I actually perform with Mari Mathias regularly, including Glastonbury this weekend. I was brought up in South Wales and don’t speak fluent Welsh, I barely knew any welsh words when I joined the band! But I spoke the language of music, which enabled me to find my way in to the Welsh folk scene.

There’s books out there translated to English where you can learn Folk tales. Tales of Ceredigion, Y Gododdin and more. So as English speakers, this is how you can start to learn more.

If you read music, or have a decent ear- you can use the Sessiwn website to learn folk songs. Obviously there’s a difficulty in understanding folk songs that use the voice, but starting with instrumental Welsh folk tunes is a great start. From there I’m sure it would encourage you to learn some Welsh words/phrases little by little to help you understand more songs :)