Small World Theatre in Cardigan is delighted to be part of Cynefin’s tour with their new album ‘Shimli’, performed live on Saturday, March 8 from 7.30pm.

Shimli is the follow up to 2020's critically acclaimed debut Dilyn Afon by Welsh folk singer, researcher, grain grower and cultural historian Owen Shiers, aka 'Cynefin'.

Continuing in the vein of rooting his music firmly in the customs and cultural vernacular of Ceredigion, the album takes its title from the now obsolete West Walian practice of all night musical and poetic vigils which used to take place in mills and workshops. Drawing inspiration from folk song, the beirdd gwlad (folk poet) tradition – as well as living oral history and story, the album explores the intersection between music, poetry, food and the natural world.

A personal dispatch from the struggle to maintain a language, culture and way of life, the album is a musical petition – a stake in the ground for the diverse and the disappearing in our age of homogenisation and mass amnesia.

The album's lead single Helmi presents the words of an obscure cân (a poem or song) by farmer Ifan Jones from Prengwyn. In it, Evans describes the family farmhouse surrounded by a stoic army of helmi (corn stacks) in golden regalia, protecting the inhabitants from hunger and the scourge of winter. As romantic as the depiction may seem, the piece is a poignant and lyrical account of the not-so-distant past.

Not only have helmi disappeared from the Welsh landscape – significantly, so too have the native crops that once fed a nation. For a country now almost completely reliant on imported food, there is perhaps a timely message in his words.

Tickets £12 are available through Small World’s website.

Doors and bar open at 7pm