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.