I'm a very happy parrot today. My back collection of Cerys Matthew's solo CDs has just arrived. I already had Cockahoop, her first solo album.

Now I have "Never Said Goodbye" which is more pop orientated.


And two wholly Welsh albums:
"Paid Edrych I Lair" which means "Don't Look Down". The cover picture is a picture of Cerys precariously walking on a tightrope.


and "Tir" which means Earth.

This is her most recent and includes "Migldi Magdli" (hei, now, now) which was the one sung at Womad with the audience, but this one is sung with Bryn Terfel.

I've now listened to "Never said Goodbye" which as I indicated above is much more pop orientated than her other solo albums. To be honest, some of the songs are rock with very heavy drumming - one of the early songs in particular where the drumming drwons out Cerys' voice, which is a pity. I readily admit that I prefer the quiter songs such as This Endless Rain.

The last song is in Welsh and the CD booklet doesn't give an English translation, so I've used Google to translate this, but I suspect the result is a bit dodgy:

Elen          (I think this may be a reference to a Saint Elen who was involved in the foundation of the Church of Wales)

give us by Elen
The five works long hours
Over mountain and meadow

ring of praise from us
until dawn comes pulling us back to the land
ring of praise from us
until the night comes to a close and the sun above

fold as in the horseshoe  (this and the next line seem the dodgiset)
a Address for gallops
we turn our horses towards home
and until we find shelter

I've now been able to track down 3 video clips on Youtube of Cerys' performance at Womad 2010.

Firstly "The Spider and The Fly" - a love song


Secondly an incomplete extract from "Mulder and Scully"


And thirdly and definitely the best of these 3 clips, "Sospan Fach". This is a traditional Welsh folk song and is all about saucepans  - yes, really

Thanks El Loro, Cerys is fab and her voice is great.  I love her.    And she has a gorgeous acent too. 

Hi ginger, welcome to The Lounge. I think you can guess that Cerys Mattkews is my favourite singer, and Cockahoop is my favourite album of all time. She has a wonderful Welsh accent  and she is beautiful.

As a treat for you, this is another clip of one of her Welsh hymns which she sung on Cockahoop. And watch out for her little twirl part way through. This is one which you may want to see over and over again for the rest of your life.

And Cerys singing Calon Lan on St David's Day in 2007. She also sings this on her album Tir.

I was looking at a BBC article on their website when I came across this photo of Cerys Matthews by Cambridge Jones. It's part of an exhibition of his photos of various Welsh people opening soon, Further details can be found here. The site makes it clear that the article can be shared with others so there's no issue over copyright, Although the article doesn't mention her by name, it's certainly her.