Famed for their unique version of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, Brigyn are brothers Ynyr and Eurig Roberts from Snowdonia, North Wales.
A modern melodic folk outfit. The brothers cite various artists as influences, ranging from Björk to Simon & Garfunkel. They have performed at The Green Man Festival, Celtic Connections, Llangollen International Eisteddfod, Small Nations Festival, Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau, and also at popular Welsh language festivals such as the Eisteddfod, Tafwyl and Gwyl y Faenol (Brynfest).
Following the success of their eponymously titled debut album in 2004, Brigyn released their second album Brigyn2 in Autumn 2005. Successful tours of San Francisco and Ireland followed in late 2005 and April 2006 respectively. A collection of songs were released exclusively on limited edition vinyl late in 2006 and a re-mix concept album, Ailgylchu, was released in August 2007. In late 2007, Brigyn performed at the inaugural Sŵn.
Their third studio album Brigyn3 was released in May 2008, and the promotional campaign for the album began with an exclusive live session in 'The Hub', London for Tom Robinson's show on BBC 6 Music.
Following a relentless touring schedule in 2008 that included a return to playing at the Green Man Festival, Brigyn released the single "Haleliwia" in November - a Welsh-language adaption of Leonard Cohen's, "Hallelujah". A Welsh-language single ("Yr Arth a'r Lloer" - "The Bear and the Moon") was released at the end of 2009.
Brigyn released their first ever English-language material in 2010; the single "One Way Streets" was made available on 1 March as a download from the iTunes Store, followed by the songs "Home" and "I need all the friends I can get", also available only to download or stream. Brigyn were given permission to use Charles M. Schulz's words from the famous Peanuts book for the song "I need all the friends I can get".
Brigyn competed and won the Pan Celtic Song Contest, Dingle in April 2011, as a result of Ynyr winning the Cân i Gymru competition a month earlier.
During 2012, Brigyn teamed up with Hefin Huws to arrange, record and perform a collection of songs from both their catalogues for the Cymdeithas yr Iaith celebratory festival "Hanner Cant".
In November 2014, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Brigyn, a fourth collection of newly penned songs were release as an album, aptly named Brigyn 4.
Barely a year after the release of "Brigyn4", another collection of songs was released in 2015 under the title "Dulog" (Armadillo), named after the little creature that can be seen in Patagonia. The Patagonian theme ran strongly through the album - with direct references to the interesting history of 'Y Wladfa' and its people throughout the songs ['Malacara', 'Ana', 'Dôl y Plu' and 'Pentre sydyn' to name but a few].
The album concluded a year of special events to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Y Wladfa - the Welsh settlement in Patagonia.
During 2016, Brigyn performed the song "Gadael Bordeaux" for the first time on a BBC Radio Cymru. The song, co-written with Rhys Iorwerth commemorates the success of the Wales National Football Team in the Euro 2016 competition. In the absence of tours and concerts, and the European Champions Tournament in 2020, Brigyn re-recorded and released the song.
The most recent album by Brigyn was released in November 2019, titled "Lloer". Most songs performed acoustically and recorded live, this raw, wintery, heart-warming collection also showcased a wealth of contributors - including Bryn Terfel, Linda Griffiths (Plethyn), Meinir Gwilym and Gareth Bonello (The Gentle Good).
