D Y L A N E I L T O N – Tristan Rhys Williams
Gwaith sain newydd / New soundwork
Listen to the Voice of Fire – 20.06.2025 (Alban Hefin / Heuldro’r Haf / Summer Solstice – with ob od aeourth):
Dylan Eil Ton | Tristan Rhys Williams & ob od aeourth | Listen to the Voice of Fire
📷 Maen Dylan (Dylan’s Stone), Trwyn Maen Dylan, Aberdesach, Gwynedd.
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Dylan Eil Ton / Dylan Ail Don oedd y cyntaf i gael ei eni ar ôl i Arianrhod gamu dros hudlath Math yn Y Bedwaredd Gainc o’r Mabinogi. O’r cyfieithiad anffasiynol gan yr Arglwyddes Charlotte Guest:
Dylan Eil Ton / Dylan Ail Don was Arianrhod’s first born after stepping over Math’s magic wand in The Fourth Branch of The Mabinogi. From the now unfashionable translation by Lady Charlotte Guest:
“So they had the boy baptised, and as they baptised him he plunged into the sea. And immediately when he was in the sea, he took its nature, and swam as well as the best fish that was therein. And for that reason was he called Dylan, the son of the Wave. Beneath him no wave ever broke…”.
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This place is also alluded to in the Englynion y Beddau [Stanzas of the Graves], from the thirteenth century manuscript, Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin [The Black Book of Carmarthen] xxxii:
“ynydvna ton tolo” [Where the wave makes a noise]
“Bet dilan llan bevno” [The grave of Dylan is at Llan Beuno]
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The soundwork released by Listen to the Voice of Fire on Bandcamp and limited edition tape with artwork includes field recordings from Aberdesach (Gwynedd) and Llanddwyn (Ynys Môn). The sites are inter-visible.
Gofynnodd y briff i ni ddatblygu cerddoriaeth yn ymateb i fotiffau aml-liw yn y Mabinogi (gan ganolbwyntio ar goch yn benodol) / The brief asked us to develop music responding to polychromatic motifs in the Mabinogi (focusing on red in particular).
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It is stated somewhat elliptically (in the Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch [The White Book of Rhydderch] and Llyfr Coch Hergest [The Red Book of Hergest] manuscripts of The Mabinogi) that the blow which killed Dylan in The Fourth Branch came from his uncle, Gofannon (Celtic God of blacksmiths): this was one of the three fatal or ill-fated blows.
Rachel Bromwich in the introduction to Trioedd Ynys Prydein [The Triads of the Island of Britain] explains that three of the ten triads cited in the Four Branches of The Mabinogi have not been preserved in an extant text of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein. One of these dealt with the slaying of Dylan as ‘trydyd anvat ergyd’.
The Taliesin poem, Marwnat Dylan Eil Ton (Elegy for Dylan, Son of the Sea) includes the following line in the Gwyneth Lewis and Rowan Williams translation: “…Who was it held the metal, who forged its hot blows…”. Gofannon’s spear of fire and forge would have been red hot in my mind.
Tristan Rhys Williams 