A NEW programme will pay tribute to the late great stable loft ballad singer Harry Richards.

The singer, from Sarn Meyllteyrn, died in September 2017, aged 82 and his interview for the programme Cerys Matthews a’r Goeden Faled was one of his last TV contributions.

The programme, the last in the series about iconic Welsh folk songs presented by singer and broadcaster Cerys Matthews, will be broadcast tonight (Friday) at 9.30pm (English subtitles available).

The programme will look at the background and history of one of the most famous stable loft ballads, the tragic folk ballad Yr Eneth Ga’dd ei Gwrthod (The Girl Who Was Rejected).

Harry Richards, along with his brother, Rev Emlyn Richards, worked as farm servants in a stable loft on a farm on the peninsula.

They learnt folk ballads and folk songs in the local fairs and pubs, and this tragic song was one of the most famous.

Harry Richards said: “I would often go to Pwllheli on the bus and then cycled home from the bus stop. I would hear a lot of songs in the town and on the bus, many of them happy ones. Yr Eneth Ga’dd ei Gwrthod was often sung although it is very sad; it’s a song that has stood the test of time.

“I worked on the same farm Neigwl Ucha’, Botwnnog, for 47 years, but I wasn’t in this stable loft for all this time, as I got married.

“It was nice [to live there] as there was no one to check what time you’d get home!”

Producer Bethan Anwyl, said: “It was a true honour to interview Harry Richards, one of the great Welsh ballad singers.

"I had seen him sing in concerts and Eisteddfods and knew that he was a special performer with a unique voice, but going with him to film by a stable loft not far from his home and hear him sing this particular ballad was an unforgettable experience.”

Cerys Matthews said: “Singing ballads was a common way of sharing music in the 18th and 19th-century, just like downloading to your iPad is now, and ballad singers would sell copies of their songs on the streets. Songs like this one was full of excitement, happiness and sadness, they were the social media of their age.”