Gododdin - Track 01 - Sarff

( Quick link: for the TV Documentary about Gododdin, look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gjZ-bnXhYw )

An extremely impressive (IMHO) rendering, released on record in 1989, of possibly the first epic poem in Welsh: "Y Gododdin". This recording was composed as a collaborative work between Test Dept and Brith Gof. This is track 1 out of 7 and entitled "Sarff" ( meaning "snake" or "serpent" - http://www.welshpedia.co.uk/wiki/wales/index.php?title=Female_Welsh_Names_5 and http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/didyouknow/placenames/welsh... )

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Update #1 2008-07-15: many thanks to StevieC01368 for the links to Gododdin at Stanford University:
http://humanitieslab.stanford.edu/BrithGof/19
and to a streaming video hosted there:
http://www.brithgof.org/Gododdin_Bband.mov

Update #2 2008-07-15:
Many internet clicks later and the link between Stanford University and Brith Gof becomes clear for me, as does the fact that Brith Gof was shut in 2004:

http://metamedia.stanford.edu/projects/MichaelShanks/684

Update #3 2008-08-15:
Mike Pearson (a former director of Brith Gof) and I have finally managed to communicate! A most interesting reply which he said I was free to post so here it is more-or-less in full:

"I was one of the directors of the company [Brith Gof] - I'm now a full-time academic! I left in 1997 and Cliff McLucas continued for several years but he sadly died in the early 2000s and the company was wound up. However last year we discovered that most of the BG achive - in a plethora of formats - had survived in the National Library in Aberystwyth. So we commenced a project - the Brith Gof Archive Project - to recover the material, to enhance access and to reanimate it in various ways.

"The project began with a process of sorting - we've managed to order the material production by production into 93 boxes! Since then we've staged three one day symposia on specific productions - bringing together documentation and those involved to somehow evoke the works for a contemporary audience. And the next event will be on Gododdin - on 6 December 2008 at Chapter in Cardiff, on the 20th anniversary of the original production. We hope that Angus, Paul and Graeme from Test Dept will be able to join us.

"Future initiatives include a proposal to reimagine original works digitally. And there is even a request by several Welsh venues to consider restaging early productions!

"We don't have a dedicated project website yet but we are recording all the symposia for future distribution. I'll gladly put you on our mailing list."

Comments/Notes on that:
1. Gododdin to be re-staged on 2008-12-06 in Cardiff, Wales! I have a feeling that I might be going ;-) hope to see you there.

### 2008.11.23: Thanks to StevieC01368 for reminding me / pointing it out that it is not a re-enactment but a symposium. Due to somewhat unexpected, personal circumstances I can't make it to Cardiff on 6 December :-( ###

2. There is a Brith Gof Archive Project - so I'll see if I can persuade Mike Pearson to make the TV documentary available now that the BrithGof domain is expired (or at least get him to renew the domain!)
3. Mike Pearson now works at Aberystwyth University ( http://www.aber.ac.uk/ ). Far be it from me to post people's email addresses etc but I'm sure if you are interested you can find his public contact details there and contact him. The more interest shown, the more impetus will be given to the Brith Gof Archive Project and, of course, Gododdin.


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All copyright used to belong to Test Dept (as far as I can make out) but they finished as a band in 1998: http://www.testdept.org.uk/td/events/index.events.html#1998

Here's some more information on the discography part of the still extant Test Dept website: http://www.testdept.org.uk/td/discography/gododdin.html


Some notes from the booklet included with the vinyl:

"A small Celtic army faces annihilation at Catreath [modern-day Catterick, UK] in 600 AD. They are only remembered through the survival of one epic poem."

"Defeat is never to be cherished, but the glorious rendering of their account against an infinitely stronger enemy lessens the smugness of victory and lends dignity in retrospect to the vanquished."

"Culture then and now becomes a tool for survival."

Category:

Music

Tags:

• gododdin
• sarff
• test
• dept
• brith
• gof
• celtic
• welsh
• history
• epic

[nickedynoodles]

Brilliant video. I'm going to Cardiff on the 6th to see the Gododdin archive project. Should be very interesting. Wish I'd been a bit older than 2 when the original production took place!!!

[BertrandDeBorn]

Hi. Did you go in the end? I was lay in a hospital bed in another country at the time, although I think by the day of the symposium I had just had the infusion/drip removed from my arm - a good omen indeed and one Aneirin himself may have been proud of ;-)

[BertrandDeBorn]

Check out update #3 in the "more info" section. Hope that helps.

[BertrandDeBorn]

Yep, you're right. Here's the message I now get: "brithgof org expired on 08/06/2008 and is pending renewal or deletion". I'm assuming that's a US Aug 6th date.

Here's the bad news: the video is 54 minutes long so way past YouTube's 10 mins max duration and can't be posted here.

Here's the good news: I recently got in touch with Mike Pearson, director of Brith Gof and I will be posting his comments here ASAP. I'll see what I can do to get this video made generally available. Watch this space.

[iggy23]

can you post it? The link is dead now, brithgof domain expired.

[BertrandDeBorn]

Hi Lilith3609 - be sure to take a look at the URLs over in the "more info" section where you can finally get to see some of the show for yourself via streaming video, albeit a little after the event! "Good things come to those who wait" as the saying goes :-)

[BertrandDeBorn]

All my questions posed here now answered - see Update #2 in the informational text which I just updated...

[BertrandDeBorn]

So I got the video from the weblink... Using "transcode" (for the record: on GNU/Linux - Ubuntu 8.04 distro on my laptop), I managed to convert it from a Quicktime movie to a DivX/MP4 format and could watch it on my newly acquired TV via a DVD recorder and USB memory stick. The result was actually very impressive to watch indeed! Technology - it might even catch on ;-) Other than that, I've contacted the Humanities Lab at Stanford and am waiting for a reply. See what you've set in motion LOL!

[BertrandDeBorn]

Hi, thanks very much for getting in touch. Been some localised issues with placing a response to your most interesting feedback, but it seems to be working now... I'll add the links in my "video notes" section to Stanford. So now I am humbled (yeah, I know, again... ;-) : a member of the mighty Brith Gof has replied. Thank you very much! So what's happening with Brith Gof nowadays and how is it that Gododdin only seemed to survive in video form at Stanford University???

[StevieC01368]

There is a video! If you type Brith Gof Gododdin Video into google and select the humanities lab at stanford university link it should take you to a page about Mike pearson and gododdin. Click the link at the top for a streaming video of the documentary made by Green Eye for S4C. I helped out backstage at the Cardiff show and performed for Brith Gof on the European tour. It is great that people are still interested nearly 20 years later. It was an amazing experience.