Gwenan Gibbard – “Dod Dy Law” (Place Your Hand).

Hey people! 🙂

At the beginnings of my blog, one of the songs I shared with you was

Dod Dy Law

beautifully sung acapella by Gwilym Bowen Rhys, who’s of course one of my faza people. And then I think I also shared it sung by Siân James. I had very little idea about Welsh then, and didn’t know what the word “dod” was supposed to mean in this context, but now I know it means to put or place. Since then, I’ve also become familiar with Ffion from the Foxglove Trio, who has a blog where she writes about Welsh folk songs, and which I often find very useful. And she wrote

a post about this song.

It’s thanks to her that I finally learned what this song is about and I agree that it’s one of the saddest Welsh songs of those I’ve heard.

As it’s quite easy to figure out from the lyrics, the lyrical subject is addressing their former lover, by whom their heart has been broken.

The translated lyrics below are taken from Ffion’s website, who in turn got them from the website of Gwenan Gibbard, and they’ve been translated by Dafydd Ifan.

 

Place your hand, lest you believe,

On my breast, without hurting me,

If you listen, you may hear

The sound of my little heart breaking.

Oh my dearest, take a reed

And hold it at both ends,

Break it in half

Just as you broke my heart.

Heavy the lead, heavy the stones,

Heavy is the heart of all lonely people,

Heaviest of all, twixt sun and moon,

Is bidding farewell where there is love.

Gwenan Gibbard – “Lliw Gwyn Rhosyn Yr Haf” (White Colour Of A Summer Rose).

Today, I want to share with you another version of a traditional song that I previously shared with you on here, this time a more acoustic one from the harpist Gwenan Gibbard. I think this is the first tune by her that I’m sharing where she’s also singing. For more background information about this song, you can click the link below, where I shared the

version by the band Pendevig,

with one of my faza peeps – Gwilym Bowen Rhys – and Bethan Rhiannon as vocalists.

While obviously I really like both versions or otherwise I wouldn’t be sharing them here, I think I lean more towards the Pendevig one, as, in my opinion, it shows its spirit better, and also, well, fazas are fazas, Gwilym rules! But the big pluses of Gwenan Gibbard’s interpretation are that it’s more traditional, and, of course, features the harp.

Gwenan Gibbard – “Hufen Y Cwrw Melyn” (Cream Of The Brown Ale).

Hi people! 🙂

Today I have an interesting little piece of Welsh folk music for you. Interesting in that, apparently it is known from Startrek, because of Scotty singing some version of it in that movie! Don’t know which one, and can’t confirm it as I never watched it, but I think it’s really interesting that a piece like this has gotten a bit of attention in the mainstream.

The version I’m sharing with you is instrumental. It is a slip jig (that’s how they call Celtic folk tunes composed in this tempo and style and slip jig is also one of the Irish traditional dances) composed by the 18th-century Welsh blind harpist Richard Roberts. It’s interesting how the Celtic area had so many blind artists around that time – be it harpists or poets – who have contributed to what we now know as folk/traditional music. Think Turlough o’Carolan (the very famous Irish harper) or Richard Williams aka Dark Dick, who wrote

“Lliw Gwyn, Rhosyn Yr Haf”

whom I both mentioned on my blog before.

I find the title of this piece confusing. It’s literal translation would be “Cream of The Yellow Beer” which makes little sense, at least to me, I do admit though that I know nothing about beer, maybe some beer geek would see more sense in this. But I found out that it’s translated to English just as in the title. Still, don’t know if this is the name of some English version of this or indeed how it should be translated. In Welsh it’s also known as “Cwrw Da” (A Good Beer), so whatever beer it is, I guess we can safely assume at least that one thing about it, although I could argue that every beer is equally yucky, perhaps I just haven’t been lucky enough to try a good one so far.

The version I chose to share with you comes from Gwenan Gibbard, who is already known on this blog since I share her music quite regularly.

Song of the day (21st April ) – Gwenan Gibbard – “Traeth Lafan/Adlais Nia/Pen Rhaw” (Lavan Sounds/Nia’s Echo/Spade’s Head”.

Hey people! 🙂

Today, I’m sharing with you a few pieces in one track from Gwenan Gibbard. As far as I know, the first two are her own compositions, and the third one is traditional for sure. The first one, like many tunes by Gwenan Gibbard, is inspired by nature in north Wales. This one is dedicated to Traeth Lafan, or Lavan Sands in English, which is an intertidal sandbank in Gwynedd.

Gwenan Gibbard – “Nant Y Mynydd/Bwlch Llanberis” (The Mountain Stream/Llanberis Pass”.

Hey people! 🙂

Today, let’s listen to a very mountain-themed set of two harp tunes from Gwenan Gibbard. She is from the Llyn Peninsula, as I may have mentioned in some other post featuring her music (as I’ve shared some more of it in the past) which is located in Snowdonia and also commonly known as the Snowdon’s Arm. No surprise then that both these pieces have Snowdonia-inspired titles.

Gwenan Gibbard – “Yr Hafren/Heulwen Haf” (The Severn/Summer Sunshine).

Hey people! 🙂

A very nature-themed piece I’d like to share with you today, and a bit summery, contrasting with the fact that it’s snowing lightly over here right now. 🙂 I shared a beautiful two-piece set by Gwenan Gibbard, and here’s another one. It feels very idyllic to me. The first piece in here is called “Yr Hafren”, Hafren being the original Welsh name for the river Severn. And the othet, summery piece is called “Heulwen Haf” which means Summer Sunrise. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 🙂

Gwenan Gibbard – “Cân Y Lleisoniaid/Cân Y Droell Bach” (Song of the Lleisons/Song of the Little Spinning Wheel).

Today I’d like to share with you a set of two harp songs by my most favourite Welsh harpist – Gwenan Gibbard. She is from Llyn Peninsula in north Wales, and apart from being a harpist, she’s also a singer, and a Welsh language native in whose life music has always played a huge part since her early childhood.

Sadly I have no idea about who composed these songs, whether it’s Gwenan herself or whether they are traditional, but since I cannot find any info I think it’s safe to assume that they’re traditional. The first song is called Song of the Lleisons in English – Lleison is simply a Welsh surname. I’m curious who they were. I really like this composition as it is so melancholic and so very beautiful. And the other is Song of The Little Spinning Wheel, which has a much more happy, upbeat feel which is also why I like it a lot. I don’t know which one I like more. Do you have a favourite?