Salut! Live

Andrew Curry writes: We’d meant to put up a Welsh Song of the Day on Friday, by way of marking St. David’s Day, but we messed up. So here, without further delay, is a track from one of the doyennes of Welsh language folk music, Siân James. She plays harp, violin and piano, and is blessed with an achingly clear voice.

Siân James. Source: Sianjames.co.uk

She’s been playing and singing since her teens, and has released a string of records since her first release, Cysgodion Karma, in 1990. Her youtube channel has a good selection of her music on it.

Since lockdown, she has also been performing as part of Pedair, which includes Gwenan Gibbard, Gwyneth Glyn, Meinir Gwilym, and is a bit of a ‘supergroup’ of Welsh women artists.

But our song of the day is the title track of her second record, Distaw, which was recommended to me in a record shop in Abergavenny in the late 1990s when I used to go to the area regularly on holiday.

The whole record—mostly of songs she wrote—is a small masterpiece. I’ve turned to it repeatedly since then, especially when feeling overloaded. It takes you to a different place, like good music so often does.

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We’re planning a Song of the Day for St Patrick’s Day as well, and we’re open to suggestions. Please add your recommendations in the Comments, or on the Facebook group.