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Welsh singer discovers lost & hidden Welsh folk hymns of Wales

Lleuwen Steffan | Credit: Celf Calon
Lleuwen Steffan | Credit: Celf Calon

Wales, April 17, 2024 –  Welsh musician Lleuwen Steffan is embarking on an extraordinary journey to resurrect hidden Welsh hymns she discovered hidden in the depths of St Fagan’s Museum Sound archives with the ground-breaking Tafod Arian (Silver Tongue) tour. The tour, which begins this April in Carmarthenshire and will span 50 Welsh chapels across Wales, serves as a heartfelt tribute to Wales’s rich musical heritage, reclaiming these lost treasures from the depths of time and bringing them back to their rightful place among the people.

 

The project,  in collaboration with the National Eisteddfod and Festival Interceltique de Lorient,  is already taking Wales by storm and brings to life the hidden Welsh hymns of Wales.

 

Unearthing these hidden hymns was no easy task. Steffan's journey began with a chance discovery in the sound archives, where she stumbled upon a collection of hymns absent from official hymn books. Delving deeper, she found that many had been unfairly excluded by all-male hymn book committees of the past, fading into obscurity as the world modernised.

 

With no published versions and their writers and composers’ unknown, they are the hymns of the people, passed on orally from generation to generation which sadly became lost over time and secularization.

 

 Ahead of the tour, which starts at the end of April, Lleuwen Steffan said:

 

“These sacred songs, once passed down orally, lay silent for decades…until now. Tafod Arian breathes new life into these lost hymns, ensuring they resonate once again."

 

The voices in the recordings are no longer with us in human form, but Lleuwen has worked with their descendants to create Tafod Arian (Silver Tongue ) by using a  variety of electronic and acoustic instruments to provide accompaniment and backing vocals to voices of Welsh past. With translations and explanations, Tafod Arian proudly brings the archive recordings of the lost Welsh hymns alive and gives them centre stage.


 

Lleuwen Steffan
Lleuwen Steffan

Since launching her solo chapel tour, Lleuwen Steffan has received numerous messages from audience members wanting to share archive material from their family collections, including more unpublished Welsh hymns; recordings of the half-singing, half chanted hwyl sermons and a reel-to-reel recording of plygain carols. These archive materials are developed into music that sits firmly in the present


Along with touring 50 Welsh chapels this year, taking the hymns back to where they were born,   from summer of 2024 she will be  bringing together some of the most renowned musicians of Wales and Brittany to work on this music, to expand it, and to reach a wider audience.

 

Elen Elis, Artistic Director of National Eisteddfod Wales said:

“It is a privilege collaborating and supporting Lleuwen on such an important cultural project. The chapel tour takes all her work back to the people, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the solo performances evolve and transform over the coming months, and to the premier of the band performance at the Eisteddfod in Pontypridd and at Interceltique Festival Lorient this summer.”


Lleuwen, who is originally from the Ogwen Valley in North Wales added:

“From researching in the museum to meeting descendants of lost hymn collectors and connecting with audiences, Tafod Arian (Silver tongue) has become a powerful and meaningful journey I want to share, along with its message of preserving our arts, culture and spiritual traditions.”

 

 Tafod Arian is supported by The Wales France Cultural Fund established by British Council Wales, The Arts Council of Wales, Wales Arts International, and the Welsh Government.


 

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Notes to Editors:

 


 

 

 

For media enquiries, interview & filming ops please contact:

 

Nia Medi

Medi Public Relations

07706860925

 

CHAPEL TOUR DATES APRIL - NOVEMBER

 






 
 
 

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