Fideos/Videos

^{_{“…or y kyfarffo y gwynt ac ef, ef ae gwybyd…”
“…ef ae gwybyd…or y kyfarffo y gwynt ac ef…”
“…Math ac Euuyd, hutwyt geluyd ryd eluinor…”
“Ti a wdost,” heb ynteu, “kynnedyf Math vuab Mathonwy,—ba hustyng bynnac yr y uychanet a uo y rwng dynnyons or y kyfarffo y gwynt ac ef, ef ae gwybyd.”
“Thou knowest,” said he then, “the quality of Math son of Mathonwy ; whatever whisper, however small, that may be between men, if the wind has met it, he will know it.” [Quote from the Red Book of Hergest (Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi) and the translation by W.J. Gruffydd]
This work calls upon the instruction of Math fab Mathonwy in alchemically transforming my own pre-existing harmonic string material and field recordings captured during Storm Darragh (an extratropical cyclone which hit the British Isles in December 2024) into portals of magickal insight. My triptych emulates the divinatory aspect of Math’s capacity to perceive voices on the wind’s wing.}} _{^{Soundwork / Performance / Editing: Tristan Rhys Williams; Camera: Richard Craig}}.

_{^{Mae’r gwaith yma yn galw ar gyfarwyddyd Math fab Mathonwy wrth drawsnewid fy deunydd llinynnol harmonig a recordiadau maes, a gasglwyd yn ystod Storm Darragh (seiclon alldrofannol a darodd Ynysoedd Prydain ym mis Rhagfyr 2024) i byrth o fewnwelediad magickal. Mae’r gwaith yn efelychu agwedd ddiwinyddol gallu Math i ganfod lleisiau ar adain y gwynt.}}

_{Ynys Dywyll – Tristan Rhys Williams}

_{dymchwel o’r awyr – Tristan Rhys Williams}

_{^{Din Sylwy (geiriau W.J. Gruffydd)
Ynys Gysegredig | Tristan Rhys Williams}}

_{^{‘Llŷr Llediaith’ (aligned with the air element) features a field recording of the wind from within Barclodiad y Gawres Neolithic passage grave during a storm from the Irish Sea at Porth Trecastell. It features a chant-like invocation of Llŷr (the father of Brân, Branwen and Manawydan in The Mabinogi). Llŷr refers to the sea and Llediaith suggests ‘half-speech’ or ‘half-language’. Consequently, the name has been evoked for oceanic liminality. Appears on Ynys Gysegredig | Tristan Rhys Williams}}. _{^{Soundwork / Performance / Editing: Tristan Rhys Williams; Camer: Richard Craig}}.

^{_{Mae ‘Llŷr Llediaith’ (ym ymwneud â’r elfen aer) yn cynnwys recordiad maes o’r gwynt o fewn Barclodiad y Gawres yn ystod storm o Fôr Iwerddon ym Mhorth Trecastell. Mae’n cynnwys swyngyfaredd ar gyfer Llŷr (tad Brân, Branwen a Manawydan yn Y Mabinogi). Mae Llŷr yn cyfeirio at y môr ac mae Llediaith yn awgrymu ‘hanner llafar’ neu ‘hanner iaith’. O ganlyniad, mae’r enw yn cael ei alw ar gyfer agwedd drothwyol cefnforol.}}

^{_{‘Buarth Wyf’ (aligned with the earth element) includes a dense layering of field recordings from ground level, harmonium channeling and intoning from Buarth Beirdd from The Book of Taliesin:
“wyf dur, wyf dryw, wyf syw, wyf saer;
wyf sarff, wyf serch…”
[‘I’m as hard as steel, I’m a wizard, I’m a sage, I’m a craftsman;
I’m a serpent, I am desire…’] translation Marged Haycock}}
_{^{Appears on Ynys Gysegredig | Tristan Rhys Williams}}. _{^{Soundwork / Performance / Editing: Tristan Rhys Williams; Camer: Richard Craig}}.

_{^{Mae ‘Buarth Wyf’ (sy’n ymwneud â’r elfen ddaearol) yn cynnwys haeniad trwchus o recordiadau maes o lefel ddaear, sianelu harmoniwm ac llafar-ganu o Buarth Beirdd o Lyfr Taliesin.}}

_{^{Mithraeum I is the first in a series of sound-works for untrained voice and pre-recorded elements.
Audio: Vocals and Recordings by Tristan Rhys Williams; Raven Head: William Wyld (worn by Tristan Rhys Williams); Video: Camera: Richard Craig (edited by Tristan Rhys Williams)}}
_{^{Available on The Shining Pyramid | itdreamedtome, Facing the Ocean, John Harvey, Embla Quickbeam, Tristan Rhys Williams, Leona Jones | Listen to the Voice of Fire}}. _{^{Soundwork / Performance / Editing: Tristan Rhys Williams; Camer: Richard Craig}}.

_{^{Mithraeum I yw’r cyntaf mewn cyfres o weithiau sain ar gyfer llais ac elfennau a recordiwyd ymlaen llaw.}}

_{^{A piece from my series of ‘Ffynnon’ (‘well’ or ‘spring’ in Welsh) soundworks. They serve as meditations upon the three wells revered by the cult of the Hendy head on Anglesey. According to Anne Ross these were: ‘Ffynnon Oer’ (‘the cold well’), ‘Ffynnon Ddu’ (‘the black well’), and ‘Ffynnon Marw’ (‘the well of the dead’). Footage from various portals on Ynys Môn.}} _{^{Soundwork / Performance / Editing: Tristan Rhys Williams; Camer: Richard Craig}}.

_{^{Darn o fy nghyfres o weithiau sain ‘Ffynnonhau Môn’. Maent fel myfyrdodau ar y tair ffynnon barchedig gan gwlt pen yr Hendy ar Ynys Môn. Yn ôl Anne Ross dyma’r rhain: ‘Ffynnon Oer’ , ‘Ffynnon Ddu’ , a ‘Ffynnon Marw’.}}

^{_{The second in my series of ‘Mithraeum’ pieces (footage from Din Lligwy and Bryn Celli Ddu on Ynys Môn)}}.

_{^{Yr ail yn fy nghyfres o ddarnau ‘Mithraeum’ (fideo o Din Lligwy a Bryn Celli Ddu ar Ynys Môn).}}

^{_{Audio: Vocals and Recordings by Tristan Rhys Williams; Raven Head: William Wyld (worn by Tristan Rhys Williams); Video: Camera:Richard Craig (edited by Tristan Rhys Williams)}}

^{_{Sain: Llais a Recordiadau gan Tristan Rhys Williams Raven Head: William Wyld (wedi’i wisgo gan Tristan Rhys Williams) Fideo: Camera: Richard Craig (golygwyd gan Tristan Rhys Williams)}}

^{_{The fifth in my series of ‘Mithraeum’ pieces (footage from Meini Hirion, Llanfechell)}}.

_{^{Y pumed yn fy nghyfres o ddarnau ‘Mithraeum’ (fideo o Meini Hirion, Llanfechell).}}

^{_{The final piece in my Mithraeum series. Available to buy on The Surface of Past Time | Listen to the Voice of Fire}}.
_{^{Y darn olaf yn fy nghyfres Mithraeum.}}

^{_{Piece based on the archaeological finds within Lligwy Burial Chamber.
Darn yn seiliedig ar y darganfyddiadau o fewn Siambr Gladdu Lligwy.}}

_{^{Soundwork inspired by artefacts found within Pant y Saer burial chamber on the sacred isle. Please note the recording of the sound of flint fracturing was carried out off site and I didn’t touch the chamber with anything other than my reverently quivering hand.
The list of artefacts (from Frances Lynch in ‘Prehistoric Anglesey’) found within the chamber (uttered in Welsh in the soundwork):
– sherds of undecorated Neolithic pottery (several rims, one shoulder sherd and one lug);
– leaf-shaped arrowheads (of chert and flint);
– flint scraper;
– silicified shale, flaked like the rough-out of an axe;
– polished antler point;
– two stone discs chipped to a round shape;
– beaker;
– scratched pebble;
– a portion of human skull and animal bones;
– the remains of fifty-four persons, men, women and children, nine full-term foetuses.}}

_{^{Gwaith sain wedi’i ysbrydoli gan arteffactau a geir yn siambr gladdu Pant y Saer ar yr ynys gysegredig. Sylwch fod y recordiad o sŵn hollti fflint yn cael ei wneud oddi ar y safle ac ni wnes i gyffwrdd â’r siambr ag unrhyw beth heblaw fy llaw gwiltio barchedig.}}

_{^{G l a n A l a w ~ Galarnad ar gyfer Branwen / A dirge for Branwen
Bedd Branwen sacred stone and Bronze Age round barrow / Cairn by the Alaw River
From The Second Branch of The Mabinogion (translated by Sioned Davies):
“Then his head was cut off, and they set out across the sea with the head, those seven men and Branwen as the eighth. They came ashore at Aber Alaw in Talebolion. And then they sat down and rested. She looked at Ireland and at the Island of the Mighty, what she could see of them.
‘Oh son of God’, she said, ‘woe that I was ever born. Two good islands have been laid waste because of me!’ She gives a mighty sigh, and with that her heart breaks. And they make a four-sided grave for her and bury her there on the banks of the Alaw.”}}
_{^{Carreg sanctaidd Bedd Branwen a carn grwn o’r Oes Efydd ger yr afon Alaw
O Ail Gainc Y Mabinogion (diweddariad gan Dafydd a Rhiannon Ifans):
“Ac yna y torrwyd ei ben ef ac cychwynasant drosodd a’r pen gyda hwy, y seithwyr hyn a Branwen yn wythfed. Ac yn Aber Alaw yn Nhalebolion y daethant i’r tir. Ac yna, eisteddasant a gorffwys. Edrychodd hithau ar Iwerddon ac ar Ynys y Cedyrn, gymaint a welai ohonynt.
‘O Fab Duw,’ meddai hi, ‘gwae fi fy ngenedigaeth. Dwy ynys dda a ddiffeithiwyd o’m hachos i.’
A rhoddodd ochenaid fawr, a thorri ei chalon ar hynny. Gwnaed bedd petryal iddi, a’i chladdu yno yng nglan Alaw.”}}

^{_{Bryn Gwyn Stones in the Tre’r Dryw area of Anglesey. These used to be part of a stone circle – excavations by the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust confirmed the presence of eight stones originally.
According to Frances Lynch in ‘Prehistoric Anglesey’, these are part of one of two possible stone circles in the Brynsiencyn area (there are only two surviving stones). Henry Rowlands in ‘Mona Antiqua Restaurata’ (1723) records three large stones and the stump of a fourth which he said formed the arc of a circle about 40ft. in diameter. Henry Rowlands in the aforementioned ‘Mona Antiqua Restaurata’ (1723):
“It is called Bryn-Gwyn or Brein-Gwyn, i.e. “the supreme or royal tribunal”; Brein or Breiniol signifying in the British, supreme or royal; and Cwyn, properly suit or action, and metaphorically court or tribunal..
And now though this place, and the ancient name and celebrity of it be altogether forgotten…and its position so near the places which bear the names of all the Druidical orders, may well justify the conjecture of its having been once the supreme consistory of the Druidical administration…
‘Pan fo tri Brenhin
Ar Orsedd y Bryn Gwyn
Gwynfyd y Rhian.’ [Taliesin]
Here Gorsedd y Bryn Gwyn is plainly applied by Taliesin…to a royal throne or tribunal. Neither is it unlikely but that Taliesin, or whoever was author of that ancient ode, might take the word in its Druidish acceptation, as having it in that sense from more ancient records…”}}.

^{_{Cerrig Bryn Gwyn yn ardal Tre’r Dryw, Ynys Môn. Roedd rhain yn arfer bod yn rhan o gylch cerrig – wnaeth cloddiadau Ymddiriedolaeth Archeolegol Gwynedd gadarnhau presenoldeb wyth carreg yn wreiddiol.}}
^{_{Yn ôl Frances Lynch yn ‘Prehistoric Anglesey’, mae’r rhain yn rhan o un o ddau gylch cerrig posibl yn ardal Brynsiencyn (dim ond dwy garreg sydd wedi goroesi). Roedd Henry Rowlands yn ‘Mona Antiqua Restaurata’ (1723) yn cofnodi tair carreg fawr a stwmp pedwerydd a oedd, meddai, yn ffurfio arc cylch tua 40tr.}}