Gwenno: Hebden Bridge Trades Club – live review

Gwenno
Hebden Bridge Trades Club
16th September 2022

Gwenno Saunders is dedicated to keeping the Cornish language alive, playing tracks from her Mercury Prize-nominated new record Tresor, sung almost entirely in that ancient language.

There are only a few hundred people who still speak Kernewek, or Cornish and, luckily for those dedicated to keeping that ancient language alive, one of them is Gwenno Saunders.

Gwenno’s last two albums have been mainly sung in the Cornish she learnt from her father, who was a native of the area, and her latest, Tresor, has rightly been nominated for the Mercury Prize. Make no mistake, it’s not a token nomination as Gwenno harnesses the words to her pure voice and some very smart electronica in the way Jane Weaver and Beth Orton do so well.

On this tour Gwenno had a live band, including her husband and close collaborator Rhys Edwards on guitar, which added some extra layers to her swirling synths and crystal-clear vocals. All this came together in an atmospheric Tir Ha Mor, from her second album Le Kov, which made you feel like you were standing on an empty beach in Cornwall with the wind blowing through your hair.

Earlier in the day the new King had visited Wales so Gwenno, who was born there, asked if there were ‘any Welsh people in?’, noting it’d been quite some day for them. Gwenno joked that she’d been watching Michael Sheen videos all day, before changing the mood with a glacial Hi a Skuellyas Liv a Dhagow – or She Sheds a Flood Of Tears – as she laughed that the title sounded like a ’70s folks song.

The centrepiece of a strong set was an epic seven and a half minutes Tonnow, which Gwenno described as ‘the spirit of the sea, seducing everyone down to the very bottom’. Edwards took a bow to his guitar over subtle drumming as Gwenno’s expressive vocals weaved through the music to create a maelstrom of noise and emotion that was deeply moving.

There was a lovely moment when, introducing the uptempo Eur Keus (Is There Cheese?), Gwenno asked the crowd to join in on the chorus ‘mars eus keus, dro kaus’, which translates as ‘if there’s cheese, bring cheese.’ This was the first time this club who have booked many great acts will have hosted a singalong in Cornish.

Gwenno is also a Welsh-speaker and supporter of independence for her birthplace, so she switched languages to launch into the punchy and defiant single N.Y.C.A.W (Nid yw Cymry ar Wetrh – or Wales is Not For Sale  – adding that idyllic Hebden Bridge, with its plethora of air B and Bs, is also not for sale.

The band departed leaving Gwenno and her keyboard for a heartfelt version of Clech – or Bells – which was originally recorded by legendary Cornish folk singer Brenda Wootton.

Gwenno was inducted as a Bard of The Cornish Gorsedh for services to the language, which is a richly deserved honour for an artist who is fighting to keep this timeless way of speaking alive, and she’s doing so with great tunes that show exactly why she’s on the Mercury shortlist.

You can follow Gwenno on Facebook and Twitter

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Words by Paul Clarke, you can see his author profile here

Source: louderthanwar.com