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Cantre'r Gwaelod

by Archfalhwyl

supported by
Dann Chinn @ Misfit City
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Alistair Peck
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about

All proceeds will go towards the care of Tim Smith.

Originally a continuously running piece generated from prevailing weather and tide conditions in Aberystwyth, this relatively brief snippet has been produced using a compressed set of weather data from a week of stormy and sunny weather in September 2017.

The original piece ran online for a period of around two months in August and September 2017 as part of Arad Goch's "Hen Linell Bell/Old Far Line" festival.

Horns and bells herald the high tide, low tide reveals bony drones. Guitar loops and piano play with the intensity of the rain and wind. Things move slower as the temperature falls.



Technology: Linuxsampler piano; Supercollider for loops, drones and bells; zynaddsubfx for more drones; Boss looper pedal to put together the 20 or so guitar loops. Everything is tied together with Jack and controlled through a custom set of programs.



The inspiration is the story of Cantre'r Gwaelod. Once there was a great land where Cardigan Bay now lies, ruled over by Gwyddno Garanhir. These fertile fields were defended against the sea by long dykes, the sluices of which were opened at low tide to drain the land.
In one version of the story, popular in Victorian times, the job of closing the sluices fell to the watchman Seithenyn. One night, after a celebratory feast, a storm blew up from the south west and drove the tide against the dykes. Seithenyn had fallen asleep through too much drink, and had forgotten to close them, and the land was drowned.

But an older version of the story is recalled in fragmentary fashion in the poem Boddi Maes Gwyddno, to be found in the Black Book of Carmarthen. This tells, perhaps, that Seithenyn was a visiting king who was attracted to the “well cup-bearer” Mererid. Perhaps it was she who was in charge of the sluices. Seithenyn, drunk after the feast, prevented her from attending to her duties, and so the sea flooded in. The poem vividly describes her lament:

Diaspad vererid y ar vann caer.
hid ar duu y dodir.
gnaud guydi traha trangc hir.

Mererid’s cry from the city’s heights
Reaches even God.
After pride comes a long ending.

The remains of the dykes which defended the Cantref can still be seen today: Sarn Badrig reaches out into the sea near Barmouth, and Sarn Gynfelyn between Clarach and Borth.

credits

released January 25, 2018

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Archfalhwyl Aberystwyth, UK

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