Hey people! 🙂
Today, I picked a song from an interesting electronic music project from Wales that I discovered just last week. I had once heard their remix of Hiraeth by Plu,on Radio Cymru, but it’s only recently that I got to explore their music more closely. One half of Carcharorion (the other being Huw Cadwaladr) is Gruff Pritchard, who is probably best known in the Welsh-language music world for being a member of Yr Ods. The name might sound familiar even to those of you not deeply into Welsh music scene, if you read one of my recent posts in which I wrote about my latest major faza on Griff Lynch,, the frontman of Yr Ods. Besides being bandmates, Gruff and Griff run a record label called Lwcus T. While exploring music released via Lwcus T, I came across Moddion – Gruff Pritchard’s solo project – and his captivating debut EP from last year. I really enjoyed it, came away with an “I-want-more-of-this” feeling and have listened to it several more times since. I’ll definitely feature Moddion in my song of the day series as well at some point, and hope we’ll hear more music from him soon. After that, I discovered Carcharorion, whose music is distinct from Moddion and Yr Ods. It occupies a different region of the electronic music spectrum, but is no less interesting.
Carcharorion means prisoners in Welsh (I like how dark, intimidating and evocative this word feels, sounding like some sort of ancient curse 😀 ). They used to be known as Carcharorion Riddim, likely inspired by a Geraint Jarman song of the same name. Besides their original tracks, they remix other Welsh artists’ songs.
This one samples a beautiful traditional lullaby called Si Hei Lwli, sung by Siân James. I am an absolute sucker for clever and tasteful combinations of folk and electronics, as well as for lullabies, so I totally fell in love with it! A fun fact: there’s even a slight Polish connection to this song. The speech synth saying “Carcharorion Riddim” the English way at the beginning, is a voice called Brian, originally produced by a Polish company Ivona Software, now part of Amazon. Another of Carcharorion’s songs uses Ivona’s Welsh voice Gwyneth. I would know things like that, being Polish and blind, lol.
Siân James has been frequently featured on my blog, but not Si Hei Lwli, so I thought I’d share her original version too. It’s a very simple song so I was able to translate it for those of you who don’t speak Welsh. The phrase “si hei lwli” doesn’t really mean anything, it’s a kind of nonsensical vocalisation as is common with lullabies all over the world, it’s pronounced “See hi loo-lee” as you’ll be able to hear.
Si hei lwli, my baby
The ship is going away
Si hei lwli, my baby
The captain is on board
Si hei lwli lwli lws
Sleep, sleep, my pretty baby
Si hei lwli, my baby
The ship is going away
Si hei lwli, my baby
The eastern wind blows
Si hei lwli, my baby
The seagull’s in its nest
Si hei lwli lwli lws
Sleep, sleep, my pretty baby
Si hei lwli, my baby
The eastern wind blows
Carcharorion:
Siân James:
My Inner MishMash 