For 55 years, the record label Sain, which is based in the north-west Wales village of Llandwrog, has been behind some of the most important Welsh-language music, promoting genres as diverse as pop, hip-hop, folk and classical.
Now the painstaking process of digitising its sprawling back catalogue is under way to ensure that no gems are lost and, hopefully, to inspire future musicians.
“It’s quite a job,” said Kev Tame, who is running the project. “They are in all kinds of different formats – CD, vinyl, original tape. There is an engineer at the studios digitising them all. There are more than 3,000 albums, singles and EPs – more than 26,000 tracks. It’s really important to protect them for future generations.”
Some have already been added to commercial streaming platforms and all will be put on a digital repository at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.
Sain, Welsh for audio or sound, was co-founded in 1969 by the Welsh protest singer Dafydd Iwan, whose song Yma o Hyd (We’re Still Here) has become an anthem for Wales football fans.
Some early releases were recorded at Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire, south-east Wales. The first single from the label was Dŵr (Water), a protest song from Huw Jones about the flooding of the Welsh-speaking village of Capel Celyn to create a reservoir to provide water for Liverpool in 1965.
Sain moved north in 1974 and artists who have recorded with the label include the indie favourite Catatonia, psych-folk musician Meic Stevens, poet and musician Geraint Jarman, the classical and opera star Bryn Terfel, and harpist and composer Catrin Finch.
Collaborations and new recordings have been inspired by the project, including a deep dive into the Sain archive on a forthcoming new album by the Cardiff-based artist Don Leisure.
The National Library of Wales will provide advice and support to Sain to ensure the archive is preserved digitally in the most accessible formats.
Preservation began in January and will last a year. Tame said they had asked a few contacts for pieces they could not find. “Most artists and contacts are very helpful. There is nothing missing yet.”
It comes at a good time for Welsh language music. Streaming has made music performed in Cymraeg much more accessible. “All over the world, people are open to the language being part of the sound they hear,” Tames said. “It doesn’t have to be in English for them to enjoy it.”
Financial support was provided from the Arfor challenge fund, a joint venture by Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Gwynedd and Anglesey councils funded by the Welsh government, which seeks to use entrepreneurship and economic development to support the heartlands of the Welsh language and, thus, maintain the language.
Iwan said: “This project will allow us to ensure that the musical output of the last half century will be available and accessible for future generations.”
Rhodri Llwyd Morgan, the chief executive of the National Library of Wales, said: “The Sain catalogue is one of our nation’s most important music archives, chronicling Welsh cultural expression for over half a century.”
Three tracks from the Sain back catalogue available on Spotify
Tacsi I’r Tywyllwch (Taxi Into Darkness)
A 1977 early release from Geraint Jarman, who was described by the Super Furry Animals singer Gruff Rhys as “serving as a bridge to a new wave of post-punk Welsh-language artists in the 1980s and beyond who had a less self-conscious relationship with their Welsh identity”.
Gormod i’w Golli (Too Much to Lose)
A single by the Welsh rock/metal singer Rhiannon Tomos, who went on to front on to front the Welsh heavy metal band Y Diawled (The Devil).
Dŵr (Water)
Huw Jones describes the feelings of a Welsh man returning to the valley of his childhood, only to find his people had been expelled and the land flooded to make a reservoir to supply water to England.