Day 278: 12 Welsh Songs Wo0155

BeethovenCD83Welsh songs, also sung in English, are more of a romp.

Today’s CD opens with a song (“Sion, the Son of Evan”) that sounds like horses bursting from the chute. It’s a lively song from start to finish.

Even the song “The Monks of Bangor’s March” (Track 2) has a determination to it. Monks are usually considered peaceful and wandering. But this sounds like a drinking song, which – I suppose – is not out of the question. Monks can drink, too, eh?

Welsh songs do not resonate with me the way Irish songs do. I can dig that they’re sung in English and that they’re lively. But their subject matter (at least, in this collection) seems almost like the stuff of fantasy – Fair Maiden, Aeolian Harp, Golden Robe, Damsels of Cardigan, the Vale of Clwyd, etc.

Irish songs, on the other hand, seem to be about love and loss and drinking and battles, etc.

I realize I’m over-generalizing. I’m sure there are some rollicking good Welsh songs that take me back to the moors and castles and swords and wenches with pints of ale.

And it’s not that these songs aren’t robust. They are. They’re hearty and raucous in their own way.

They just don’t tug at the heartstrings and make me get all misty-eyed like songs from Ireland do.

NOTE: Today’s CD is 83 out of 86. That means in just three days – by Thursday, July 10th – I’ll start the next leg of my journey: The Great Gatsby in print and movies. Both Gatsby novels, and four Gatsby movies, all within 21 days.

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