welsh folk artist owen shiers

..Cynefin?

‘Cynefin’ (pr.’kuh-neh-vin’), a word with no direct translation into English, is the musical brainchild of Welsh folk singer, researcher, grain grower and cultural historian Owen Shiers.

The project is a musical petition – a stake in the ground for the diverse and the disappearing in our age of homogenisation and mass amnesia. Grounded in years of research, collecting and absorbing the culture and traditions of his native Ceredigion, it aims to provide a window into the past in addition as bring present day issues into sharp focus.

A personal dispatch from the struggle to maintain a language, culture and way of life – cynefin is a uniqye musical project with a timely message.

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Watch the video for the lead single from the new album, ‘Helmi‘

Taken from the new forthcoming album from Cynefin, Shimli. he song presents the words of an old obscure cân (a poem or song) by farmer Evan Jones from Prengwyn. In the poem Evans describes the family farmhouse surrounded by a stoic army of helmi (corn stacks) in golden regalia, protecting the inhabitants from hunger and the scourge of winter. As romantic as the depiction may seem, the piece is a poignant and lyrical account of the not-so-distant past. Not only have helmi disappeared from the Welsh landscape – significantly, so too have the native crops that once fed a nation. For a country now almost completely reliant on imported food, there is perhaps a timely message in his words.

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