Blogs
EISTEDDFOD COMPETITIONS, NORTH AMERICAN FESTIVAL OF WALES (AUG. 31 – SEPT. 4, 2022)
By Ceri Shaw, 2022-07-07
Once again, it's time to enter the Eisteddfod of The North American Festival of Wales! There are several opportunities to compete, for those attending #NAFOW in Philadelphia (Aug. 31 – Sept. 4) or not, including:
- POETRY COMPOSITION: Welsh Language and English Language, both for Adults (age 18+) and Youth (ages 11-17), each with a $250 grand prize. Entry deadline: JULY 22
- STAGE COMPETITIONS (Sat., Sept. 3 in Philadelphia): Solo Voice / Semi-Professional (for the Welsh North America Prize and a $3500 scholarship to travel to compete in Wales next year); Hymn Singing; Welsh Language Recitation and English Language Recitation. Entry deadlines: AUGUST 22 for singing competitions, no deadline for recitation competitions.
- VISUAL ARTS: For popular viewing & voting in Philadelphia. Entry deadline (for title/description): AUGUST 22.
- LIMERICK COMPOSITION: Something new & fun for those attending in-person in Philadelphia… check it out when you get there!
Click on the link for all the information and links you’ll need to enter… and for any questions please write to eisteddfod@nafow.org !
LINK: http://festivalofwales.org/eisteddfod-competition.html
WHY IS FACEBOOK DISCRIMINATING AGAINST WALES AND THE WELSH LANGUAGE?
Readers may not be aware but it is now impossible to target persons who are interested in Wales or the Welsh language in Facebook ads! This development, which occurred recently, means that persons advertising Welsh language courses or indeed anything of specific Welsh interest are being actively prevented from reaching their target audience on the platform.
The image below demonstrates that the 'celtic languages' option has also been removed from targeting.
This leaves 'North Wales' as the ONLY general targeting option for advertisers concerned to reach a Welsh audience. 'Welsh language' and 'Wales' were both removed months ago ago.
If you search for 'Wales' you get this:
If you search for 'Welsh language' you will be presented with the following: ( i.e. nothing )
It should be noted that there is no such problem when we search 'Irish language':
This is blatant discrimination and AmeriCymru is considering withdrawing its advertising from the platform. Any attempt by our staff to reach Facebook for an explanation of this policy would be met with the usual deafening silence.
Clearly Facebook is of the opinion that Wales and the Welsh language are not , and should not be, of any interest to its membership. Under the circumstances we may decide to concentrate our time and resources on an alternative platform that does not hold our nation in utter contempt. If we do, Facebook will not be missed.
El Goodo's Pixy Jones announces new 'Bits n Bobs' debut album + shares new 'I'm Not There / 'And Your Bird Can Sing' Singles
By Ceri Shaw, 2022-07-01
Pixy Jones Announces Debut Album 'Bits n Bobs'
Branching away from the familiar El Goodo platform, Welsh psych scene stalwart Pixy Jones has himself compiled a truly remarkable collection of tracks that fluctuate from 60's harmony-rich psych pop, to Alt-Country with ringing tremelo guitar.
The swaggering 'I'm Not There' is the first single to be taken from 'Bits n Bobs' accompanied by a magical version of Beatles track 'And Your Bird Can Sing' as it's B SIde, which will be released digitally on Friday 1st of July.
I had no recording budget so I had to fund it by quitting smoking and saving the money up to pay for studio time. It took, I think, two and a half years to record, which is by far the quickest I’ve ever recorded an album. Would have been quicker too if it wasn’t for Covid!
Originally I wanted it to just be a quickly recorded slap dash and get it out sort of thing but I had a year and a half during Covid to think about it a bit more and ended up taking more care to get it done properly. It was just me there so I played most of it myself apart from Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo) who played brass and woodwind on one song and Rhodri Brooks (AhGeeBe) plays some pedal steel on a couple.
Elliott and Canny from 'El Goodo' played drums and bass on Wind Street during the Zombie recording sessions.
The album was recorded and mixed in Aerial Studios with Tim Lewis, (Thighpaulsandra), a couple of songs were finished in the house during the lockdowns.
It’ll be released on Strangetown Records.
Quirky Cardiff Collective 'Quilty Pleasures' announce debut double album concept devoted to Bedding + Sleep
By Ceri Shaw, 2022-06-27
'I'd never heard the notion of a concept album purely devoted to bedding and sleep - But now i have".
Quirky Cardiff based collective 'Quilty Pleasures' announce self titled debut double album and share 'Chaise Long' single which will be released digitally on the 8th of July.
'Quilty Pleasures' the album will be released on Friday 26th August.
Rogue Jones return with new 'Englynion Angylion' single out now via Libertino Records
By Ceri Shaw, 2022-06-21
(Scroll Down For English)
Mae Englynion Angylion yn alwad ewfforig orymuso, rhyddhad a gwrthryfela. Dyma Rogue Jones yn "cysylltu â'u gwrach fewnol a chofleidio byd natur".
Dechreuodd hon, sengl gyntaf y band o’u hail halbwm, fel pennill gan Fiona Apple neu Kate Bush dan arweiniad y piano cyn cael ei drawsnewid i The Loft yn Efrog Newydd y 70au gan ysbryd David Mancuso. Fel y gerddoriaeth yr oedd Mancuso yn ei charu â’i chwarae, mae Englynion Angylion yn llawn enaid, rhythm, a geiriau sy'n llawn gobaith ac achubiaeth.
Dychwelodd Rogue Jones (Bethan Mai ac Ynyr Morgan Ifan) i’w hail gartref creadigol yn Stiwdios Tŷ Drwg i ddechrau gweithio ar Englynion Angylion gyda’r cynhyrchydd Frank Naughton. Ceir hefyd Llŷr Pari, ‘metronom Melin y Coed’, ar y drymiau a'r cymysgu, Elen Ifan ar y soddgrwth a'r ffidil disgo a gafodd eu recordio yng Nghaernarfon gan Gruff Ab Arwel.
Galwodd y Guardian Rogue Jones yn "fand swynol a hynod sy’n haeddu dilyniant cwlt". Y mae Englynion Angylion yn orlawn o swyn ac yn sicr bydd cydnabyddiaeth haeddiannol i ddilyn. Eglurai’r band, "Englynion Angylion yw ein hymgais i wneud disgo cerddorfaol o’r 1970au, ond, fel popeth arall byddwn ni'n creu, gyda naws ychydig yn rhyfedd. Pobl y wlad yn treial gwneud cerddoriaeth y ddinas" ac yn llwyddo i ddod â phalet enfys natur gyda nhw i oleuo’r strydoedd dinesig tywyllaf.
Englynion Angylion (The Poetry of Angels) is an euphoric call to arms with a message of empowerment, liberation and rebellion. It’s Rogue Jones "getting in touch with their inner witch and embracing nature”.
This, the bands first single taken from their sophomore album, started life as a Fiona Apple / Kate Bush brooding piano-led verse before being dragged to The Loft in 70s New York by the ghost of David Mancuso. Like the music that Mancuso loved and played, Englynion Angylion is ‘soulful, rhythmic and impart words of hope and redemption.'
Rogue Jones (Bethan Mai and Ynyr Morgan Ifan) returned to their second creative home of Ty Drwg Studios with longtime producer Frank Naughton to work on the foundations of Englynion Angylion. Llŷr Pari ‘The Melin y Coed Metronome’ was on drums and mixing, Elen Ifan on cello, Mari Morgan on disco violin, recorded in Caernarfon by Gruff Ab Arwel.
The Guardian called Rogue Jones "a charmingly quirky band who deserve a cult following". By the evidence of Englynion Angylion, Rogue Jones are overflowing with charm and wider recognition won’t be far behind. As the band explained, Englynion Angylion "is our attempt at making straight-up 1970s orchestral disco but like everything we do, it comes out a little stranger. Country people trying to make big city music" and succeeding in bringing nature's rainbow palette with them to lighten the darkest of urban streets.
A kitchen table
1953
its wood surface lined by
the scratching and scraping
of five thousand meals
gravitated around by people I haven’t met
save through the study of dry documents
lichen edited inscriptions
and reverential anecdotes
they’re gathering as if for an important event
in the calendar of living
I’m kind of hovering like I did in real life
trying to listen in to the language of condolence
the wording of commemoration
the patois of those well known to one another
the music of best china
touching
my 12 year old mother is here
with the other females
permitted at the house
to help with refreshments
and friendships
but not at the open grave
she will grow into a Bardot
of the school bus
the chapel pews
the perambulating lanes
the first job
until marriage and me will alter
that possibility
that destination
a member of the branch
of the suicide sister in law
is among the mourners
death grief thief of time
but healer of familial discomfort
at the chapel in the forest
among the crabbed literature of wreaths
one dedication reads
from all at Police House L-V-
32 miles and a half century away
from the great uncle of the deceased
who had ridden from those walls
to collar the lawless of his day
from the first day of that county’s constabulary
these were the days of the start
of our separation from our beginning
our unravelling
when we forgot so much
of what we were and what was us
our relatives and their dwelling places
the reason for our being
a time too when we became unfamiliar
with horses
their aroma
their voices
their muscularity
their fidelity
when we became a little less human
a little less animal
Sky Barkers is an indie trio based in coastal West Wales. It is comprised of Joanna MacGregor Messore, Dan Messore and Matt Brown. They make groove based, hook heavy, vocal laden music - lyrically connective and energy driven, rooted in song-writing but with a wonky edge. ‘Give You Love’ is the bands second offering writing as this current trio, following on from their first single ‘Beholden to None’. Expect a full EP soon, coming this Autumn.
Jo MacGregor says: “Give You Love is a celebration and rebellion song. We wrote it during one of the lockdowns and it’s really just about loving - honestly and wildly, which in the current climate seems an act of necessary rebellion. Letting love be the force that courses through you and blasts you out of apathy, fear, whatever. But we’ve got to dare to be vulnerable enough to let it in, to feel it for real - and so many of us have big old bags of pain in the way. But in those moments when we really connect and let this incredible force tingle through us - it’s pretty wild. And we need it like water.”
Eyes closed to the sound
of a breeze combing fir trees
reminds him of the curtain border
of that cemetery
hypnotic historic
ultimately soporific
a misspelt dedication
next to where he left his parents
his grandparents
the dear ones snug in the clay
returned to the earth
on the edge of that village
that gave him his scars
the shed tears
they all left only to come back
the sadness not interred
not boxed
but marks on their existence
decades of indentations
runes they couldn’t decipher
though fingertips unthinkingly
traced them in the quieter seconds
between the pressures
a new face gets a new face
that he will learn to wear with pride
his split cheek beneath a bonnet in a pram
a spider’s web of darning in skin
a stitch in time that saved him
from being bled dry like a wounded bird
in a winter whiteness impasse
and quietened his parents’ guilt
that boy from Cwmcou
with its free flowing sparkle Ceri
a branch to the Teifi tree of life
a tributary sacrifice
that took the boy from Cwmcou
but not Cwmcou from the boy
carry me away
carry me away
bring me home
I want to go home
CHROMA - SENGL DDWBL-A/DOUBLE-A SINGLE: 'WEITHIAU / CARU CYFFURIAU' - ALLAN/OUT 24.6 AR/ON LIBERTINO
By Ceri Shaw, 2022-06-08
(Scroll Down For English)
Mae ‘Weithiau’ yn gân emosiynol bwerus sydd yn rhan o seng Ddwbl-A Chroma ‘Weithiau / Caru Cyffuriau’. Dyma’r gerddorieth gyntaf ir grwp ryddhau ar ôl ymuno â’r label Libertino. Recordiwyd y canaeuon yn fyw i ddal sain amrwyd ac egniol y triawd o'r Cymoedd gan y cynhyrchydd Kris Jenkins (Cate Le Bon, SFA, Gruff Rhys).
“Mae Weithiau yn gân am orffen perthynas gyda rhywun ti’n caru a’r prosess o ddod i deall bod pethau ddim yn gweithio. Mae am rhoi dy hun gyntaf.” - Katie Hall, Chroma Mewn cyferbyniad perffaith cerddorol i felancholy diwyro ‘Weithiau’ mae ‘Caru Cyffuriau’ yn gân punk ddi-stop ‘in your face’ am fod yn dy arddegau yn y cymoedd, de Cymru.
“Mae ‘Caru Cyffuriau’ am ‘naughty’ teenagers yn y cymoedd yn mynd lan y mynydd i cymrid ‘drugs’ ac arbrofi gyda rhyw achos does dim lot I neud. Fi’n meddwl does dim digon o adnoddau i pobl ifanc mewn ardal fel y cymoedd. Mae angen mwy o adnoddau a pethau i pobl ifanc neid rhag i nhw deimlo mor ynysig. O ni moen sgweni trac pync yn y Gymraeg, sydd yn adlywychu profiad go iawn pobl heddiw.” - Katie Hall, Chroma
Y gân yr Trac yr Wythnos BBC Radio Cymru yr wythnos hon.
'Weithiau' (Sometimes) is an emotionally powerful song that is one half of Chroma's Double-A single 'Weithiau / Caru Cyffuriau'. This is the group's first release after joining the Libertino label. The songs were recorded live to capture the versatile and energetic sound of the Valleys trio by producer Kris Jenkins (Cate Le Bon, SFA, Gruff Rhys).
“‘Weithiau’ is about ending a relationship with someone that you love deeply. The process of coming to terms with the fact that the relationship doesn’t work, and putting your self first in that situation.” - Katie Hall, Chroma In perfect musical contrast to the sometimes melancholy 'Weithiau', 'Caru Cyffuriau' is a non-stop 'in your face' punk song about being a teenager in the South Wales Valleys.
“Caru Cyfffuriau is a song about being a naughty teenager in the valleys experimenting with drugs and sex because there’s not much else to do. I think there needs to be more stuff going on so young people don’t feel so isolated. We wanted to write a welsh language punk song that reflects young people's lived experience today.” - Katie Hall, Chroma
Weithiau is the BBC Radio Cymru's Track of the Week this week.
Ex-Estrons Guitarist Rhodri Daniel is 'Heddlu' and unveils new Video for pulsing new 'Locker' single
By Ceri Shaw, 2022-06-06
After finishing the band in 2019, Rhodri became aware that his hearing was severely damaged. Years of touring the live circuit had taken their toll, Rhodri ultimately being diagnosed with hearing loss, tinnitus and severe sensitivity to noise. The effects were so acute, Rhodri was unable to be in the same room as other people, leave the house or play music for almost a year.
A chance encounter with a retired record producer, who's old forgotten studio on the slopes of the Cambrian Mountains was filled with antique synthesisers, inspired Rhodri to consider music once more. Advised to get outdoors to aid recovery, he embarked on a three month hike spanning 900 miles of the entire Welsh coastline, where he conceived the new project and was inspired to write the music in his head, to be recorded upon his return. Serendipity led Rhodri back to music, and Heddlu was born. Meaning ‘Police’ in Welsh, from the words ‘peace-force’, Heddlu's music has been true to its’ name, offering a force of peace to the songwriter.
'Locker' is out on 27th May 2022 on 'Zawn Records'.
