The Lumieres Podcast

My guest today is Welsh folklorist Gwyn Edwards. I first met Gwyn in his native Snowdonia when he was a guest teacher on the Dadeni course. We walked out into the mountains and Gwyn told us tales of the Welsh fairy folk, the Tylwyth Teg, echoes from the past alive but very much in the here and now, connected to the land and the people of the area where these stories are still told and continue to evolve today.If you like stories, then you are in for a real treat, as Gwyn has one of the most comforting and grounding voices I know of. This episode was recorded as all these podcast episodes are, in person, in the room. I visited Gwyn at his house late last year, we caught up over tea, ate beans on toast and duly fed, settled in to record.Diolch Gwyn for making the time to speak with me and for carrying and spreading these stories.CONNECT WITH JODYJody on InstagramLumieres on InstagramJody's WebsiteSUPPORTSupport the show on PatreonMUSICSix Organs of AdmittanceDrag City Records

My guest today is anthropologist Dr. Stephen Hugh-Jones who is a life fellow of King's College, Cambridge.Along with his wife Christine, Stephen spent two years in the late 1960s living alongside a village of Yucuna Indians in the Colombian Amazon, learning about their language, their customs, cosmology and cultural traditions. They were even initiated into the tribe and given new names, forever connecting them to this community on the other side of the world.Stephen shares his journey into anthropology and his life-long research and support of the Yucuna people he became so close to. He also recounts in vivid detail the Yurupari initiation rite he undertook back then, which involved a hefty dose of Ayahuasca in the darkness, amongst many other things.This is an absolutely fascinating conversation for anyone interested in hearing first-hand how an indigenous culture with minimal western influence operates. You’ll even hear about the story of The Spirit Without An Anus!CONNECT WITH JODYJody on InstagramLumieres on InstagramJody's WebsiteSUPPORTSupport the show on PatreonMUSICSix Organs of AdmittanceDrag City Records

I first met Owen Shiers back in 2011 down in Devon where we were both on the same intake of The Journey, the flagship course run by Mac MacCartney and his team at Embercombe. Since that time Owen has moved back to his native Wales and in 2019 he put out his first album, a musical project with a difference. ‘Dilyn Afon’ (or ‘Following A River’) is the result of three years research and work, collecting arranging and recording folk songs from Ceredigion. This a project which aims to put West Wales and its fragile traditions firmly back on the musical map.It's an evocative, timeless work and I highly encourage everyone to seek it out.The word ‘cynefin’ itself is swaddled in layers of meaning – a Welsh noun with no direct equivalent in English, its origins lie in a farming term used to describe the habitual tracks and trails worn by animals in hillsides. The word has since morphed and deepened to conjure a very personal sense of place, belonging and familiarity.I spoke to Owen about his journey to making the record, what it means to be cultural conservationist, and how urgent it is that we stop standing by while our heritage slips slowly into extinction.CONNECT WITH OWENOwen's WebsiteOwen on InstagramCONNECT WITH JODYJody on InstagramLumieres on InstagramJody's WebsiteSUPPORTSupport the show on PatreonMUSICSix Organs of AdmittanceDrag City Records