Key signature: Gmajor
Submitted on June 4th 2005 by ceolachan.
This tune has been added to 10 tunebooks.
Also known as The Caerphilly March.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Ymdaith Caerffili
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: barndance
K: Gmaj
|: DE/F/ |
G2 G>G G2 D/E/F/G/ | A2 A>A A2 Bc | dBed cBAG | FGEF DcBA |
G2 G>G G2 D/E/F/G/ | A2 A>A A2 Bc | dBec BAGF | G2 G>G G2 :|
|: B>c |
d2 d>d d2 cB | A2 A>A A2 Bc | d2 d>d edcB | ADFA dcBA |
G>A B/A/B/G/ A>B c/B/c/A/ | B>c d/^c/d/B/ =c>d e/d/e/c/ | Bgec BAGF | G2 G>G G2 :|
Ymdaith Caerffili
We are in a Welsh mind frame, and so are our hearts. A brother-in-law in North Wales is dieing from smoking related cancer. We were just visiting them for a few days and actually out doing some planting with the two of them. Suddenly, the day after we'd left, he was having problems with his walking. Yesterday they did an MRI scan and found a tumor pressing against his spine. He is numb from the chest down. We are praying they've gotten it in time. He is undergoing even more radio therapy in the hopes of shrinking it. This is one of three we've been dealing with, all smoking related. Forgive me this, but my patience is gone, I let fly at my pa for smoking. I promise, it isn't about the smoking, though my lungs and body can't take it anymore, it is about what it has done to those we love and value. If you smoke do your damnedest to quit. Stay a little longer.
The brother-in-law is learning Welsh, his wife is a native speaker. He had been putting a lot of effort into learning, impressive, even with his Mancunian (Manchester) accent. Hell, the neices and nephews, native speakers, speak it with a Liverpudlian slant, though they don't want anyone pointing that out. The brother-in-law is also a brass man, even a conductor, and has had several bands. He went to practice, with great effort, to conduct his recent band. He can't play anymore, not enough wind, one lung has collapsed, caused by one massive tumor on it. And yet he went and put his brass band through its paces. That is something. The next day he couldn't walk, and then they found this other tumour. He also has had his complete osophagus removed, the first tumor.
We haven't a lot in common, but he likes marches, including the classic British and American ones, and he loves his wife enough to put effort into learning Welsh. When my wife almost died on me they came down to the hospital, including on her birthday. Today is his wife's birthday. Anyway, because he loves marches and Welsh/Cymraeg, this is a little offering, as I can't get them off my mind, neither of us can. This just came to mind. It is a lovely piece, taken slow or with spunk. I hope you enjoy it. It is a sort of musical prayer for me at this moment.
# Posted on June 4th 2005 by ceolachan
A few print sources for other Welsh tunes ~
"Blodau'r Grug: 100 Popular Welsh Folk Dance Tunes"
Alex Hamilton & Robin Huw Bowen, 1992
"Cadw Twmpath: 100 More Welsh Folk Dance Tunes"
Robin Huw Bowen, 1993 (& the man is responsible for much else!!!)
Cymdeithas Ddawns Werin Cymru = The Welsh Folk Dance Society
http://www.welshfolkdance.org.uk/
http://homepage.virgin.net/dawn.webster/publications.html
# Posted on July 25th 2006 by ceolachan
A few print sources for other Welsh tunes ~
Tro Llaw, A Collection of 200 Welsh Hornpipes from the National Library of Wales, 1987. ISBN-0-907158-25-0
# Posted on July 25th 2006 by lazyhound
Yes, another good collection. The promise was that an all jig and all reel collection would follow the hornpipe one, but that seems to have stalled.
One of the pervailing problems with Welsh collections is the fear to connect the dots, and the tendency to ignore any English title, even if it were how it was originally recorded by a Welsh musician, in favour of bowdlerization ~ giving it a Welsh moniker... That edge makes it all to 'precious' at times for me. I like the music, love the language, but not in costume... I am of the firm belief, and with most things I work to remain open, that such affectations, dogma and tyranny, along with the fantasies ~ sucks the life out of a thing and gives it a polyester straight jacket sort of feel ~ and will kill of the affections of their strictures in the long run... May sense prevail...
# Posted on July 25th 2006 by ceolachan