Nos Sadwrn Back

Not Yet Saturday
Sain SCD 2306

The second album, released in 2001.

Recorded in Stiwdio Sain, Llandrwog and Tudor Crescent Studios, Brynmawr.

Background information on the tunes

Track 1: Y Crefftwr - The Craftsman

1a. Y Crefftwr - The Craftsman

'The Craftsman' - from Cwrt Mawr (Music) MS. 9 (National Library of Wales), which belonged to 'John Evans[,] Taylor[,] Errwddu [sic] Darrowen [sic] Montgomery 1796'

This manuscript came through several different hands to Mary Richards, Darowen (1787-1877), daughter of the parish rector. She was very interested in Welsh literature, and she was also a musician and an avid collector of Welsh music manuscripts. These now form part of several different collections in the National Library of Wales, namely the Cwrt Mawr, Cwrt Mawr (Music) collections, and that of the late Dr. J. Lloyd Williams.

1b. Llawenydd Pob Llu - Everyone's Delight

'Llawenydd pob lu [sic]' - from the manuscripts of Ylltyr Williams, Bangor 2254 (in the Library of the University of Wales, Bangor).

The first half of this tune is very similar to the tune used for the English Morris dance 'Shepherd's Hey'.

1c. Dic y Cymro - Dick the Welshman

'Dick the Welshman' - from: Hugh Mellor, Welsh Dance Tunes (London, Novello & Co., ?1937)

Mellor himself notes: 'From Thompson's Compleat Collection of Country Dances. (circa 1764)'

Track 2: Tebot Pultague - Pultague's Teapot

2a. Jig Pultague - Pultague's Jig

'Jegg Pultague' - from Cwrt Mawr (Music) MS 31, (in the NLW), which belonged to 'The Revd. R. Richards, Caerwys, Holywell, Flintshire, North Wales ... Darowen for ever.' the brother of Mary Richards, Darowen (Cf. 1a. Y Crefftwr, above).

2b. Jig y Tebot - The Teapot Jig

'The Teapot Jig' - Composed by Dick Lee from Scotland.

Track 3: Mympwy Portheinon - The Port Eynon Whim

3. Mympwy Portheinon - The Port Eynon Whim

'The Porteynon Whim... 1817' - from the music book of Charlotte Louisa Talbot, NLW MS 11969D, one of the 'Traherne-Mansell Franklyn' manuscript collection.

Charlotte was the third daughter of Thomas Mansell Talbot (1747-1813), the owner of the grand Penrice & Margam estate in Glamorgan. In 1830, she married the Rev. John Montgomery Traherne (1788-1860) of Coedriglan near Cardiff, a famous antiquarian. Charlotte Talbot received this music book as a gift from her mother early in the 19th century.

'...the gift of Mama.'

Track 4: Y Bore Glas - The Early Morning

4a. Y Bore Glas - The Early Morning

From: Maria Jane Williams, Ancient National Airs of Gwent and Morganwg; ... (Llandovery, 1844), the first printed collection of Welsh folk songs to include the Welsh words to the tunes.

'Pan o'wn i ar foreuddydd, Ar laswyn y dydd,
Yn rhodio glâs y coedydd, A 'nghalon i yn rhydd,
Clywn i'r 'deryn du pigfelyn yn canu'n [sic] yn y dyffryn,
A finnau'n ei serchu Yn y gwydd.'

trans:
As I, at dawn, In the pale blue light of day,
Roamed through the green of the trees, With lightness in my heart,
I heard the yellow-billed blackbird singing in the valley,
And it won my heart In the woodland.

4b. Cariad-gân y Sguthan - The Wood-pigeon's Love-song

From: Nicholas Bennett, Alawon fy Ngwlad - The Lays of my Land, (?1896). Bennett has only the first eight bars, so Robin composed the second eight bars.

Go to next column

Track 5: Tatws Penfro - Pembroke Spuds

5a. Tatws Penfro - Pembroke Spuds

From: NLW MS 20067A

'Mr. W.S. Clark's Old Music Book ... Willm. Thos. Lewis, Mardy, Aberdare July 22 [18]69'

W.T.Lewis was the first Baron Merthyr of Senghennydd, and William Southern Clark was mining agent for the estate of the Marquis of Bute in South Wales. The tune was without name in the manuscript, and Robin baptised it with the present one.

5b. Pibddawns William Edwards

'W. Edwards' Hornpipe' - from Bangor MS 2255 (Ylltyr Williams collection. Cf. 1b. Llawenydd pob Llu).

also:

'The Harper, Mr. Edwards's Hornpipe' - from J. Lloyd Williams MS 48 (in the NLW ) which belonged to

'Miss Jane Catherine Lloyd' [?Bangor, c.1850].

Track 6: Jigiau'r Goron - The Crown Jigs

6a. Brenhines Mynwy - The Queen of Monmouth
6b. Brenin y Lleuad - The King of the Moon

Huw coined these two titles, and Robin then composed the two tunes espcially for the Triple Harp.

Track 7: Y Fwyalchen - The Blackbird

7. O! 'r Fwyalchen Ddu Bigfelen - O, Yellow-beaked Blackbird

From the manuscript: NLW Minor Deposit 150B, containing

'Casgliad o Alawon Cymreig, na chyhoeddwyd o'r blaen, wedi eu casglu a'u trefnu gan 'Orpheus' erbyn Eisteddfod Llangollen 1858. ...

(trans: A collection of Welsh Airs, not previously published, collected and arranged by 'Orpheus' for the Llangollen Eisteddfod of 1858. ...)

... Rhif 36. (... No. 36.) Sung in Cardiganshire; and copied from the singing of Mrs J. Emlyn Jones; the old song ran thus:-

O! 'r fwyalchen ddu bigfelen
That flies so nimbly through the air
Ai di drosoi [sic]at y ddynes
She is the fairest of the fair
A dywedyd y gwir wrthi
Ei bod yn poeni mywyd i
Not to send me a true answer
Ei bod hi yn y ddaear ddu.'

trans:
O, yellow-beaked Blackbird,
That flies so nimbly through the air
Will you go for me to the lady?
She is the fairest of the fair.
And say the truth to her
That she makes me so worried for her,
Not to send me a true answer
That she lies in the cold, black ground.

Track 8: Polca Eldra - Eldra's Polka

8a. Polca Eldra - Eldra's Polka

A polka from the Welsh Gypsy tradition, which Robin learned from the late Eldra Jarman, the last of the Romany in Wales to play the harp in the tradition of her family.

Eldra was a great-grand-daughter to John Roberts 'Telynor Cymru' of Newtown (Montgomeryshire), a famous harpist from the 19th century, who had nine sons and three daughters. He taught them all to play the Triple Harp and the fiddle, and they performed widely around Wales and the Marches, in Eisteddfodau, concerts, ceremonies, the houses of the gentry, pubs, and dances under the name The Original Cambrian Minstrels.

Their music was passed down in an unbroken oral tradition directly to Eldra, and Robin is deeply indebted and grateful to her, considering it an honour to have been taught these tunes by her from this magnificent living tradition.

8b. Y Mân Ddarlun - The Miniature
8c. Y Coroni - The Coronation

'Miniture' - 'Coronation' - from NLW MS 335A from the collection of Thomas Dafydd Llewelyn 'Llewelyn Alaw' (1828-1879) from Aberdare. A Triple-Harpist and avid collector of tunes, who won the prize at the 1858 Llangollen Eisteddfod for the best collection of unpublished Welsh Airs. (Cf. 7. O! 'r Fwyalchen Ddu Bigfelen - O, Yellow-beaked Blackbird).

Llewelyn Alaw's collection contains a large and varied number of traditional and popular airs of the period, and as such is a good reflection of the nature of instrumental music at that time in the Industrial Valleys of the South. A large number of the traditional airs from his collection were published in Nicholas Bennett's book, Alawon fy Ngwlad - The Lays of my Land (Cf. 4b. Cariad-gân y Sguthan - - The Wood-Pigeon's Love-song).

Go to next column

Track 9: Nos Galan - New Year's Eve

9a. Nos Galan - New Year's Eve
9b. Nos Galan, yr Hen Ffordd - New Year's Eve, the Old Way

A famous Welsh tunes, now known the world over as the Christmas Carol 'Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly'. The tune is also used for 'The Flower Dance' one of the Nantgarw dances. The old version is one of twelve untitled tunes arranged simply for guitar, from: John Parry ('Parry Ddall', Rhiwabon), A Collection of Welsh English and Scotch Airs, (1760).

Track 10: Blodau'r Flwyddyn - Flowers of the Seasons

10. Blodau'r Flwyddyn - Flowers of the Seasons

A track which comes from the marriage of an old song with different words. The melody was first published in: John Thomas ('Ieuan Ddu', 1795-1871) Y Caniedydd Cymreig - The Cambrian Minstrel, (Merthyr Tudful, 1845). This was the second book of Welsh songs to be published, following Maria Jane Williams of Aberpergwm's famous book (Cf. 4a. Y Bore Glas). but instead of publishing the words which were collected with the tunes, Ieuan Ddu tended to compose his own verses, but unfortunately was not always a very strong poet.

This melody appears in the book under the title 'Yr Hen Wr o'r Coed - yn ôl dull Dyfed' ('The Old Man from the Woods' - Dyfed version), but while republishing the melody more recently, the new editors Drs. Meredydd Evans and Phyllis Kinney chose a selections of traditional verses to go with the tune.

'Blodau'r flwyddyn yw f'anwylyd,
Ebrill, Mai, Mehefin hefyd;
Llewyrch haul yn twnnu ar gysgod,
A gwenithen y genethod.'

trans:

'My love is all the flowers of the seasons,
April, May, and June too;
[She is] Sunlight shining on shadow,
And the wheat-stalk of all the girls.' [ie: the tallest and fairest of all the girls]

See: Phyllis Kinney & Meredydd Evans, Canu'r Cymry (Welsh Folk Song Society, 1984)
and: T.H. Parry-Williams, Hen Benillion (Gwasg Aberystwyth, 1965)

We all owe Phyllis and Mered a great deal for their important research, their valuable publications, and for their long labours in the field of Welsh Folk Song, which have all provided a substantial repertoire for our use today.

11. Nos Sadwrn Bach - Not Yet Saturday

11a. Nos Fercher - Wednesday Night

'Widnesday Niht' - from: J. Lloyd Williams MS 53 (in NLW), a small volume which belonged to John Williams, Llanfachraeth, Anglesey in 1833, but it is possible that the tunes were written down by someone else at the end of the eighteenth century.

11b. Mantell Siani - Jenny's Mantle

From: Nansi Richards ('Telynores Maldwyn'), Llyfr Wyth o Geinciau Cerdd Dant, (Snell & Sons, Swansea, 1954) where she notes:

'Cefais yr hen Alaw Mantell Siani gan y diweddar Tom Lloyd 'Telynor Ceiriog' ac ar ol ei enw ef y galwyd hi yn Mantell Siani Lloyd.'
('I had the old Tune Mantell Siani from the late Tom Lloyd 'Telynor Ceiriog' and it was named Mantell Siani Lloyd after him.')

Telynor Ceiriog was Nansi's Triple Harp teacher.

11c. Morris Ymdeithiol - Processional Morris

'Processional Morris Dance' - from: Hugh Mellor, Welsh Dance Tunes (London, Novello & Co., ?1937).
(Cf. 1c. Dic y Cymro above.)

Mellor notes: 'Collected by Lady Lewis ... The above form of the tune is exactly as I received it, in manuscript, years ago; since then it has been printed in the Welsh Folk Song Society Journal, but with a difference. If the key-signature be changed to two sharps then it will agree with the printed form. I do not know whether the sharps have been forgotten from my copy or whether they got in by mistake on the other copy.'

Lady Herbert Lewis was a very active collector of Welsh Folk Song in Flintshire at the beginning of the twentieth century. This tune must have been one used for the Cadi Ha!, the processionoal Morris dance from that county, described by Lady Lewis at that time. It was Andy who decided that the major version would fit this medley best.