Emyn wedi'i osod i'r alaw 'Hiraeth' gan Daniel Protheroe (1866-1934). Daw'r geiriau o ysgrifau'r emynwr enwog Cymraeg, William Williams, Pantycelyn (1717-1791).

A hymn tune set to the melody 'Hiraeth' (Longing) by Daniel Protheroe (1866-1934). The words come from the famous Welsh hymn writer William Williams, Pantycelyn (1717-1791).

Many Welsh hymns borrowed melodies from Welsh folk tunes, so I began sharing Welsh folk songs and old hymn tunes with Khasi musicians to see if there was any familiarity or recognition. Nobody I met had heard this one however, which was composed by Daniel Protheroe (1866-1934) towards the end of the 19th century. Protheroe emigrated to America in 1885 and named this tune ‘Hiraeth’, a Welsh term for an unreconcilable longing for something to which you can never return. To my ear this tune is very reminiscent of several welsh folk melodies and I like to think that Protheroe composed it to remind him of home. It suits the Duitara very well and Risingbor Kurkalang and I enjoyed playing this one when we jammed together. The lyrics are by William Williams, Pantycelyn (1717-1791), the writer that was more responsible than any other for shaping the literary style of the Methodist revival in Wales in the 18th and 19th centuries. The full title ‘Pererin wyf mewn anial dir’ depicts one of Pantycelyn’s favourite characters; the lonely pilgrim, striving through harsh terrain in search of God. The title means ‘I am a pilgrim in desert lands’ and the verses are typical of Pantycelyn’s dramatic, imagistic style. Welsh missionaries were responsible for reducing the Khasi and Pñar languages to their written form and were the driving force behind producing and printing early Khasi literature. In his brilliant book Welsh Missionaries and British Imperialism, the historian Andrew May described the standardisation of the indigenous languages of the region as an act of ‘linguistic colonialism’. This is the reason that the Khasi language uses Roman characters today and follows the Welsh language in orthography and pronunciation. An early missionary named John Roberts wrote down Khasi folk tales and poetry as well as hymns and translations of the bible. Roberts is still regarded as the father of Khasi literature to this day due to his mastery of the language and his dedication to Khasi literature. Working with prominent Khasi poets Esther Syiem and Desmond Kharmawphlang, we translated Welsh hymns from Welsh to English to Khasi and back again, teasing out echoes of the Welsh style of writing in Khasi language and literature.