'Make U Happy' - he co-wrote, played and sang on B-side 'Not In My Name'.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1995 - Seed (Sangraal)
• 1998 - Smithereens (Quixotic)
• 2000 - Harperspace (Quixotic)
• 2004 - Blood Songs (Sangraal)
• 2006 - Treasure Island (Sangraal)
• 2007 - Miracles for Beginners (Sangraal)
• 2010 - The Last Guitar (Sangraal)
• 2012 - New album (TBC) (Sangraal)

Live albums[link]

• 2002 - Double Life (Quixotic - Double album)

Singles, EPs and Download-Only Releases[link]

• 1994 - Light at the End of the Kennel (Sangraal EP)
• 1999 - Instrumental (Sangraal EP)
• 2007 - Blue Sky Thinking (Sangraal download single)
• 2010 - Instrumental 2010 - re-recorded / re-mixed version of the 1999 release, download only

DVDs[link]

• 2007 - Love is Music (Sangraal)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Nick Harper site
• Nick Harper news site & forum
• House of Harper: Nick Harper fansite
• Harperspace in Myspace
• Quixotic Records
• Nick Harper film clips