Taliesin from Taliesin by Jimi the Piper McRae

A celebration of the original, and possibly greatest ever 'celtic' bard, Taliesin, and the poems he composed about places and people in Yr Hen Ogledd (the Old North) approximately 1500 years ago. Yr Hen Ogledd once stretched from Yorkshire in England to the northern shores of Loch Lomond in Scotland. Taliesin was a bard (court poet) to at least one sixth century King ruling terrritories in this area. He wrote in Cumbric, an early form of Welsh. This was the common language of the peoples of Yr Hen Ogledd. The surviving Taliesin's works regarded as authentic by many academics, are praise poems to a King called Urien of Rheged and his son Owain. These poems appear to clearly reference recognisable places in modern Scotland like Edinburgh (Din Eidyn) Dumbarton rock (Âl-Clud), Troon and Brechin ( Brychan), Ayr (Aeron) along with locations in Cumbria (Eden Valley) and Yorkshire (Catterick). Kings of Pictland are also mentioned. The time of Taliesin is generally seen as a golden age for the northern Brythonic or Cumbric speaking kingdoms of Yr Hen Ogledd. Decisive campaigning by King Urien and his allies halted the advancing Anglo-Saxons, at least for a while. Taliesin and his next generation contemporary Aneirin (author of Y Gododdin) are the first bards to be mentioned in any surviving written records in mainland Britain. In Wales today, Taliesin is still referred to as Taliesin Ben Beirdd ("Taliesin, Chief of Bards" or chief of poets) The writings attributed to Taliesin and Aneirin provide us with a fascinating glimpse into a mysterious pre-medieval Britain, to a time centuries before England, Scotland and Wales existed, to an age not long after the Roman Legions left when Saxon and Angle invaders from Germania were expanding and competing, often at the expense of native Britons. The first viking invaders were also well over a century away. Massive thanks and due respect to the Cymru (people of Wales) and their beautiful Cymraeg (language) for keeping these words and tales alive for all of us. Special thanks to Marged Haycock, Professor in Welsh and Irish studies at Aberystwyth University whose help has made this ongoing artistic project possible. Cofion cynnes

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