I want to share another lullaby with you, because lullabies are great. This one is by Welsh singer and harpist Siân James,, who has been featured quite a few times before on here. The lullaby is better known under the name Suo Gân, which simply means lullaby in Welsh, and it’s one of more popular and widely known Welsh lullabies. I personally find it quite cute. Siân James sings only two verses here, but there’s also a third one, in which the mother calms her child’s fears, and while this lullaby as a whole makes me think of Misha, that last verse is particularly appropriate for him as he’s so fearful that even little things like a bit of stronger breeze coming through the window can startle him awake sometimes.
It was composed in the 19th century, and this simple tune has since been set to other lyrics too, like multiple hymns. The translation below comes from Wikipedia’s page on Suo Gân.
Sleep child upon my bosom, It is cosy and warm; Mother’s arms are tight around you, A mother’s love is in my breast; Nothing shall disturb your slumber, Nobody will do you harm; Sleep in peace, dear child, Sleep quietly on your mother’s breast. Sleep peacefully tonight, sleep; Gently sleep, my lovely; Why are you now smiling, Smiling gently in your sleep? Are angels above smiling on you, As you smile cheerfully, Smiling back and sleeping, Sleeping quietly on my breast?
Today I would like to share with you a traditional Welsh song, another one on here sung and played on the harp by Siân James. As you will notice, the song is in Welsh and English, and the languages switch with one another every line. The translation below was written by Richard B Gillion
I’ve shared a few Christian songs/carols this month already, but I decided to share another one today, except this one isn’t about Christmas. In fact, it is a hymn about Jesus shedding His precious Blood on Calvary to save us from our sins. But Christmas is the foreshadowing of Christ’s Passion and our redemption, after all.
It is a hymn in Welsh, but I was really surprised when I learned that originally, it’s actually American, because I’ve heard it sung in Welsh many times by many people but never came across it sung in English. Then again, it’s not like I know all that much about English Protestant hymns, or even about Welsh ones, for that matter, but I do get an impression that it’s a lot more popular among Welsh speakers. It was written by a Methodist minister called Lewis Hartsough and I believe it is known as I Hear Thy Welcome Voice. And then translated into Welsh by a Welsh Methodist minister called John Roberts, also known by his bardic name of Ieuan Gwyllt (which translates to Wild John in English). The more common Welsh title is Gwahoddiad (Invitation) as in invitation from Jesus.
This version by Siân James is a bit different, because she doesn’t sing it to the traditional tune and it doesn’t really sound much like your typical hymn anymore. But I like her arrangement, as it makes the song more interesting and contemporary-sounding but not in a way that would create a dissonance with the godly lyrics, which I think is a problem with a lot of modern Gospel music. Here’s Bibiel’s translation of the three out of of the original four verses that she sings.
For today I have a Welsh Christian hymn for you. It is sung and played on the harp by Siân James whose music I’ve shared with you many times before. As far as I’m aware, this hymn was written by Welsh poet Ann Griffiths, who lived in the 18th century. It contains references to various Psalms.
Today I have for you a song sung by Siân James – Welsh folk singer and harpist whose music has already appeared on here several times. – This time it’s her rendition of Gwydr Glas – a traditional Welsh folk song whose two different versions, by Gwilym Bowen Rhys and Mared Williams, I shared in this post, except her version has a yet different melody and some different lyrics.
Here’s the song that I was supposed to share with you yesterday, by a Welsh singer, harpist and pianist Siân James, whose music appears fairly frequently on here.
For today, I’d like to share with you something from the Welsh folk singer and harpist Sian James, whose music I’ve already featured in this series. Like a lot of harpists, Sian also plays the piano, and the piece I want to share today is solely played on this instrument. It’s also the title track of her 2012 album released by Recordiau Bos.
Today I’d like to share with you a beautiful song from the Welsh singer Sian James, this time with her vocals accompanied by piano rather than harp. I think this is her original song, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find a translation or even written lyrics to try to translate them myself. As for the title, I said it means cry, but it’s not crying as in shedding tears (that would be cri), but rather as in a scream.
Like yesterday, today I thought we could listen to another Welsh traditional song, also played on the harp, but this one has lyrics. This is a fairly popular love song from a male perspective and has been sung by a lot of folk musicians, the version I myself was first acquainted with was from the band 9Bach, whose music I’ve also shared on here in the past. I guess the most well-known contemporary version of this song has been sung by Bryn Terfel though. The translated lyrics are below, andI’ve taken them from
Since it’s already early evening here, I thought I’d share a lullaby with you, and I picked this beautiful Welsh one performed by Celtic harpist and singer Sian James, whose music I’ve already shared on my blog before. Here is the lyrics translation that I’ve found:
Today I’m sharing with you a traditional love song, performed by Welsh Celtic harpist and singer Siân James. As it happens, one of the songs by her that I’ve already shared with you previously is about a bird, and so is the case with this one. 🙂 The author of the lyrics is unknown, but I’ve found a translation for you, written by
Today I have something very short and sweet for you – a Welsh nursery rhyme. I find this little tune quite interesting – as a lot of nursery rhymes are, even if they don’t seem to be at a first glance. – I’ve always believed that since nursery rhymes are generally for children, and we put so much pressure on teaching kids all sorts of things even through literature or music that is made especially for them, that they’d have some kind of a moral. But if this one has a moral indeed, it seems quite hilarious to me. People complain so much that times have changed a lot and how so many children now are overweight or even obese. Well, perhaps it’s nursery rhymes like this, emphasising the role of our bellies that are at fault. 😀 Perhaps it was just made for the fussy kids… Well yeah, sometimes music provokes strange thoughts in my brain. 😀
I like how stoical this bird is and accepting of the possibility that we may die just absolutely any time. Reminds me of how Sofi was little, and when you asked her what she was going to do tomorrow, for example, she’d say “I don’t know, maybe I will die”. No, Sofi wasn’t suicidal or depressed, I can assure you of that. She would always say that in a happy/neutral tone, like the most natural thing in the world. Since our family is Christian and my Mum has a very similar mentality, she was simply taught that you just never know what will happen but whatever will, it was surely meant to happen, and even if it seems a bad thing, something good will likely come out of it for someone at some point. This, rather than making her nervous and worried about the future as some would perhaps expect, made her a very spontaneous girl who never plans anything too far in advance and prefers to live in the now. Which has its good and bad sides, obviously, but that’s just what Sofi’s like, and this bird reminds me of her. The part about the belly also reminds me of Sofi when she was little, because there was such a time when, whenever she would introduce herself she would say something like this: “My name is Zofia, I like to dance, draw and eat”. She doesn’t remember that but she still loves to eat more than an average person and even though she eats a lot, it doesn’t show as she’s very thin, and, because she knows about that thing she used to say from what we’ve told her, sometimes now that’s what she tells people on purpose when she doesn’t know what else to say about herself: “I’m Sofi and I like to eat”. 😀
Perhaps then, the actual moral of this nursery rhyme is accepting whatever happens to you, even if it’s death, and being aware of the fact that it may be just about anything, but while you’re alive, doing things that will keep you alive and that you find pleasant at the same time. Very simple, but perhaps not necessarily as obvious life truth as we may be tempted to think.
I used to wonder why there’s a bird in this nursery rhyme, but Welsh nursery rhymes and lullabies generally seem to be full of animals (which is, after all, not a distinctly Welsh trait at all), moreover I’ve heard about similarly nonsensical nursery rhymes from other countries where an animal is asked where it’s been or where it’s going and its answers have nothing to do with what animals of its species actually do/eat etc. The word for little bird in Welsh is aderyn, and I’ve seen somewhere that it could also mean a boy (don’t know how accurate it actually is though as I’ve never heard it in such use and am not sure how credible the source is) so perhaps it could be a boy, not a bird, but each and every mention of this song that I found in English says bird, so it’s much safer to assume that it is actually a bird.
Okay, now I’ll let you formm your own opinion on this song, here is the translation, and the song itself is below.
„Where are you going, little laden bird?”
“I’m going to the market, if I will be alive.”
“What will you do in the market, little laden bird?”
“Go and get salt, if I will be alive.”
“What will you do with the salt, little laden bird?”
“Put it in the soup, if I will be alive.”
“What will you do with the soup, little laden bird?”
“Put it in my belly, if I will be alive.”
“What will you do with the belly, little laden bird?”
Recently, when I was posting the song by Gwilym Bowen Rhys, I found the same song in this stunning interpretation of Siân James. And although I still just LOVE it in Gwilym’s version, this is so absolutely great I just couldn’t resist to not share it with you, even if it’s the same song I shared with you just a few days ago, but in different version.
I think partly why I love this version so much is because Siân James is a harpist and as I told you guys some time ago, I am crazy about harp, especially Celtic harp. But her voice is so beautiful and captivating as well.
My Inner MishMash 