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Folk, Welsh.

Gwilym Bowen Rhys is the rising star of Welsh folk music. Actually, that should really be the risen star given that Aden is his fifth album. Gwilym is a multi-instrumentalist/ singer/songwriter from Bethel and, although he doesn’t need much help he is supported by a fine cast of Welsh musicians: Gwen Mairi, Patrick Rimes, Ailsa Mair, Aled Wyn Hughes and Will Pound who sneaked across the border.

I’m reasonably familiar with most aspects of Welsh music in the broad genre of folk from the classic triple harp of Robin Huw Bowen to the Americana of Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog but Aden is the most unexpected record I’ve heard in a long while. The first track, an old poem called ‘Coed Glyn Cynon’ with music by Gwilym, begins with a deep grumbling drone – presumably Hughes’ double bass – and Gwylim’s voice comes in in something like the same tonal range. Two minutes later he is further up his register and then comes a device which he employs several times. He switches to a traditional tune which sounds Celtic if not obviously Welsh although it is.

‘Fy Neryn Brith’ is a gently lilting Rhys original built on acoustic guitar and Gwen Mairi’s harp although it goes through many changes before the end. There’s another change with ‘Wil Treffynnon’, a pair of tunes collected in the 1920s andWill played for a processional dance. Pound comes in and the set takes on a jazzy swing. Another original is ‘Tylluan Cwm Cowlyd’ based on an old legend. This also starts gently but builds up, settles again and then heads for a big finish.

Gwilym describes ‘Si-So Gorniog’ as a wood-sawing shanty, its title referring to the long two-handled saw as might be used in a saw-pit. Its sing-song melody fits the rhythm of the sawyers perfectly and, again, Gwilym interposes a fiddle tune. It’s a moment of delightful lightness before ‘Llofruddiaeth Hanna Dafis’ (The Murder Of Hannah Davies), a rather grim tale sung with great passion. It was first recorded by Alan Lomax in Treorchy in the 50s.

There’s another instrumental: ‘Y Tebot’ (The Teapot) originally written as a jig for saxophone by Dick Lee and played here on acoustic guitar and harp and then another old poem, ‘Wennol Fwyn’ in praise of a swallow (note the cover) although the contemporary Welsh name for the swallow is actually “gwennol”. ‘Gwn Dafydd Ifan’ is a humorous song about an old Waterloo veteran who kept his musket as a souvenir. It is in stark contrast to ‘Gweddi’r Derwydd’, a slightly mournful tune performed at the chairing of the bard at the National Eisteddfod.

We return to the avian world with ‘Y Deryn Du’ (The Blackbird) and it comes as something of a shock to hear Gwilym singing in English and finally ‘Ffarwel I Langyfelach Lon’ is about a young man joining the army and leaving his home town to go to war, presumably against the French.

Aden is a hugely entertaining album and Gwilym’s bilingual notes keep the non-Welsh speaker abreast of what is happening. You can find the lyrics and their English translations on Gwilym’s website.

Tracks:
01 - Coed Glyn Cynon
02 - Fy neryn brith
03 - Wil Treffynnon
04 - Tylluan Cwm Cowlyd
05 - Si-so gorniog
06 - Llofruddiaeth Hanna Dafis
07 - Y tebot
08 - Wennol fwyn
09 - Gwn Dafydd Ifan
10 - Gweddi'r derwydd
11 - Y deryn du
12 - Ffarwel i Langyfelach lon

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocRrjxh2QzQ