Two people stand in the foreground of a church, facing each other in front of a large stained-glass window in the background.

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General Admission

The Plygain Talk will focus on the Welsh folk carol, traditionally sung at a church service held in the early hours of Christmas morning, latterly at evening gatherings throughout December and January and followed by a community supper. Welsh traditional carols are strictly orthodox poems, and at one time played an important part in the religious education of a semi-literate people. This session will describe the content and preservation of Welsh plygain carols, the order of service, the informal order of performance, and will feature unaccompanied singing of centuries-old carols as well as more modern examples. Dr Rhiannon Ifans&rsquo; main field of research is medieval Welsh literature. Other research interests include Welsh folk life and folk culture, carols, Welsh theatre (with special reference to the eighteenth-century interludes), and the assessment of Welsh publishing. She is also an award-winning novelist and children&rsquo;s author. Trefor Pugh is a hill farmer in mid-Wales. He has been singing plygain carols at church services since he was three years old, as did his mother and other generations of his family. He is one of the leading exponents of traditional Welsh folk singing, and is former Chair of the Welsh Cerdd Dant Society (singing a counter melody over a harp melody).

The Plygain Talk will focus on the Welsh folk carol, traditionally sung at a church service held in the early hours of Christmas morning, latterly at evening gatherings throughout December and January and followed by a community supper. Welsh traditional carols are strictly orthodox poems, and at one time played an important part in the religious education of a semi-literate people. This session will describe the content and preservation of Welsh plygain carols, the order of service, the informal order of performance, and will feature unaccompanied singing of centuries-old carols as well as more modern examples. Dr Rhiannon Ifans’ main field of research is medieval Welsh literature. Other research interests include Welsh folk life and folk culture, carols, Welsh theatre (with special reference to the eighteenth-century interludes), and the assessment of Welsh publishing. She is also an award-winning novelist and children’s author. Trefor Pugh is a hill farmer in mid-Wales. He has been singing plygain carols at church services since he was three years old, as did his mother and other generations of his family. He is one of the leading exponents of traditional Welsh folk singing, and is former Chair of the Welsh Cerdd Dant Society (singing a counter melody over a harp melody).

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Plygain Carols Talk

Murdoch House

General Admission

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