Alan Stivell – “Ys”.

   Hey people! 🙂 

   For today, I decided to share with you an incredibly evocative and deliciously long harp piece from Breton harpist and singer Alan Stivell. It is the opening track from his album Renaissance of the Celtic Harp. The name of this piece refers to a Breton legend about a city called Ys or Ker Ys (literally Low City). It was a rich, luxurious city that is said to have been built by a pious king called Gradlon for his daughter Dahut. Dahut in turn was said to be very sinful and frivolous, but she loved the sea, hence the city was built on  land reclaimed from the sea. very much. To prevent inundation, the city was surrounded by a dike, which had a gate that opened for ships during low tide, and the keys to the gate were held by Gradlon. Once when the king was sleeping, Dahut stole the keys from him, to let her lover in. Instead of opening the city gates though, she opened the dike and caused the sea to flood the entire city, except for Gradlon, who was woken up by saint Gwénnolé and managed to flee. He took his daughter together with him, but Dahut ended up falling into the sea as a punishment for her sins. After falling into the sea, she is said to have changed into a mermaid and haunt the sea to this day, and some believe that the ruins of Ys can still be seen during low tides. 

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