Wales - The Middle and Southwest

Before leaving North Wales, I realise we should have stopped in Wrexham, where 2 of the members of The Trials of Cato come from, the third being from Yorkshire.  The band actually formed in Beirut, where they were teaching English and there is a bit of a Middle Eastern flavour to their folk.  They have been dubbed the Sex Pistols of folk and their 2018 debut album Hide and Hair has caused quite a stir winning the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for best of album.  Here's the opening track of this album, called Diffyrwch:

Brother and sister Roy and Linda Griffiths and their neighbour John Gittins from the village of Meifod in Mid-Wales formed the Welsh language folk group Plethyn, which was most active between 1978 and 1995.  They specialise in close harmony singing of the plygain tradition, which is based on a traditional Welsh Christmas service.  The name of the group means braid or bond.  This is the title song from their 1994 album Seidir Ddoe (yesterday's cider):

Based in Llanybydder near Lampeter in southwest Wales are Celtic folk group Ffynnon.  They have a contemporary take on traditional material with some Jazzy influences at times.  This is a song from their 2006 album Celtic Music fom Wales called Beth yw'r Haf:

From the Clettwr Valley in the Ceredigion region of West Wales hails Owen Shiers who started a project to reclaim some of the traditional music of his area and recording some of it under the name Cynefin.  They are some beautifully crafted Welsh language songs.  The debut album was launched this year called Dilyn Afon, Follow the River.   Here's a song from this album called Y Fwyalchen Ddu Bigfelen (The Yellow-Beaked Blackbird):

Now for something a bit different again with some Indie Rock from Carmathen in the shape of young, all-female trio Adwaith (Reaction).  They only launched in 2015 by Hollie Singer and Gwenllian Anthony, who have been friends since they were 3 years old, and who are joined by drummer Heledd Owen.  They are proudly Welsh and proudly feminist with all their lyrics in Welsh.  In their short career they have already been awarded with the Welsh Music Prize last November.  Here's a song from their only album to date, Melyn, recorded in 2018.  The song is called Fel i Fod (not sure what it means...):

Welsh harpist Catrin Finch from Llan-non apparently was the official harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000-2004.  I didn't know anybody needed an official harpist, but there you go.  If anybody would like to apply to become my official harpist, please comment below... Some of her most exciting work has been when she collaborated with other world musicians such as Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita and Colombian dance band Cimarrón.  First up from her 2009 live album with Cimarrón, Yn Byw.  The song is called Quitapesares.  Have you ever heard the harp played like that?  And the dance steps towards the end are something else!

Next up the opening track from her 2018 album Soar with Seckou Keita called Clarach:

That's it for today from Wales.  We'll conclude our short tour of Wales next time in the southeast of the country.  As usual you can follow my virtual exploits on my tripline map.

Wales - The North

We enter another new country, Wales.  Here everybody seems to be singing.  It's probably something to do with their language, which sounds like a sing-song even when they are reading the news in English.

Harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton is originally from the USA, but she has recorded some music on the Welsh triple harp, including Airs of Wales in 2004.  Here's a track from this album called the Minstrelsey of Chirk Castle:

Welsh language poet and traditional folk musician Gwyneth Glyn was born in Bangor, but seems to be keeping a low profile, as she doesn't have much of a web presence, despite her releasing a few beautiful albums as well as several books of poetry.  This is a song from her 2017 album Tro called Cwlwm, which apparently means knot.  Don't ask me how to pronounce it, but you'll probably get your tongue in a knot.  My theory is that when God gave letters to all the languages, the Welsh were in the back of the queue for the vowels...

Singer/songwriter and pianist Lisa Jen from Bethesda near Bangor and her guitarist husband Martin Hoyland set up alternative folk band 9 Bach in 2005.  The name of the band is a pun on Nain, which is Welsh for Grandmother and Bach being a term of endearment.  Their style is described as acid folk and incorporates other world music influences such as Greek and Middle Eastern and their lyrics are mostly in Welsh.  Their album Anian (Nature) was released in 2016.  This is the opening track to that album, Llyn Du:

Bendith is a collaboration between Carwyn Ellis of electronic indie pop band Colorama and Welsh folk trio Plu.  Carwyn is originally from Caernafon, but the songs were inspired by his frequent childhood visits to Carmathenshire.  Their self-titled album was released in 2016.  This is a wee song of this album called Llwiau:

Still staying in the same corner of Wales around Bangor, Welsh folk singer Gwilym Bowen Rhys hails from Bethel at the foot of Mount Snowden.  His style is a bit more upbeat compared to much of Welsh folk and sometimes has influences of American folk, bluegrass and blues.  The lyrics are in Welsh though.  This is a song from his 2019 album Arenig with a bluesy note to it called Byta Dy Bres, which means eat Your money.  It's actually worth sharing the translation of the lyrics here:

Woe to you your sin, you are making up our bed.

Would you rape your own land,

would you kill your own mother

only to save yourself one hour in purgatory?

When every river is black and every oak is withered

and every orchard is shrivelled and dry in the heat,

then, try and eat your money.

You’re making a name for yourself, your making a profit,

You’re worshiping your own effigy.

But when your field is on fire, and your stomach is empty

and all your tears dried up in the heat,

then, try and eat your money.

You steal the blind man’s cottage

and steal another man’s acre.

You steal the grain from under the ash tree

and steal the crops from the innocents.

And now for something a bit different, a teenage blues rock duo called Alffa, who gained fame recently by releasing the first ever Welsh language song that got more than a million hits on Spotify.  Dion Jones and Sion Land both come from the small town of Llanrug.  They are working on their first album as we speak, but here is the song that brought them fame, Gwenwyn, which means poison:

Welsh folk dance group Calennig was founded in the 1980's by accordionist Mick Tems and recorded most their albums in Gwynedd in West Wales.  For a time they were known as Wales' most widely travelled band, touring the world far and wide.  The original band came to an abrupt stop when Mick suffered a stroke in 2001.  Some of the members of the band have carried on as the Calennig Dance Band, without acknowledging the influence of their original founder apparently.  The name Calennig stems from a Welsh Christmas custom involving an apple and an orange decorated with ribbon and some cloves.  Their style is a traditional Welsh dance music known as twmpath.  

Here's a tune that features on their 2010 album Gwyntoedd Mor Hafren / Trade Winds called Ffarwel i Aberystwyth / Farewell to Aberystwyth:

That's it from the northwest of Wales.  As usual you can follow my virtual rovering on my tripline map.

England - Cheshire & Manchester

From the Cheshire side of the Peak District hails Rowan Rheingans.  She is an award winning fiddler, banjoist and songwriter who has worked with Lady Maisery, Songs of Separation and together with her sister Anna in the Rheingans Sisters.  Here is the title track of her 2019 album The Lines We Draw Together, called simply Lines:

And here she is with her sister from their 2018 album Bright Field with a song called Green Unstopping:

English folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Jim Moray was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire.  Here's a song from his 2016 album Upcetera called Sounds of the Earth:

From Stockport in Greater Manchester hails Accordionist Amy Thatcher, although she now resides in the northeast, where she collaborates with Kathryn Tickell and electro folk outfit The Monster Ceilidh Band.  She describes her genre as neo-folk.  She released one solo album last year, appropriately entitled Solo.  This is a tune is the opening track from that album called The Laburnum Tree:

Formed in Manchester in 2014 genre defying band Kabantu, whose members hail from South Africa, France, Scotland and England, play an electrifying fusion of folk, African rhythms, Balkan, Jazz, Brazilian and classical influences.  They are a truly global band, refusing to be assigned to any boxes.  Their name means Of the People, from The South African philosophy of Ubuntu - "I am what I am because of who we all are".  Of the People is also the title of their first album.  Her's a gypsy jazz tune called Skubeks Delight:

And here is something all together more African sounding and shot on the streets of Manchester, the opening track to their album, Ulidzile!

Pete Coe was born in Northwich, West Cheshire and has been big in the British folk scene since the 1970's and is described as a "One-Man Folk Industry".  Here's a song from his 2007 album Previous called Jackdaw:

That's it for today.  Next we'll be leaving England for a while and head into Wales.  As usual you can follow my imaginary rovering on my tripline map.

England - The Midlands

Next stop on our virtual journey is Nottingham, where fiddler Sam Sweeney was born.  He has played in a number of bands and collaborations including Kerfuffle and Bellowhead.  He recently released a solo album called Unearth Repeat, from which this tune is taken: Highway to Warrington.

Singer/songwriter Grace Petrie from Leicester is the rare modern phenomenum of an old school protest singer.  Here are a couple of songs from her 2018 album Queer As Folk starting with A Young Woman's Tale:

and Farewell to Welfare:

Now for something completely different from the West Midlands, some Blues Rock.  Joanne Shaw Taylor was born in Wednesbury near Birmingham and continues in the finest tradition of British Blues Rock.  She has since moved to Detroit, and there are similarities between her and Detroit born Suzie Quatro, both confidently fronting a band with her guitar and often clad in leather.  She counts Joe Bonnamassa , Stevie Wonder and Annie Lennox amongst her fans.  This is a track from her latest album Reckless Heart called In the Mood:

Folk band Blowzabella were actually founded in London, but they do have a nice Staffordshire song in their repertoire, The Uttoxeter Souling Song, which features on their 2018 album Two Step:

Lucy Ward from Derby is a singer/songwriter performing with a voice described as expressive and powerful traditional folk songs as well as her own material.  She plays guitar, ukulele and concertina.  This is her 2012 debut single For The Dead Men, another protest song:

Here's an a capello song about a woman's solution to deal with her drunk abusive husband from her much acclaimed 2011 album Adelphi Has to Fly, A Stitch in Time:

Vocal folk trio Coope Hayes & Simpson describe themselves as from Derbyshire and South Yorkshire and have been together since the early 1990's.  Here's a song that is of particular relevance to these strange times we are living in at the moment, Keep Your Distance, from their 2010 album, As If:

Contemporary folk singer Bella Hardy is from Edale in Derbyshire's Dark Peak.  She performs both traditional material as well as her own songs and has won the 2014 BBC Folk Musician of the Year award.  In 2012 she released an album of songs from her home region, The Dark Peak and the White.  This is a song from that album, The Drunken Butcher of Tideswell:

That's it for today from the English Midlands.  As usual you can follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map.  Next stop Manchester. I'll finish with a picture of an autumnmorning in Derbyshire