We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Dole Teifi - Lliw'r Heulwen

from Dilyn Afon by Cynefin

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1 GBP  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Cynefin’s debut album ‘Dilyn Afon’ (Following A River). CD comes with full colour 30 page booklet detailing the stories and history of the songs

    Archebwch albwm cyntaf Cynefin, sef ‘Dilyn Afon’. Mae’r cryno ddisg yn dod gyda llyfryn bach 30 tudalen sydd yn sôn am yr hanes a’r storiâu sydd tu ôl i’r caneuon.


    Here’s what people are saying / Dyma beth y mae pobl yn eu dweud:

    “A stunning new talent” – The Guardian
    “Remarkable…compelling listening” – MOJO
    “Evocative and beautiful” – The Folk Show, BBC Radio 2
    “Quite extraordinary” – Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music
    “Epic work” – Living Tradition
    “An essential masterpiece in traditional music collection and interpretation, performed to an exemplary level” – Folk Radio

    Includes unlimited streaming of Dilyn Afon via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 3 days

      £11.50 GBP

     

about

This track marries two songs along similar themes – love and deceit.

The first song, which forms the verses, has taken many lyrical and melodic forms in Ceredigion. It has also been noted down as Nos Galan and Y Bobl Dwyllodrus and appears in more than one manuscript and field recording. The melody in this version comes from the very north of the county and the words are an amalgamation of those sung by Thomas Rowlands, a farmer from Lledrod and Thomas Herbert, Cribyn (noted by J Ffos Davies around a century ago). Here an infatuated young man asks a friend for love advice and is told to play ‘hard to get’ – only to leave it too late and find out a year later that the object of his affection is engaged to another suitor (notably we never find out if it is his friend!)

The second part of the song which forms the chorus – Lliw’r Heulwen is from Mynydd Bach near Llanrhystud. It could easily be the same heartbroken young man as in the first song, as he pours out his affection, only to become exasperated by the apparent mercurial nature of a woman’s heart and resign himself to a life of singledom.

Dyma drac sy’n priodi dwy gân ar themâu tebyg – y tro yma cariad a thwyll.

Mae’r gân gyntaf, sy’n creu’r penillion, wedi ei chyflwyno ar sawl ffurf delynegol a melodig yng Ngheredigion. Mae hefyd wedi cael ei chofnodi fel Nos Galan ac Y Bobl Dwyllodrus mewn mwy nag un llawysgrif a recordiad maes. Daw alaw’r fersiwn hon o ogledd y sir ac mae’r geiriau’n gyfuniad o’r rhai a ganwyd gan Thomas Rowlands, ffermwr o Lledrod a Thomas Herbert, Cribyn (a gofnodwyd gan J. Ffos Davies tua chanrif yn ôl). Dyma ddyn ifanc dros ei ben mewn cariad yn gofyn i’w gyfaill am gyngor serch, a’r cyngor yw i ffrwyno ei frwdfrydedd amlwg— ond trwy hynny, mae’n colli ei gyfle a darganfod flwyddyn wedyn bod y ferch yn canlyn â rhywun arall (nid yw’r gân yn dweud os mai ei gyfaill yw’r dyn lwcus neu beidio!)

Mae ail ran y gân sy’n ffurfio’r cytgan, Lliw’r Heulwen, yn dod o Fynydd Bach ger Llanrhystud. Mae’n ddigon posib u ddychmygu mai’r un dyn ifanc torcalonnus sydd yma ag yn y gân gyntaf. Wedi datgan ei gariad, mae’n blino ar ddiffyg ymateb y ferch, yn rhoi’r ffidil yn y tô a derbyn mai unigedd yw ei ran.

lyrics

The green grass on the banks of the Teifi
Has tricked many a cow into drowning.
Many a girl has also tricked me
To leave the straight road for the desolate track.

One morning I was walking
Between the grass and the small trees.
There I met a neighbour,
One of the two-faced traitors.

The first thing I asked him —
How to love a girl and support her?
“Put aside her company for a year;
Little by little she will come to love you more.”

Colour of sunlight on the hills, colour of the lily upon the hill,
When you go from here, my dear remember this:
Your looks, your hand and your gracious manner, girl,
And your gentle, pretty nature has attracted my love.

I took that old fool’s advice;
For a year I gave her up.
After a year I went back
Thinking I would then have her company.

The girl gave an answer easy to understand —
“You have failed to get anyone else,
So, go far away, don’t come close,
I marry before the weekend.”

It’s very easy to recognise a hare, running in all haste;
It’s very easy to recognise partridges when they rise in a clamour;
The great oak amongst the little clover;
Woe is me that it’s not so easy to know a fair girl.

The mill must grind when it has water;
The smith must work while the iron remains hot;
The sheep must love the little lamb while it’s weak;
I must accept whoever is suitable for me.

Blewyn glas ar lan dŵr Teifi
A dwyllodd lawer buwch i foddi.
Llawer merch a ’nhwyllodd inne
O’r union ffyrdd i’r anial lwybre.

Rown i’n rhodio rhyw foreddydd
Rhwng y glaswellt a’r mân goedydd,
Cwrddyd wnes i â hen gymydog,
Un o’r bradwyr dau-wynebog.

Cynta’ peth ofynnais iddo —
Sut mae caru merch a’i chario?
“Rho di heibio’i chwmni flwyddyn,
Daw i’th garu bob yn ronyn.”

Cytgan
Lliw’r heulwen ar y bronydd, lliw’r lili ar y bryn,
Pan elwi oddi yma, f’anwylyd cofia hyn:
Dy lun, dy law a’th lân ymddygiad, ferch,
A’th anian bert addfwynol sydd wedi tynnu’m serch.

Fe nes gyngor yr hen ffŵl hynny;
Am flwyddyn rhois i heibio’I chwmni
Es yn ôl ymhen y flwyddyn
Gan feddwl cael ei chwmni wedyn.

Y ferch ateb’sai’n hawdd ei deall —
“Ffaelaist ti â chael neb arall.
Cer’ di ʼmhell, na ddea’n agos.
Rwy’n priodi cyn penwythnos.”

Hawdd iawn yw ’nabod sgwarnog, yn rhedeg ar ei ffrwst;
Hawdd iawn yw nabod petris, pan godant ar eu trwst;
Y dderwen fawr, ymysg y meillion mân.
Gwae fi na bai mor hawsed, i ’nabod merch fach lân.

Mae’n rhaid i’r felin falu pan gaffo ati ddŵr;
Mae’n rhaid i’r gof i weithio tra paro’r haearn yn frwd;
Mae’n rhaid i’r ddafad garu’r oen bach tra byddo’n wan;
Mae’n rhaid i minnau gymryd y sawl sydd ar fy rhan.

credits

from Dilyn Afon, track released February 7, 2020

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Cynefin Wales, UK

Cynefin (pr.‘kuh-neh-vin’) is the musical brainchild 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. Starting out from his home village and travelling through the musical landscape of Ceredigion, Owen has unearthed seasoned songs and stories, some never before recorded, and given them new life in the present. ... more

shows

contact / help

Contact Cynefin

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Cynefin, you may also like: