Cynefin

(Pr. ‘kuh-neh-vin’)

The word ‘cynefin’ itself is swaddled in layers of meaning – a Welsh noun with no direct equivalent in English, its origins lie in a farming term used to describe the habitual tracks and trails worn by animals in hillsides. The word has since morphed and deepened to conjure a very personal sense of place, belonging and familiarity. The artist Kyffin Williams describes it as:

‘that relationship: the place of your birth and of your upbringing, the environment in which you live and to which you are naturally acclimatised.’

Clettwr Valley musician Owen Shiers

Reclaiming Roots

The brainchild of Welsh folk singer, researcher, grain grower and cultural historian Owen Shiers, cynefin started life as a musical mapping project. After receiving a scholarship to research the obscure and forgotten folk songs of his native Ceredigion, his initial aim was to create a musical map of the county, starting off in the Clettwr Valley where he was raised. The work quickly grew a life of its own and culminated in the 2020 album Dilyn Afon (Following A River), produced by long standing mentor and producer, John Hollis. The album received critical acclaim with the Guardian hailing Shiers as ‘a stunning new talent’ and Songlines dubbing the album “beguiling…a distinct debut”. It also received nominations for Welsh Language Album of the Year 2020 and three nominations at the 2023 Wales Folk Awards.

The forthcoming second album Shimli is the follow up to Dilyn Afon. Continuing in the vein of rooting his music firmly in the customs and cultural vernacular of Ceredigion, the album takes its title from the now obsolete West Walian practice of all night musical and poetic vigils which used to take place in mills and workshops. Drawing inspiration from folk song, the beirdd gwlad (folk poet) tradition – as well as living oral history and story, the album explores the intersection between music, poetry, food and the natural world. A personal dispatch from the struggle to preserve a language, culture and way of life, the album is a musical petition – a stake in the ground for the diverse and the disappearing in our age of homogenisation and mass amnesia.