Albwm Newydd | New Album ‘CYFARWYDD’ Out on the 17.04.26
Cyfarwydd
CYFARWYDD | ’Y STORIWR’
Cyfarwydd yw’r ail albwm gan Mari Mathias, wedi’i recordio gyda’i band llawn yn StudioOwz, stiwdio mewn hen gapel wedi’i hadnewyddu gan Owain Jenkins ym mryniau’r Preseli ger Moel Eryr a Charningli. Mae’r teitl cyfarwydd , yn air sy’n ein cysylltu â’r caneuon a’r straeon sy’n gyfarwydd i Mari o’i milltir sgwâr hi yn Sir Benfro a Cheredigion. Ar yr un pryd, mae’n cyfeirio at y teitl cyfarwydd a roddwyd i feirdd a storïwyr parchus Cymru’r oesoedd canol ; ceidwaid hanes a chwedl. Yn wahanol i feirdd y llys, hwy oedd yn cario’r cylchoedd naratif mawr yn y cof , y bydoedd disglair a adwaenir drwy’r Mabinogi. Straeon am drawsnewid, hud, colled a dychweliad, lle’r oedd y ffin rhwng y byd hwn a’r llall mor denau â’r anadl. Mewn diwylliant gwreiddiedig mewn traddodiad llafar, y cyfarwyddion oedd yn dal parhad ei hun , yn clymu stori â thir y gorffennol â’r presennol. Mae’r albwm hwn yn camu i’r llinach honno.
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FAMILIAR | ‘THE STORYTELLER’
Cyfarwydd is the second album by Mari Mathias, recorded with her full band at Studio Owz, a studio in an old chapel renovated by Owain Jenkins in the Preseli hills near Foel Eryr and Carningli. The cyfarwydd title is a word that connects us to the songs and stories that are familiar to Mari from her square mile in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. At the same time, it refers to the cyfarwydd, a title given to the respectable poets and storytellers of medieval Cymru; keepers of history and legend. Unlike the poets of the court, they carried great narrative, circulating memory and the bright worlds known through the Mabinogi. Stories about transformation, magic, loss and return, where the boundary between this world and the next was as thin as the breath. In a culture rooted in oral tradition, it was the cyfarwyddion who held continuity itself, tying a story to the land of the past to the present. This album steps into that lineage.
‘Y MORGEN’
“‘Y Morgen’ feels very personal to me, coming from myth and folklore. It sits somewhere between story and memory. It connects me to the sea, to the landscapes I grew up around, and to the people who passed those stories down to me. It makes me think a lot about ancestry and inherited memory in the land of Sir Benfro and how certain places or sounds can stir something in you that feels older than your own lifetime. The idea of the Morgen, this sea-spirit presence, feels symbolic of that to me. She’s mysterious and powerful, but also tied to nature, to water, to emotion. There’s something very human in that as well. It also represents my relationship with language and storytelling. Singing about these themes in my mother tongue, and carrying those old coastal tales into a new musical space, feels like a way of honouring where I come from while also shaping where I’m going creatively.
The song feels like a bridge for me, between land and sea, past and present, myth and lived experience. Every time I sing it, I feel like I’m stepping into that space a little bit, and inviting other people in too.”
Y MORGEN
'Y Morgen' - Is an original song , sang in her native tongue of Cymraeg , with her band that explores the coast of Wales and the folklore of the Morgen, meaning “sea born” & creature of the sea in Welsh & Celtic mythologies. The song weaves together themes of femininity, reclaiming the stories and folklore of her homeland in west Wales, and the land of her Celtic ancestors in the Preseli Hills and beyond - Her aim is to connect to her Celtic cousins across the British isles and Celtic nations to celebrate welsh ancestry, stories & traditions.
'Y Morgen' reflects on our lost connection with the sea and its creatures, ancient traditions, and the need to reconnect with the earth and water - Imagining a future where we can live alongside old ways of creating, crafts that connect us to the land and our ancestors, collecting food, stones, shells and stories from the coast , to pass them on for generations more.
The track was recorded at Studio Owz, Pembrokeshire - within an old church renovated into a studio with Owain Jenkins engineering and mixing the song and the album 'KYFARWYDD', meaning ‘familiar’ in modern-day CYMRAEG & also “The storyteller / spell maker’ in ancient ‘hen ogled’ cymraeg. The album will be released in full in the spring after Mari shares a series of singles leading up to the release on Vinyl and Disc.
Y MORGEN (Geiriau)
“Gweled y Morgen yn erbyn y lan
yn galw am ti.
Dawnsio’n yr afon o brydferth wyt ti.
Y lleuad sy’n llenwi eu fyd.
Meibion y morgen
a lleisiau y gwyll ,
sy’n galw am ti.
Gweled y morgen yn erbyn y nos ,
yn galw am ti.
Gweled hardd creadur y dwr,
Hi sydd yn ein dwyllo.
Gweled y Morgen yn erbyn y lân,
Hi sydd yn ein dwyllo.”
Y MORGEN - (Lyrics) Translation
“See the Morgen against the shore, calling for you.
Dancing in the river , you are beautiful.
The moon that fills their world.
Sons of the morgen and voices of the night,
that calls for you.
Seeing the Morgen against the night calling
, for you.
See the beautiful water creature,
She is deceiving us
Seeing the Morgen against the clean water,
She is deceiving us.”