Mentro

The title of this album is taken from a traditional tune, ‘Mentra, Gwen’ (Venture, Gwen). How could Gwen Màiri resist that suggestion? This is an adventurous album. Màiri was brought up in a Welsh-speaking family in Scotland and this shapes her musical outlook. ‘Rheged’ is a happy waltz and the name of an ancient kingdom that spanned the north of England and southern Scotland, where Brythonic, which became Welsh, was spoken. The album ends with a reflective piece that she wrote in 2014, as the referendum on Scottish independence approached. Its title, ‘Cyn Gawr’ (Before Dawn), comes from a line in Y Gododdin, a seminal Welsh epic written by Aneirin in the sixth century in what is now the Scottish county of Midlothian.

Màiri plays her harp with verve, and variety. ‘Yr Wylan Gefnddu’ (The Black-backed Gull) evokes that bird's lazy flight, then builds busily, wheeling and diving. ‘Y Dydd Drwy'r Ffenest’ (The Day Through the Window) is a lovely set of jigs. ‘Y Feillionen’ (The Clover) is gorgeous, played, unusually, in a minor key. Màiri benefits greatly from Jordan Price Williams who creates bass lines on his cello, and subtle work from guitarist Gwilym Bowen Rhys. Màiri is also a limpid singer with lyrics including a poem by her mother and another by her grandfather, both tinged with hiraeth, the yearning for home.