'SLOW DANCE' EFO'R IESU
Yfory fyddai'n rhydd (much more of life is lived than what is remembered).
gan/by Emyr Glyn Williams

To coincide with this year's Senedd sponsored #DyddMiwsigCymru, (the official national day of celebration for the existence and continued success of Welsh language music new and old) Ankstmusik are proud to use the occasion to mark the 35th anniversary of the formation of Ankst Records back in 1988 with the re-appearance of a curio from the very early days of the label.

SLOW DANCE EFO'R IESU by TYNAL TYWYLL was catalogue number ANKST 02 and appeared as a limited-edition cassette album in Spring 1988. Long out of print and largely forgotten, this digital version is presented re-mastered from best quality existing copies we have.

When thinking of the enormous number of topics one could write about when scanning 35 years of Welsh language rock music action it was a surprise to find that I kept coming back to this one unheralded release as something that could celebrate and encompass both Welsh language pop heritage and the on-going twisty Ankstmusik story.

I suppose I can still sense that much of what Ankst wanted to be at the very beginning (a historical time when a government sponsored day of celebration for the SRG was unimaginable) and where it ended up all these years later can be discovered within this release and in the associated memories stirred up in me when I listen to it again.

'Yfory fyddai'n rhydd....

Speaking to Ian Morris Williams, lead singer and Tynal Tywyll frontman about re-visiting 'Slow Dance' all these years later he remembered that he had wonderful memories of that whole early period and remarked how the band initially gave Ankst ( Alun Llwyd and Gruffydd Jones) the tapes at the time - 'I just remembered wanting to help you boys out as Ankst was starting out - you appeared to me like a gang of Rocknroll outlaws!'

It sounds silly (and a lot of things were then!) but that youthful spirit is essential in these situations and I believe that such a gesture of support was important when Ankst talked the talk but were yet to do much serious walking! Initial label press releases from Ankst grandly claimed (amongst other things) that they were a 'positive revolutionary force against the puritanical philistines' .
Of course, brilliant releases were soon to come by Y Cyrff, Y Gwefrau, Trad Ofnus,Ffa Coffi Pawb, Datblygu,Beganifs etc but by hooking up with Tynal Tywyll with this collection and a swiftly released vinyl 7'' of new tracks by them early on was significant and a positive attention grabber.

Looking back through press clippings and early reviews you can sense that Tynal Tywyll were one of those bands intent on taking things in a different direction in 1984-5. Ian remembers a very early gig at Satz nightclub in Bangor where he advertised their appearance as an unknown support act as a 'happening' and organised a projector to show the graveyard scene from 'Easy Rider' on them as they performed to an audience who had no idea who these cool kids were. Ian now wistfully imagines such antics would have fitted the social media age perfectly - he's right! they would have been just perfect. They were a glorious presence, always provocative and playful, cheeky and vocal in interviews - claiming to be out there constantly manipulating their press and berating their fellow bands for being too passive - just what you need from a young band on the rise.

And also of course they used their songs to provoke. The link between singing in Welsh and the political fight for the language was sacrosanct at the time, an almost total ideological stranglehold - so a song like 'Paid â Synnu'( Don't be surprised!) is an astonishing teenage work that basically says - up yours -we'll do this ourselves! - and draws a line in the sand. 'Don't buy rubbish from trendy lefties', 'Don't be surprised by Wales's suicide', 'Don't rely on the nationalists' - these kids have a different agenda are up for an alernative future and their message is being carried on the shoulders of jangly adrenalized pop. Such challenges to the alternative establishment were extremely rare and had them being hilariously accused of being secret Tories! Happy days.

And what about the music ? I can clearly remember the joy me, Alun and Gruff got from listening to this album of early demos and session from 84-85 tracks in the ankst office. The first offerings from a band that had, by 1988, released a string of classic pop seven inches that cemented their popularity with the 'hipster' demographic as they regularly played gigs that turned any Welsh disco into a seething celebration of jangly pop joy. These earlier recordings had already been shared between friends before official release as a kind of pre internet file-sharing experience - such was the desire to hear new music from such an exciting headline-grabbing group with such a slender officially released catalogue.

So in essence what you have here is youthful music, attitude, confidence, great songs, a sexy and fashionable band with a sensational frontman, a cassette that is a record of an all too brief time early in a bands career when their sets could be no longer than 15 minutes and the best two minute numbers would get played three times in a row! Pop magic, disposable stuff that also really matters.

Whatever the rhetoric used by Ankst back in the day, we always believed that we were part of a lineage and this release proved that drawing from the recent (by now long ago) past for inspiration was happening at the very beginning of the story, at the same time as we were also seeking out the new sounds for the archivists of tomorrow to discover - music is music - now, then, always x

Of course it is my personal feelings that draws me back to this album, but I think that the pull and enjoyment that comes from listening again to this album is the knowledge that much more of life is lived than what is remembered and these unremembered bits of our lives still live on deep in art, in music especially for me personally - in the songs we love.

Unlike the sometimes deadening force of the info-overkill of instant and forever viewable mobile phone footage and you tube coverage prevalent in today's pop culture these older memories are a rare reminder that the lived life still can be reached organically, untouched by unromantic documentary evidence that could rob your memories of their magic sheen - for now my memories and ears don't lie - a bit of magic was made the day we released this back into a very different Wales x

Ymlaen x Everyday in Wales music is being made and released that is magical and gives us so much pleasure and strength and long may that be the case - Hir oes cerdd Cymraeg Cymru xx


'SLOW DANCE' EFO'R IESU
Yfory fyddai'n rhydd (much more of life is lived than what is remembered).
gan/by Emyr Glyn Williams

I gyd-fynd â’r dathliadau #DyddMiwsigCymru eleni mae Ankstmusik hefyd yn falch o ddefnyddio’r achlysur i nodi 35 mlwyddiant ers ffurfio Ankst Records yn ôl yn 1988 gydag ail-ymddangosiad casét o ddyddiau cynnar iawn y label.

'SLOW DANCE' EFO'R IESU gan TYNAL TYWYLL oedd rhif catalog ANKST 02 ac ymddangosodd fel casét cyfyngedig yng Ngwanwyn 1988. Allan o brint ers hynny ac wedi'i anghofio bron yn llwyr, dyma ni yn ail gyflwyno fersiwn digidol wedi'i ailfastro.

Wrth feddwl am y nifer enfawr o bynciau y gallai rhywun ysgrifennu amdanynt ar gyfer #WelshLanguageMusicDay , roedd yn syndod i mi ddarganfod fy mod yn dod yn ôl at yr albym yma fel rhywbeth a allai ddathlu a chwmpasu treftadaeth bop Gymraeg ac esbonio rhywfaint o stori droellog label Ankst. Bosib fy mod i'n dal i synhwyro bod llawer o'r hyn yr oedd Ankst eisiau bod ar y cychwyn cyntaf (amser hanesyddol pan oedd diwrnod o ddathlu yr SRG gan y llywodraeth yn anodd ei ddychmygu) dal yn amlwg i'w glywed ar y casét yma.

'Yfory fyddai'n rhydd...

Wrth siarad ag Ian Morris Williams, prif leisydd Tynal Tywyll am ail-ymweld â 'Slow Dance' yr holl flynyddoedd yn ddiweddarach cofiai fod ganddo atgofion hyfryd o'r holl gyfnod cynnar hwnnw a soniodd sut y rhoddodd y band y tapiau ar y pryd i Ankst (Alun Llwyd a Gruffydd Jones) 'dwi jyst yn cofio ein bod isho helpu chi hogia allan pan oedd Ankst yn dechrau - Roeddach chi fel gang o outlaws roc.'

Mae'n swnio'n wirion (ac roedd llawer o bethau bryd hynny yn wirion!) ond mae'r ysbryd ifanc rocnrol hwnnw'n hanfodol yn y sefyllfaoedd hyn a chredaf fod y fath gefnogaeth gan Ian a'r grŵp yn bwysig mewn cyfnod pan oedd Ankst yn llawn hyder ifanc a geiriau mawr ond dal heb lwyddo i sefydlu eu hunain fel label hanfodol! Roedd datganiadau i'r wasg gan y label newydd yn honni'n fawreddog (ymysg pethau eraill) eu bod 'yn ymateb yn bositif i Biwritaniaeth a Philistiaeth y genhadaeth hŷn trwy fwrw mlaen a'r chwyldro' ' - cyn hir mi fydda cynnyrch hanfodol yn ymddangos gan Y Cyrff, Y Gwefrau, Trad Ofnus, Ffa Coffi Pawb, Datblygu, Beganifs ayyb ond wrth gysylltu â Tynal Tywyll ar y cychwyn gyda'r casgliad hwn a record finyl 7'' o draciau newydd bron yn syth yn arwyddocaol ac yn tynnu sylw i Ankst.

Wrth edrych yn ôl trwy adolygiadau cynnar gallwch synhwyro bod Tynal Tywyll yn un o'r bandiau hynny a oedd yn bwriadu mynd â phethau i gyfeiriad gwahanol yn 1984-5. Mae Ian yn cofio gig cynnar iawn yng nghlwb nos Satz ym Mangor lle hysbysebodd eu hymddangosiad fel act gefnogol anhysbys fel ‘happening’ a threfnodd daflunydd i ddangos golygfa’r fynwent o'r ffilm cwlt ‘Easy Rider’ arnynt wrth iddynt berfformio i gynulleidfa a oedd a dim syniad pwy oedd y plant cŵl yma. Mae Ian nawr yn synhywro y byddai anticts o'r fath wedi ffitio oes y cyfryngau cymdeithasol i'r dim - mae'n iawn! byddent wedi bod yn berffaith. Roeddent yn bresenoldeb gogoneddus, bob amser yn griw bryfoclyd a chwareus, yn ddigywilydd a lleisiol mewn cyfweliadau - yn honni eu bod allan yna yn fwriadol isio cam-drin y wasg ac yn gwawdio eu cyd-fandiau am fod yn rhy 'passive' - yr union agwedd sydd angen ar gyfer corddi'r dyfroedd.

A hefyd wrth gwrs fe ddefnyddio'n nhw eu caneuon i bryfocio. Roedd y cysylltiad rhwng canu yn y Gymraeg a’r frwydr wleidyddol dros yr iaith yn sacrosanct ar y pryd, yn gyfyngiad ideolegol llwyr bron - felly mae cân fel ‘Paid â Synnu’ yn waith rhyfeddol yn hanes celf yr arddegau Cymraeg . Mae'n dweud yn blwmp ac yn blaen - Stwffiwch y drefn! Byddwn yn gwneud hyn ein hunain! - ac yn tynnu llinell yn y tywod. 'Paid â prynu sbwriel trendi lefties Cymraeg,' 'Paid â synnu gan hunanladdiad Cymru', 'Paid a dibynnu a'r genedlaetholwyr a hynny' - maen nhw'n barod am ddyfodol newydd ac mae eu neges yn cael ei chario ar ysgwyddau cerddoriaeth pop-jangli llawn egni a chwant. Roedd heriau o’r fath i’r sefydliad amgen yn hynod o brin ar y pryd ac roedden nhw’n cael eu cyhuddo o fod yn Dorïaid cudd! Hilarious. Dyddiau Da.

A beth am y gerddoriaeth? Gallaf gofio’n glir y llawenydd a gefais i, Alun a Gruff o wrando ar yr albwm hwn o demos cynnar a sesiynau o 84-85 yn ein swyddfa.Traciau cyntaf gan fand a oedd, erbyn 1988, wedi rhyddhau cyfres o recordiau saith modfedd a sefydlodd eu poblogrwydd gyda’r 'hipsters' wrth iddynt fedru troi unrhyw ddisgo Cymraeg y cyfnod yn ddathliad bywiog nefolaidd o lawenydd jangly pop gyda'i anthemau clasurol.

Roedd y recordiadau cynharach amrwd hyn ar y caset eisoes wedi'i chael eu rhannu rhwng ffrindiau cyn eu rhyddhau'n swyddogol fel rhyw fath o brofiad pre-fileshare y rhyngrwyd i ddod - cymaint oedd yr awydd i glywed cerddoriaeth newydd gan grŵp mor gyffrous gyda chatalog swyddogol a oedd mor brin.

Felly yn y bôn yr hyn sydd gennych chi yma yw cerddoriaeth ieuenctid, agwedd, hyder, caneuon gwych, band rhywiol a ffasiynol gyda frontman syfrdanol, casét sy'n gofnod o amser yn gynnar yng ngyrfa band pan na allai eu setiau fod yn hirach na 15 munud a byddai'r caneuon dau funud gorau, yr 'hits' , yn cael eu chwarae deirgwaith yn olynol! Hanfodol a disposable.

Beth bynnag oedd y rhethreg a ddefnyddiwyd gan Ankst ar y pryd roeddem bob amser yn credu ers y dechrau ein bod ni’n rhan o linach ac mae rhyddhau'r caset hwn yn profi bod ymweld â'r gorffennol diweddar (llawer pellach yn ôl erbyn heddiw!) am ysbrydoliaeth wedi bod yn digwydd o’r cychwyn cyntaf, ar yr un pryd a cheisio darganfod a chefnogi'r synau newydd i archifwyr yfory eu darganfod. Cerddoriaeth yw cerddoriaeth - nawr, gynt, yfory, bob amser

Wrth gwrs fy nheimladau personol sy’n fy nhynnu’n ôl at yr albwm yma ond dwi’n meddwl mai gwraidd yr atyniad a’r mwynhad sy’n dod o wrando eto ar yr albwm yma yw’r wybodaeth reddfol ynof fod llawer mwy o fywyd yn cael ei fyw na’r hyn sy’n cael ei gofio a’r darnau di-gofiadwy hyn o’n bywydau byw sy'n dal i fyw yn ddwfn mewn celf, mewn cerddoriaeth yn arbennig i mi yn bersonol - yn y caneuon rydym ni'n eu caru.

Yn wahanol i rym llethol y gorlif gwybodaeth o luniau ffôn symudol a darllediadau youtube y gellir eu gweld yn syth ac am byth o fob digwyddiad a symudiad ein diwylliant poblogaidd heddiw, mae'r atgofion hŷn hyn yn atgof prin fod ni'n dal yn gallu cyrraedd y 'real' o hyd - (barn rhamantus, wrth gwrs - ond so what! ) am rŵan o leia dyw fy atgofion na fy nghlustiau ddim yn dweud celwydd.

Ymlaen x bob dydd yng Nghymru mae cerddoriaeth yn cael ei chreu a'i rhyddhau yn yr iaith Gymraeg sy'n hudolus ac yn rhoi cymaint o bleser a chryfder i ni fel pobl x Hir oes cerdd Cymraeg Cymru xx