The Cynefin (pr.‘kuh-neh-vin’) project is the creative vision of Clettwr Valley native Owen Shiers. Fascinated by music and history, it is a bid to give a voice to an area of his corner of Wales and innovate within wider Welsh culture. Starting out from his home village of Capel Dewi and travelling through the musical landscape of Ceredigion and West Wales, Owen has unearthed seasoned songs and stories, some never before recorded, and given them new life in the present.

Owen grew up immersed in Welsh music -from the sonorous melodies emanating from his father’s harp workshop to school life and festivals such as the Eisteddfod and Cnapan. After graduating with a music degree from Bath Spa University, Owen has plied his skills as a composer and engineer across many projects. His compositions have been used by the BBC, CNN and TV3 and he has toured around the world as an engineer with artists such as Cimarron, Asere and Totó la Momposina. He has also worked at Real World Studios and on several album projects including the award winning Clychau Dibon by Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita. A fine guitarist and arranger, Cynefin takes Owen back to his passion for roots music and gives a platform to explore his Welsh identity.

The word ‘cynefin’ itself is somewhat of a linguistic enigma - a Welsh noun with no direct equivalent in English, its origins lie in a farming term used to describe the habitual tracks and trails worn by sheep in hillsides. The word has since morphed and deepened to conjure a very personal sense of place, belonging and familiarity. The artist Kyffin Williams describes it as ‘that relationship: the place of your birth and of your upbringing, the environment in which you live and to which you are naturally acclimatised.’

Following a chance discovery of a long forgotten song by a local ballad singer, Owen was inspired to uncover more of the untold stories of the locals whose voices have been lost over the centuries. A research scholarship from the Finzi Trust has further aided the project, enabling him to delve through unseen archive material, look through rare books as well as source songs from ballad singers and cultural historians.

From the grumbles of millers past, musings of balladeers to the every day tales of ‘y werin’ (the common folk) – the resulting material is unique both in its originality (some of the songs have not been sung for over hundreds of years) but also in the arrangements which are distinct and ambitious.

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Gweledigaeth brodor Dyffryn Clettwr, Owen Shiers yw’r prosiect ‘Cynefin’. Yn denu ar ei gyfaredd gyda cherddoriaeth a hanes, mae’n gais i roi llais i’w gynefin ef ac i arloesi o fewn diwylliant Cymreig ehangach. Gan ddechrau o’i bentref cynhenid, Capel Dewi ,a theithio trwy dirlun cerddorol Ceredigion a Gorllewin Cymru mae Owen wedi dadorchuddio caneuon a straeon, rhai ohonynt erioed wedi’i recordio, a rhoi bywyd newydd iddynt yn y presennol.

Magwyd Owen ar aelwyd gerddorol Gymreig - o’r alawon swynol a grwydrai o weithdy telynau ei Dad i fywyd ysgol a gwyliau megis yr Eisteddfod a’r Cnapan. Ers graddio o Brifysgol Caerfaddon, mae Owen wedi trafod sgiliau fel cyfansoddwr a thechnegydd sain ar draws nifer o brosiectau. Mae ei gyfansoddiadau wedi ymddangos ar BBC, CNN a TV3 ac y mae hefyd wedi teithio ar draws y byd fel technegydd gydag artistiaid megis Cimarron, Asere a Toto la Momposina. Bu hefyd yn gweithio yn stiwdio ‘Real World’ ac ar nifer o albymau gan gynnwys y record lwyddiannus ‘Clychau Dibon’ gan Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita. Trefnydd a gitarydd o fri, mae Cynefin yn dychwelyd Owen i’w angerdd am gerddoriaeth gwreiddiau ac yn cynnig cyfle i fynegi ei hunaniaeth Gymreig.

Term ffermio yw ‘cynefin’ yn wreiddiol. Mae’n disgrifio’r hen lwybrau arferol a grëir gan ddefaid wrth iddynt llwybri lethrau’r mynyddoedd. Ond mae’r gair wedi mabwysiadu ystyr dyfnach dros y canrifoedd i greu teimlad personol iawn o le, perthyn a’r cyfarwydd. Mae’r arlunydd Kyffin Williams yn disgrifio cynefin fel ‘y perthynas rhwng lle eich genedigaeth a magwraeth, yr amgylchfyd lle yr ydych chi’n byw a beth sydd yn gyfarwydd neu’n gyfforddus i chi’.

Ar ôl dod o hyd ar hap i hen faled anghofiedig gan faledwr lleol, ysbrydolwyd Owen i ddadorchuddio mwy o storiâu a lleisiau’r werin leol sydd wedi mynd yn angof. Mae ysgoloriaeth o’r ‘Finzi Trust’ wedi cynorthwyo’r gwaith ym mhellach, gan alluo iddo bori trwy archifau anweledig, cael gafael ar hen lyfrau a chasglu caneuon o faledwyr a hanesyddion diwylliannol.