Blogs
EISTEDDFOD COMPETITIONS - North American Festival of Wales (Aug. 29 - Sept. 1, 2019)
By AmeriCymru, 2019-04-24
Once again, we have seven different competitions in singing or poetic recitation - suiting all ages and different levels of proficiency in Welsh (from zero to “lots”!) Singers can join our Semi-Professional competition to win a generous cash scholarship for travel to compete at next year's National Eisteddfod of Wales (Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru) in Tregaron (Ceredigion). And as an eighth stage competition… we’re reintroducing Instrumental Solo, open to unaccompanied soloists on any musical instrument. All stage competitions are on Fri. and Sat., Aug. 30 and 31, and are time-limited to help you enjoy everything else at the Festival!
Also, the new Visual Arts Competition is open to entrants submitting visual artistic submissions (painting, sketch, sculpture, etc.) based on a Welsh theme, for popular adjudication at the Festival (setup is Fri., Aug. 30 and viewing is that day and Sat., Aug. 31).
Finally, the new Hymn Composition Competition in honor of Daniel Protheroe, with a single grand prize, invites the creation of an original hymn set to the meter used by Protheroe in his well-known “Milwaukee”.
Go to the link shown here for information and guidelines on all of our competitions! You will also find there our new online entry form for the stage competitions and Visual Arts (deadline Aug. 20, 2019). (For Hymn Composition, see the guidelines at the link for further information on entering; deadline July 1, 2019.)
Contact the Eisteddfod Committee with any questions ( eisteddfod@nafow.org ), and we’ll see you – or your creative work - soon in Milwaukee!
(NAFOW Eisteddfod link: http://thewnaa.org/eisteddfod-
At a dinner party after about
a couple of glasses of Rioja
he spills out what he’s been thinking for some time
suggesting that everyone should return
to the place in which they had been born
his own birthplace approximately
436 metres from that table
according to Google Maps
eyebrows are raised
accompanied by upward glances
sighs and uncomfortable virtual jokes
about racism
he smiles
expecting these reactions
he finishes his dessert
thanks the host
and leaves for home
301 metres away
a fortress mentality was how
a parliamentary committee
had described the current tactics
of his former department
he can see how this damning indictment
had been arrived at
even the U.N. was getting in on the act
in his day some of his colleagues
had seemed to be vengeful
seeing the impoverishment
of their clientele as being
the main event of their joyless days
he misses the days before the attack dogs
were let loose on the poor once again
the return of the witch trials
if he had proof that the Devil was observed
rising from Downing Street
he may contemplate re-enlisting
he is now lost so signs on
with The Ministry of Loss
which was getting smaller by the day
by the very nature of its existence
despite a steadily growing membership
he buys cheap gin goblets
from a budget foreign supermarket
and is enchanted by the bell sound
they make when brought together
in a modest semi pendular action
he fills them up
throws in some handy botanicals
drinks it down
like imbibing an alcoholic hedge
from a globe representing
a continent-less swirling world
it’s nearly Christmas though
it has been since the last one
at least he can forget for a short while
that many well established companies
feel obliged to make modern slavery statements
each Thursday he attends a workshop
for those debilitated by post traumatic
retail accompaniment stress disorder
the hours in shops waiting
for another to make a decision
keeping his hands in his pockets
ignoring the signs the smells the sounds
unnerved by showroom dummies
sometimes feeling that they could be moving
when just out of sight
some of them appearing to have been posed
in unrealistic human biological positions
grotesquely
still it beats working
although it is in its way a form of occupation
another usage of useless time
he gets asked to dance after he’s read his poems
says he’s got two left feet
then scurries back to his red wine
that he says is the blood of Christ
he talks to the audience about amnesia
which is useful or not
in a secular sermon dug from
the boggy corner of a fallow field
he’s currently enjoying films in which
mature men take on violent young thugs
maybe it’s his age
his vulnerability
maybe he feels that law and order
is breaking down
in the movies and on the streets
he enjoys Get Carter
Taxi Driver
and Bad Blood
a film he’s not seen for decades
he will try to locate it on
one of the streaming services
they didn’t find Suzy Lamplugh’s body
he used to think about her a lot
around the time of her disappearance
fancying her as the patois of his people would have it
because she was attractive
because she was even more elusive
than the beauties of his home town
because he lived to maintain an encyclopaedia
of admirable women in his head
he thinks that they should give up
on Madeleine McCann too
he says that the parents look wrong
and believes lower income families
would not have seen such expenditure allocated
to the search for their missing child
concentrate on the living
the dead have had their chance
no matter how constrained that was
the Government seems to be imploding
Black Friday
Ruby Tuesday
Blue Monday or Manic perhaps
Wednesday Week
Friday I'm in Love
worse than struggling football teams
fantasy political positions
from snow white rich old men in suits
not worth a bet
when he gets the shakes
he closes his eyes until
he is taken far from where he is
back to the early 1960s
the bars of a cot surround him
the first feeling of imprisonment
of being contained
being too safe
he's sleepy in this place too
riggings of snow grace the corners
of the sash window
a draught making him shudder with cold
his first encounter with winter
though he doesn't yet know what it is and does
his mother unseen sings quietly to him
something old
something of that locality
before the rest of the world
and its non stop jukebox
would roar into the family life
he wishes he had a horse and a gun
he is destroying his teeth
he can't stand the small polyps around his eyes
and thinks about taking a scissors to them
maybe he won’t look in a mirror again
he is pleased that his legs and lungs
carry him up slopes
and that he can still madly prick his lawn
with hundreds of visitations of a garden fork
life does not get much better than this
connecting with the earth
joined to the spinning planet
by reliable steel
sweaty and glad to use his body
Struggling to find the end of a roll of Sellotape
despite his best intentions for this not to happen again
he’s all fingers and thumbs just as he is when trying
to open clear polythene bags in a supermarket
the energy expended on the need to trim his finger and toenails
the time taken to get around to doing it
and feeling good when it is done
maybe life would be better in a kind of standby mode
only waking up when an act is about to take place
he deplores TV programmes like Britain’s Got Talent
the exaggerated melodrama of slightly delaying the announcement
of which hopefuls have been voted in or out of this week’s show
that pantomime pause a menopause by the men of pause
he thinks it could be replaced by something like
Britain’s Got Tories
Britain’s Got Troubles
or Britain’s Got Right Wing Terrorists
these would be much more sincere and illuminating
especially if the same selection method is used
television as the Tower of Babel that moved like a demented crab
into a box then a flat screen and into our gibberish conversations
he’d like to have been a highly-decorated warrior relaxing
in a highly-decorated lounge but this was not to be and is not
instead he obsesses about militaria though he is ashamed
of how his Government uses its armed forces to kill civilians
in his name funded by revenue he was obliged to hand over
it’s almost a point of honour that he is or at least pretends
to be strong enough to offer to help friends to carry heavy items
also denies that he is feeling the cold despite the fact that it is cold
though this is getting harder as age planes away the resistance from his bones
and he appears even more ridiculous when inappropriately lightly attired
he tries not to get too hung up about about demarcation
though he has a door a gate a fence a scripture of passwords
and a clear understanding of where his personal space ends
he admits he falls foul of the Trades Description Act
existing on a small island in the middle of a tarn
of sodium hypochlorite like they did in the legends
afraid to venture out because of the risk of corrosion of his disambulation
the box sets abound
the anniversary re-release of albums
the anniversary re-release of an anniversary re-release
so touching the need to commemorate
to remember to empty pockets at regular points
the demise of former versions of the calendar
too much material collected and not offered in sacrifice
with more on the way
the fads the short-lived allegiances
squeezed into under places
a vacuum-packed heir with not enough memory
for too many memories
too much of him even
he forgets his PIN forgets his sin forgets the hymns forgets he’s him
he can breathe he can walk he can talk when he wishes
he can sleep he can wake he can see he can hear
he can hope he can know that flight has thus eluded him
so all bets are off
he reserves a special enmity for the super rich and is motivated
not to urinate on them when they inevitably combust and their reign is over
though hypocrisy will never expire there’s enough of it to go around
and we will squabble squawk and skirmish over their loot
Week 7 of 52 - Emlyn Schiavone
This week we introduce you to a face of Carmarthen, Emlyn Schiavone, Mayor 2018-19. The Mayor also has the title of Admiral of the Port of Carmarthen, granted by a Charter of Henry VIII in 1546. Henry granted a 'Charter of Admiral to the Mayor and Burgesses and Commonalty to the town of Carmarthen and to their successors forever upon the River Towy from the bridge of Carmarthen to the bar of the said river’. Emlyn is a charismatic figure around the town who works hard to serve as best he can.
Trenchfoot provides the music on the video, a track called Lead Hurts. Some of the supplementary photos have also been donated by T.S. Thomas photography, Carmarthen.
Last week we viewed the Open Day at Island Farm. Richard is such an enthusiast and is just one of a large group of volunteers that work so hard to offer these days throughout the year – great stuff, long may it last.
Last weekend we got to Freshwater West nice and early Sunday morning. I got the time wrong. Four coffees later and a lot of landscape shots of the spectacular beach, the volunteers arrive. The Beach Clean organised by Surfers against Sewage: great event as part of a Beach Clean Week in Wales – looking forward to editing that one.
Next week we’ll take you to the home of poet Ellis Evans, known as Hedd Wynn. Yr Ysgwrn, just outside Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd, has become a memorial to the Welsh language poet who was killed July 31st 1917 on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I. He was posthumously awarded the bard's chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod. The video will also include some footage of the multi-media performance of the National Poet of Wales, Ifor Ap Glyn.
We are going to visit the town of Kidwelly very soon and hope to get some great video interviews from local characters and a special visit to the castle. At the moment, Seimon and myself think we got enough video footage and subject matter covered now for the next couple of months and need to start editing what we got. Big job but slowly, slowly!
Silent Forum return with new single 'Safety in Numbers' a reflective hymn to community and friendship
By Ceri Shaw, 2019-04-18
‘Safety in Numbers’ is the third single released by the Cardiff based Post-Punk / New Wave four piece Silent Forum on Libertino. Following on from the swaggering, off-kilter, infectious pop energy of ‘How I Faked The Moon Landing’ and ‘Robot’ , ‘Safety in Numbers’ explores a far more reflective musical landscape. This is a song that “expresses the importance of looking after your friends......that time will forget us, but that our relationships are the most meaningful thing we can achieve in life.”
Yet again Silent Forum delivers a song very much on their terms, a song that resonates with kindness and a musicality that captures your heart.
Performing under the name Silent Forum since late 2015, the four-piece deemed Wales' most promising band blends shadowy Post Punk with uplifting, inspiring New Wave. They move unpredictably from serious and direct to playful and overblown. Since they signed to Libertino records their sound has taken an ambitious turn, gathering praise for epic singles like 'How I Faked the Moon Landing' and 'Robot'. They have an eagerly awaited debut album set for release later this year.
Destroy//Exist "The sound sophisticated and playful at the same time, certainly reminiscent of the artful progressive pop sound of XTC, the nerve of Wire and the new wave idiosyncrasy of Squeeze and Talking Heads, while maintaining the entirety of the quartet's fervent originality."
Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales “Silent Forum have an album planned for release on Libertino for next year, which I am really excited for. Both singles so far have been different but still recognisably them. There is something really interesting, almost PIL-like with those guitars."
Love, Loss And The Ceredigion Landscape: Man's Life Experience Through Verse
By Ceri Shaw, 2019-04-17
The process of writing the collection began over 15 years ago:
“After losing my wife, nearly all of the poems I wrote were focussed on her and losing her – things I wished I had expressed while she was still alive, or at least said better, said more or more often. Poetry – both reading and writing – developed into some sort of catharsis or release for me. It wasn’t present at the time she died, as coping with the remains of family life and work took all my energy and time. Now it’s an ever-present pleasure, and I don’t think a single day goes past without some thought of my wife,” said Chris Armstrong.
Chris Armstrong has lived in Wales for most of his life, and moved to the Tregaron area, mid Wales in 1972. The landscape surrounding him has always inspired him, as he feels a strong link to the countryside around him.
“Wales and the local countryside has been a great influence, as is the sea. The sea is probably the next most important theme [after love and loss] as I have always lived near or on it. It often finds its way into the poems of love as some sort of allegory or symbolisation,” said the author.
The collection has received praise from Ffrangcon Lewis:
“At their best, these poems have a directness, honesty and crispness of diction which enables the poet to communicate the most raw of experiences with a degree of sureness, restraint and power.”
Mostly Welsh is a collection of poetic forms rooted in the Anglo-Welsh tradition that explores the poet’s life and mind after a loss, and follows his life journey.
“In essence, this collection is a man’s life experience finding expression through verse.”
Chris Armstrong was born in Sussex and has lived in Wales since he was 10 years old. He spent more than a decade in the merchant navy before working on a Ceredigion farm and then taking a degree which led to ten years working as a research officer before he set up his own consultancy, research and training company in the information and libraries sector.
Mostly Welsh by Chris Armstrong (£6.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.
David: The books are about a young boy and his dog, who meet people from the past, when they are out and about. I can then tell their story in a fun way.
AmeriCymru: What inspired you to start this series?
David: The Owain and Llew books come from my love of Welsh history and specific characters from the past. I have the characters in the books use their native language, with translations in to English at the back, I get annoyed when everyone from Martians to Aztecs speak English.
AmeriCymru: You have written several other titles including 'Two Five Two'. Care to tell us a little more about these?
David: I first wrote the books Eightmilez and A view to behold, hoping to get my part of Wales in with the tourist board, sadly it didn’t work. I was then approached by Cwmni a local objective one group to write The wonders that surround us. That got a great reception from locals and others around the world, sadly no longer in production. My next challenge was a book about my army life in The Royal Regiment of Wales, I decided to make it about the more humorous events. I had to put some smiles back on the faces of veterans. The last project was a Celtic star chart, using Taliesin’s work and other ideas, this chart included Welsh people who had contributed much to Astronomy, including Barbara Middlehurst from Penarth who moved to America to advance her career.
David: Dw I wedi ddysgu Cymraeg ers mil naw naw dim. I’ve been learning Welsh since 1990. But off and on due to circumstances, in the last three years I have been able to get at it with a bit more vigour, and I’m now getting somewhere. I have used the ABC of Welsh, Cwrs Mynediad and Sylfain, now working with say something in Welsh and Duo Lingo. My advice to new learners would be to use your Welsh, it doesn’t matter if you know one word or a thousand, use them every day, think using them and talk to yourself using them.
AmeriCymru: What's next for David Williams? Any new writing projects in the works?
David: I have more Owain and Llew books on the go, one is in art work stage, one I’m just finishing the writing and there are five other in various stages, I’m also going back over the star chart and looking at other ways of producing that.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?
David: I joined AmeriCymru when it started as a Web page it was a great idea and nice to see our kin across the pond flying the flag. I enjoy reading about the events that you guys have and the passion for the land of our fathers. Mae hen wlad fy nhadau.
Cymru am byth.
Diolch yn fawr
David
(D ap E Scribbles comes from Dafydd ap Evan, Evan being my father. Scribbles is a reference to my writing.)
John MOuse new single - There's a hole in my heart (an area the size of Wales)
By Ceri Shaw, 2019-04-16
John MOuse returns with a breakup song in the guitar driven indie pop vein of 2014’s “I was a Goalkeeper”. Coming off the back of the experimental art Project “The Fen Sessions” where John MOuse wrote, produced, released and then deleted an album over a weekend, “There’s a hole in my heart (an area the size of Wales) is a punchy indie dance floor classic and is backed up with a remix of Gladiator / Contender by Bristol’s Greg Stoddard exclusively via the Bandcamp site. John MOuse will be promoting the single at Devaudin Festival , Chepstow on May 18th and Sugarfest Bristol May 26th.
John MOuse is a left of centre artist from Cardiff. John’s most recent album “The Fen Sessions” was written and released over a weekend and then deleted on the Monday. Collaborations with Sweet Baboo, Prince Edward Island, Los Campesinos and TV’s Steve Jones have littered his 5 studio albums all of which have receive critical praise and garnered airplay and support from Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson, Huw Stephens, Gideon Coe and Stuart Maconie.John MOuse was born out of John’s previous band JT Mouse, which featured members of Zabrinksi, The Spencer McGarry Season and Steven Black AKA Sweet Baboo. John’s debut album released in 2006, on Crocfinger records was a collection of home tape recordings. It’s “A Universal” showed glimpses of the intriguing lyrical content that John MOuse future albums will become synonymous with.
2010 saw the release of the first and long-term songwriting partnership with Phil Pearce. Pearce, songwriter for Scottish fronted Prince Edward Island and Faye Davies creative partnership helped form “Humber Dogger Forties” which can be classed as the first proper John MOuse album. The album featured TV’s Steve Jones duet-ting with his step brother on “The Last Great Rhondda Romance”, a tale of two young boys falling in love in the South Wales Valleys.
“The Death of John MOuse” was mooted as the last John MOuse album. The deterioration of the song writing relationship reinforcing the title of what was to be MOuse’s most successful album to date. Lead single “I Was a Goalkeeper” a tale of old friends reuniting, another duet, this time featuring Gareth Paisey of Los Campesinos, was released prior to the 2014 World Cup and garnered unprecedented coverage for any previous John MOuse release.
A new era of John MOuse was born out of the album, and John hooked up with a new live band from his Rhondda home. Featuring members of MEA (a local Metal band) a revolving number of bass players and Paul Scunge Sheppard of 90’s Indie outfit Hopper, John went on to tour the UK. His live show, now with a new harder edge, but still full to the brim of performance, saw the band supporting the likes of Future of the Left, Half Man Half Biscuit, Malcolm Middleton and The Wave Pictures and at Festivals including two memorable sets at Green Man festival.
Eclectic, eccentric, genre hopping, have been both the strength and weakness to John MOuse career. A comparison of artist list the size of the doomsday book including bands such as Pulp, Roddy Frame, The Wedding Present, Art Brut, the list goes on and on. The saving grace and constant though is MOuse’s lyrics. The words are immersed in cultural artefact and personalities. Comic, bittersweet and nostalgia are recurring themes in all of John MOuse’s albums.
In 2018 John MOuse released “Replica Figures” the second album on Keep Me in Your Heart Records, and saw him return to work with JT Mouse member Stephen Black aka Sweet Baboo. The album was again Chameleonic in style and was somewhat a return to his lo-fi roots.
In early 2019. John MOuse attempted his most ambitious release to date. Writing, recording, producing, mixing, mastering and releasing an album over a weekend. Each track had a two-hour window and was uploaded for free download, until 9am on the Monday morning when “The Fen Sessions” would be deleted forever. Working again with long term songwriting partner Phil Pearce, Faye Davies and Jon Hodges, “The Fen Sessions” is a concept album never to be heard again.
28 musicians, both live and in the studio, have worked with John Mouse, reflecting the forever changing sounds and styles, and progressive nature of each John MOuse live show and release.
Week 6 of 52 - Hut Number 9, Island Farm
This week, Hut Number 9, Island Farm in Bridgend takes centre stage. Enthusiastic volunteers curate the World War Two German prisoner of war camp, organising Open Days at regular intervals. On 10th March 1945, 70 German POW’s attempted to escape digging a tunnel out of their wartime imprisonment. It became known as The Great Escape in Wales.
The Tommy Jenkins video has had some great comments. He’s had to postpone a few gigs lately through ill health but is up and running again for his summer engagements and has a new album out soon. Here’s a link to a video about Tom Paine, an American patriot. He wrote the political pamphlet Common Sense . It is credited as playing a crucial role in convincing colonists to take up arms against Britain.
“Without the pen of the author of Common Sense , the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.”
John Adams
Click here for the video: Tom Paine's Bones,
There’s another link below to a sea song, Codi Angor (Raising The Anchor), where Tommy mixes Codi Angor in Welsh with the English, Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her.
Click her for the video: Codi Angor,
The sun has been shining all week we did a video shoot down Oxwich on Gower. What a beautiful place, first visit to the beach this season. We had a small road trip around Gower taking in the sights and smells of the wild horses of Cefn Bryn. What a wonderful day but we should have taken a few sandwiches! Man cannot survive on ice cream alone!
The mantra is as Warren Zevon said, Enjoy Every Sandwich! Oh there’s another one, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.
Ynys (ex Race Horses/Radio Luxembourg) delivers gorgeous sunshine kissed psych pop on debut single ‘Caneuon’ (Songs)!
By Ceri Shaw, 2019-04-12
‘Caneuon’ (Songs) is the first material recorded and released by Dylan since his days in Race Horses and it’s been worth the wait. With an open and big chorus that envelopes the listener into his world; ‘Caneuon’ is inviting and unforgettable. It’s a hymn to the power of an ‘unexpected song’ saved from the past and it overflows with longing for the pure joy that music brings. Caneuon was recorded in Tŷ Drwg with renowned Cardiff producer Frank Naughton and mixed and mastered by Iwan Morgan (Gruff Rhys, Euros Childs, H Hawkline, Cate Le Bon, Meilyr Jones) in Liverpool.
CANEUON (Songs)
Verse
Like the friend, who’s gone away,
Lost, and far away.
Another year behind your eyes,
Still waiting for something to return
Like the key under the stone, waiting for the door
Another reason to meet, and run away
Chorus
I was listening to Gegin Nos,
When it all came back.
The old lost melodies, are always here for you.
Verse
It starts to happen, one day at a time,
The voice I’ve heard a thousand times.
Sometimes when you’re lost, and no one understands.
In another dream, I’ll hear you singing once again,
Another reason to meet, and run away
