Following on from their highly praised debut EP ‘Yr Unig Rai Sy’n Cofio’ in February 2021, Welsh language band Derw return with their latest single ‘Ci’, released on CEG Records.

In ‘Ci’, Anna, the band's lyricist, writes about the return of the depression that dogged her teens and how she feels better equipped to deal with it now - knowing that it will pass. The chorus is a plea to her former self that there is hope and light at the end of the tunnel - ‘Paid bod ofn fy ffrind’ (‘don’t be scared my friend’). She says of the song ‘To face depression at the beginning of life, a time which should be full of hope but instead is shadowed by uncertainly and self-doubt, is a very different matter from facing it later in a life shot through with times of great happiness.’

Yn dilyn rhyddhad ei EP gyntaf ‘Yr Unig Rai Sy’n Cofio’ yn mis Chwefror 2021, mae Derw yn dychwelyd gyda’u sengl newydd ‘Ci’ ar label Recordiau CEG.

Yn ‘Ci’ mae Anna yn ysgrifennu am ddychweliad yr iselder oedd ar ei sodlau yn ei harddegau a sut mae hi wedi dysgu delio efo fo’n well. Mae’r gytgan yn apelio at fersiwn iau ohoni bod na olau ar ben y twnnel - ‘Paid bod ofn fy ffrind’. Mae hi’n dweud am y gan ‘Mae’n fater wahanol i wynebu iselder wrth gychwyn bywyd, amser dylsai fod yn llawn gobaith ond yn ei le dim ond cysgod ansicrwydd a hunan amheuaeth, na’i wynebu yn hwyrach mewn bywyd a droiodd allan yn hapus'.

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Derw - Ci

'Mecsico'. Allan ar CEG Records 2.9.22

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Mecsico

Wedi ei ddylanwadu gan fandiau pop siambr fel The National ac Elbow, mae’r trac yn delio efo’r ymdrech i ffendio heddwch a sut mae’n teimlo i weithiau fod yn ddiethryn yn eich meddwl eich hun.

Influenced by chamber pop bands like The National and Elbow, the track deals with how to find peace within yourself and what it’s like to sometimes feel like a stranger in your own mind.

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Derw - Dau Gam

Cafodd ‘Ble Cei Di Ddod i Lawr’ ei ysbrydoli gan ddau beth. Sgwrs gafodd Anna, sy’n ysgrifennu’r geiriau i ganeuon y band, gyda ffrind am ei theulu o Armenia, oedd wedi gorfod ffoi o Dwrci yn 1915, a chysylltiad agos ei rhieni ei hun gyda Palesteina - y ddau wedi cyfarfod yna tra’n gweithio ar gloddiad archeolegol yn 1929. Mae’r gan yn galaru ffawd ffoaduriad ym mhobman ac yn dychmygu sut gallai deimlo i orfod gadael cartref y teulu, bosib am genhedlaethau, a bod ar goll, heb siawns o ddychwelyd.

Inspired by a conversation Anna, the band’s lyricist, had with a friend whose Armenian grandparents were made to flee from Turkey in 1915, as well as her own parents’ close connection to Palestine, having met there while working on an archeological dig in 1929, ‘Ble Cei Di Ddod i Lawr’ (Where May You Alight) laments the plight of refugees everywhere and imagines how it might feel to leave what may have been the family’s home for generations and be lost, unable to return.

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Derw - Ble Cei Di Ddod I Lawr

Fy mam, Mary Kitson Clark, sydd wedi ysgrifennu geiriau Silver, yn ôl ym mis Rhagfyr 1937 a 1938.  Roedd hi wrth ei bodd yn cerdded ar fryniau a dolydd Swydd Efrog, ei chartref annwyl – gyda’i brawd, ffrindiau, neu ar ei phen ei hun.  Er bod y teulu yn byw ym Meanwood, dim yn bell o galon ddu, fyglyd Leeds ei hun, roedd yn bosib ffeindo ffordd syth allan i gefn gwlad.  Yn y tri pennill olaf mae hi yn dod allan o gysgod tawel y cychwyn i wynebu gwynt, oerni a tirlun gwyn o eira.  Roedd fy mam yn hoff iawn o sgwennu a darllen barddoniaeth a wedi trio sawl gwaith yn ystod ei bywyd i gael rhywyun i gyhoeddi ei phenillion, ond heb lwyddiant.Mae Dafydd a finnau mor hapus i allu ddod â'i geiriau hi o flaen y cyhoedd o’r diwedd!
 
It was my mother, Mary Kitson Clark, who wrote the lyrics for Silver, back in the Decembers of 1937 and 1938.  She was in her element walking in the hills and dales of Yorkshire, her home county – with her brother, friends, or on her own.  Although the family lived in Meanwood, which was not far from the smoky black heart of Leeds itself, you could walk out of the house and find your way straight into the countryside.  In the last three verses she comes out from the quiet shelter of the woods to face the wind and the cold and a landscape all white with snow.  My mother loved reading and writing poetry and tried several times during her life to get her work published, but without success. Dafydd and I are very happy to be able to bring her verses before the public at last.

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Derw - Silver (Live From Acapela)

Mae'r gan 'Mikhail' am ffrind fy nhad - Michael Markoff. Cyfarfodd y ddau pan oedd fy nhad yn ei ail flwyddyn fel myfyriwr graddedig yn yr École Biblique yn Jerusalem.  1926 y blwyddyn, fy nhad yn 25, Mikhail yn 17 oed ac yn ddisgybl yn Jerusalem Men’s College.  Gafodd fy nhad groeso diffuant, cynnes i fewn i gartref Rwsiaidd Mikhail a’i fam Nadia.  Pan yn naw oed, difethwyd bywyd Mikhail – fel bywyd sawl plentyn amser ryfel.  Un noson saethwyd ei dad gan y Bolsheviks yn eu cartref yn Sefastopol – Mikhail yn y stafell drws nesaf, a'i fam i ffwrdd (roedd ei dad yn gadlywydd llong danfor Tsaraidd).  Welodd fy nhad rhywbeth arbennig yn Mikhail, ac erbyn diwedd y flwyddyn academaidd bu’r ddau yn treulio'i dyddiau sbar gyda’i gylidd yn ymchwilio yr anialwch o gwmpas Jerusalem.  Mae'r gan wedi cael ei sgwennu o safbwynt fy nhad - yn disgrifio bywyd Mikhail ac yr amser a treuliodd y ddau efo'i gilydd. Deugain mlynedd wedyn wnaeth fy nhad cysegru ei lyfr The Desert a City i Mikhail – anterth y gwaith y cychwynodd efo fo ym Mhalesteina yn 1926.   
 
The song 'Mikhail' is about a friend of my fathers - Michael Markoff. The two met when my father was in his second year as a postgraduate student in the École Biblique in Jerusalem.  The year was 1926, my father 25, Michael 17 years old and a pupil at Jerusalem Men’s College.  My father soon found a home from home with Mikhail and his mother Nadia.  Mikhail’s life had been blighted when he was nine, his father was shot by Bolsheviks in the family home in Sevastopol - Mikhail in the room next door and his mother away (Mikhail's father was a submarine commander in the Tsarist navy).  My father saw tremendous potential in Mikhail, and by the end of the academic year the pair were spending their free days together exploring the wilderness around Jerusalem.  The song is written from the perspective of my father - describing Mikhail's life and the time the two spent together.Forty years later my father dedicated his book The Desert a City to Mikhail – the culmination of the work they had started in Palestine in 1926.

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Derw - Mikhail

Roedd Dafydd a finnau wedi cyrraed ffeinal Cân i Gymru yn 2018 a dyma ni yn eistedd yn y theatr ar gyfer yr ymarfer ar y diwrnod.  Y geiriai  Saesneg “smoke and mirrors” ddoth i’m mhen wrth i fi feddwl am y gwahaniaeth rhwng y byd go iawn a be rydan ni’n ei weld ar y sgrîn.  Mae'r gân yn ymdrech i gyfieithu’r syniad yma - lle mae rhywun yn cael ei demptio gan syniadau o glod a golud, ond yn sylweddoli bod angen sylfaen cryf i aros yn berson iach, cyflawn mewn byd sydd yn dibynnu ar lledrith ac arwynebedd. 
 
Dafydd and I had reached the final of Cân i Gymru in 2018 and while we were in the theatre for the rehearsal on the day, the words “smoke and mirrors” came to mind as I thought of the difference between the actuality and what we see on the screen.  I suppose the whole song is really an effort to translate that idea - where someone is tempted by glamour but realises that they need a strong foundation to survive in a world which depends on image and illusion.

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