Bibiel Hears Things: Gwilym Bowen Rhys – “Y Wasgod Goch” (The Red Waistcoat)

Hey people! Gwilym Bowen Rhys released an album last week! It’s the third, and last, as it turns out, in his series titled “Detholiad o Hen Faledi” (Selection of Old Ballads), which Gwilym digs out from all sorts of old books and field recordings, and particularly the National Library of Wales’s digital ballad archive. For many songs in this series, Gwilym’s recording is the first ever to have been made. And since Gwilym is one of my faza peeps, this is a big deal over here in Bibielland! I’ve already given it a fair few listens and – quite predictably – have been enjoying it a lot. Because of the nature of the material, these “Hen Faledi” albums feature arrangements that are deliberately quite minimal, sparse and austere, in contrast to Gwilym’s other albums, which like to be deliciously, baroquely lush, which is so that other musicians who may want to sing them in the future would be able to hear the melodies clearly, and then make their own recordings, possibly with more flowery…