Welsh Folk-Songs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Welsh Folk-Songs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1954 | |||
| Recorded | 1954 | |||
| Genre | Welsh folk music | |||
| Length | 32:53 | |||
| Label | Folkways | |||
| Meredydd Evans chronology | ||||
| ||||
Welsh Folk-Songs is the first album by Welsh folk music singer and collector Meredydd Evans, consisting of a cappella renditions of traditional Welsh-language folk songs. The album was recorded in New Hope, Pennsylvania after Moses Asch, founder of Folkways Records, contacted Evans, who was then studying at Princeton University. Upon release in 1954, Welsh Folk-Songs was acclaimed by The New York Times, who named it among the year's best records.
In 1945, Meredydd Evans formed the Welsh-language close harmony trio Triawd y Coleg. The group were soon noticed by the BBC and their subsequent appearances on the light entertainment radio programme Noson Lawen brought Evans' playful Welsh-language compositions to audiences across Wales.[1] In 1948, Evans married Phyllis Kinney, an American-born opera singer who shared his interest in Welsh folk music, and the couple began performing together.[2] In 1952, Evans, Kinney and their daughter Eluned moved to America where Evans enrolled at Princeton University, undertaking on a PhD in Philosophy.[3][4][5] He was awarded his doctorate in 1955.[5][6]
Recording
I expected a call from Mr. Asch to say would you now please come and record, properly? But to my astonishment, he just released the record of what we had done that day and I think he was dead right in doing that.[7]
During his second year of Princeton, Evans received a letter from Moe Asch, founder of Folkways Records, who was curious to hear Welsh folk songs.[5] Evans was not previously aware of Asch, but accepted the invitation to record for him.[8] Evans would later speak of his admiration for Asch's work collecting folk music from around the world.[7]
In a studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Evans recorded an unaccompanied selection of secular songs that had survived the Welsh Methodist revival, many of which are among those preserved by the Welsh Folksong Society.[7][9][10] Though he had thought "very roughly" about which songs to sing prior to the session, the selection was improvised.[7] Evans believed the session was a test and was surprised when Asch issued the recordings as an album.[11]
Release
The album was released in the United States by Folkways Records in 1954, with packaging containing supplementary notes, lyrics (with English translation), cultural history and photographs by Frederic Ramsey, Jr.[9][12][13] It was released on CD by Smithsonian Folkways in 2008.[14]
