Branwen - the podcast
To my surprise and delight my podcast of the introduction to the story of Branwen from the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, performed by myself and Pauline Down, has had more - much more - response than any of the others. Because there is more demand I thought I would post some background to the story and our version of it, a pronunciation guide, something about the songs and the making of the show. This serialised version of one of the most popular stories from the Mabinogion is also available as a CD or mp3 download which you can find here. The recording was made by recording engineer Liam Ross and mastered at Hafod Mastering.
But if you’re just wanting to listen to the stories you can go straight to the podcasts on Buzzsprout, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.
If you follow the links above you will also find the Mabinogi Monday podcasts where I interview leading storytellers and others in the storytelling business about stories from the Mabinogi, including Branwen. They are also available on this site by clicking here.
We had some lovely Branwen gigs lined up in Herefordshire, Cambridge and in a new venue called Y Beudy (the cowshed) in the grounds of Ystrad Fflur Abbey (Strata Florida) which is where the Mabinogion may well have first been committed to vellum. They will all be re-scheduled once the Corona hullabaloo is over but we thought we would share the show with you virtually. We hope you like it
A map of the Story
When I’m telling the story live I draw a map of Wales in the air with a big stick for people to get an idea of the basic geography (anyone familiar with my storytelling will know I have a thing about sticks). This method doesn’t really work for a podcast so here is a map of Wales with the main locations. Just so you get an idea of the scale, if you went from Harlech to Pembrokeshire (as the Seven Survivors do at the end of the story) it would take you four hours to drive and about a week to walk. Probably longer if you were carrying a giant, severed head.
Ynys Môn/Anglesey is the island off the north coast and is very different to most of the rest of Wales because almost all of it is flat. You can see the route that the Irish took from Harlech round the finger-shaped Llŷn Peninsul to Aberffraw and the more direct route that Benidgeidfran and his entourage took through the mountains, over the Menai straits and on to Aberffraw. The purple blob in the middle off the sea of the coast of Pembrokeshire (bottom left) is the island of Gwales (Grassholm) where the Seven Survivors spent eighty enchanted years before carrying the head of their king to London for burial.
A list of characters
Margaret Jones’ illustration of Branwen and the starling
Bendigeidfran (Blessed/Excellent Crow) is the King of the Island of Britain. He is a giant. He has a sister called Branwen (White Crow) and a brother called Manawydan. He also has two half-brothers called Nisien and Efnisien. Bendigeidfran is the only giant in the family - all the others are a more or less regular size.
The Irish king is called Matholwch. There is a giant couple who appear from a lake in Ireland and, although I don’t name them in my version, they are called Llasar Llaes Gyfnewid and his wife Cymidei Cymeinfoll. The king who invades the Island of Britain is called Caswallon. Among the seven survivors are Manawydan, Taliesin (the source of bardic poetry and prophecy), Pryderi (the king of Dyfed in south-west Wales, Heilyn (who opened the door on the island of Gwales) as well as Glifiau, Ynog, and Gruddiau, who are named but don’t do much.
Pronounciation guide
I hope that has been useful for you. If you wan to know more let me know and if I can help I will. Next time I’m going to talking about the landscape of the story, the songs that Pauline sings and more. Remember, you can go straight to the podcasts here.
Harlech Castle with Borth y Gest and Eryri/Snowdonia beyond and the Llŷn Peninsula off to the left.