Description

As the follow-up to 2013’s Y Bardd Anfarwol (The Immortal Bard) – an ambitious intercontinental project during which Bonello travelled to Chengdu, China, to create a project combining both Welsh and Chinese traditions – Ruins/Adfeilion looks much closer to home, but with no lesser global outlook. Gwen Lliw’r Lili (Gwen colour of the Lilly) is a fitting album opener – being a traditional Welsh folk song from the Maria Jane Williams Collection, Ancient National Airs of Gwent and Morgannwg (1844) – and an outward statement on the influence that the continuing influence of Welsh folk music on his writing. The guitar instrumental Un i Sain Ffagan (One for Saint Fagans), for instance, is Bonello’s own ode to his former place of employment, Saint Fagans National History Museum, and the spot where he himself first discovered traditional Welsh music.

Many of the songs featured here pay tribute to the past whilst others address, in very direct terms, contemporary issues.