plygain info please

Subject: plygain info please
From: Mo the caller
Date: 23 Dec 22 - 09:07 AM

The website www.plygain.org/home.htm is informative but doesn't give links to words & tunes, just books (in Welsh!!)
I have this carol in my head, but can't even see it's name on the video.
Could anyone tell me what they are singing (+ translation)

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Dec 22 - 10:35 AM

http://daibach-welldigger.blogspot.com/2017/12/welsh-carols-4-oldest-welsh-carol.html

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: Helen
Date: 23 Dec 22 - 01:00 PM

Bryn Terfel & Brigyn - Ar Gyfer Heddiw'r Bore

I looked at the lyrics on this page:

Welsh Language Christmas Carols & Songs with Lyrics & Translation (Carolau a Chaneuon Nadolig Cymraeg)

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: Helen
Date: 23 Dec 22 - 01:22 PM

I probably should explain that while I don't speak or even understand Welsh, I was in a Welsh choir many years ago so I have an idea of how the words sound when I read them. (Don't ask me to pronounce them because I would upset Welsh people, I am sure. My Welsh-born Grandma could not speak the language because she moved to England when she was a child.)

Also, by looking through the list of Welsh carols I could eliminate the songs with the melodies I know, e.g. Once in Royal David's City etc so I narrowed my search to the other carols that I do not know.

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: Mo the caller
Date: 23 Dec 22 - 02:21 PM

Thank you both

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: Mo the caller
Date: 23 Dec 22 - 02:54 PM

I much prefer the unaccompanied versions to those with an instrumental backing.
I've read that they are traditionally 3 part. Were the harmonies fixed or did each trio make their own?

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: Helen
Date: 23 Dec 22 - 03:11 PM

Mo, I have reached the limit of my knowledge on that, sorry. :-)

I'm sure someone else knows more about that.

I do know that Welsh harpers have a tradition of playing variations on a tune and are prided on that ability but that may not be relevant to your question.

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: GUEST,Howard Jones
Date: 24 Dec 22 - 08:10 AM

The carol in the video is on the 'Words and Metres' page of the Plygain website as 'Mentra Gwen' (which is the name of the tune it is set to).

I don't speak Welsh, but Google Translate offers this:

For this morning a little baby, a little baby
Jesse's root was born as a small baby
The fort came from Bosra
The former legislator on Sina
The Right found on Calvary a little baby, a little baby,
Sucking Maria's breast, little baby

Despite being a bit literal, this probably gives the gist of it. Perhaps a Welsh speaker can come up with something better.

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: Mo the caller
Date: 24 Dec 22 - 09:59 AM

Howard, I think the translation on the link Helen posted makes a bit more sense
"For the sake of this very morning
As a little baby, a little baby
Was born the root of Jesse
As a little baby;
The Strong one who came from Bosra,
The Lawmaker of old on Sinai,
The Redemption to be had on Calvary
As a little baby, a little Baby,
Suckling the breast of Mary,
As a little Baby."
I'd never heard of Bosra (don't remember that from my bible reading youth). Not sure how singable that version is to fit the accents of the tune

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 17 Dec 23 - 10:44 AM

The December 2023 episode of Matthew Bannister's Folk on Foot looks at Plygain.

This year’s seasonal episode takes us to the village of Mallwyd in mid Wales to join the ancient tradition of the plygain carols. On a dark, cold night, local people gather in the warm and welcoming St Tydecho’s Church to sing Welsh language carols which have been handed down through successive generations of their families. They’re joined by Gwilym Bowen Rhys who unearthed his carol in a second hand book shop and by Owen Shiers (Cynefin) whose singing group travels around several plygain services at this time of year. Asked why she joins in, one singer exclaims: “I just feel part of the ages!”
https://pod.fo/e/20b485

Subject: RE: plygain info please
From: sian, west wales
Date: 18 Dec 23 - 09:35 PM

That's Robin Huw Bowen, Arfon Gwilym, and Sioned Webb singing on your link. Plygain is NEVER sung with instrumental accompaniment ... when intended as true plygain. I suppose some have been adopted by other traditions and may involve instruments but, to my ears, those never sound 'right'. Here are the words:

Ar gyfer heddiw’r bore
’n faban bach, faban bach,
Y ganwyd gwreiddyn Jesse
’n faban bach;
Y Cadarn ddaeth o Bosra,
Y Deddfwr gynt ar Seina,
Yr Iawn gaed ar Galfaria
’n faban bach, faban bach,
Yn sugno bron Maria
’n faban bach.

Caed bywiol ddwfr Eseciel
ar lin Mair, ar lin Mair,
A gwir Feseia Daniel ar lin Mair;
Caed bachgen doeth Eseia,
’R addewid roed i Adda,
Yr Alffa a’r Omega
ar lin Mair, ar lin Mair;
Mewn côr ym Methle’m Jiwda, ar lin Mair.

Diosgodd Crist o’i goron,
o’i wirfodd, o’i wirfodd,
Er mwyn coroni Seion,
o’i wirfodd;
I blygu’i ben dihalog
O dan y goron ddreiniog
I ddioddef dirmyg llidiog,
o’i wirfodd, o’i wirfodd,
Er codi pen yr euog,
o’i wirfodd.

Am hyn, bechadur, brysia,
fel yr wyt, fel yr wyt,
I ’mofyn am dy Noddfa, fel yr wyt
I ti’r agorwyd ffynnon
A ylch dy glwyfau duon
Fel eira gwyn yn Salmon,
fel yr wyt, fel yr wyt,
Gan hynny, tyrd yn brydlon, fel yr wyt.

sian, west wales