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World war by its very definition touches many people in many places. Those tending the tranquil slopes of Mynydd Epynt and Mynydd Bwlch-y-Groes in Breconshire in late 1939 could have been forgiven if they thought that the war with Germany would not trouble them much especially as their’s were reserved occupations that made them exempt from conscription and their produce would be needed in the war effort. However, to their horror, the War Office requisitioned their homes in order to establish an artillery training range in preparation for the fight against Hitler and his allies.

The process of official notification and the lack of consultation was marked by an authoritarian approach. Epynt was a largely Welsh-speaking area and Welsh language newspapers were vocal in resisting this move.There was, however, little real support from other newspapers in Wales. The only organisation to make a sustained resistance to the evictions was The Committee for the Defence of Welsh Culture who attended a meeting with Lord Cobham, Assistant Secretary for War, along with farmers’ representatives, MPs, and members of Breconshire County Council. The Government did not change its mind.

219 people were ordered to leave by 1st June 1940, exiting in carts with what they could carry. They never came home. 54 homes, a school, a church, a public house, and farmland were abandoned to create SENTA, the Sennybridge Training Area. One farmer was said to have “cried himself to death” on being evicted from the farm his family had worked for generations. It was reported that many of the middle aged farmers died relatively soon after being ejected from their farm houses. One continued to return to maintain the cemetery until 1985, travelling by bicycle, carrying a scythe and putting flowers on lonely graves.

Landowners were allowed compensation for the loss of property but the removed population received no support from the state in obtaining new accommodation, employment or schooling. Some managed to settle near their former homes but the community that had enjoyed plygain, the eisteddfod and the co-operation of their neighbours was broken up. Their fields became target practice ranges and their ploughs were replaced by howitzers. Their buildings were blown up and superseded and parodied by the construction of a mock German town in the 1980s to better simulate fighting Soviet soldiers in an urban conflict.

Many now regard this official action as theft and ethnic cleansing. In this single act of military expediency, the boundary of Welsh-speaking Wales was pushed 15 kilometres westwards.

Epynt means place of horses and it was once an area renowned for that animal. Occasionally, a stray horse would wander into the militarized zone following some half-remembered track-the last one to do so in 1954 was shot.

The memorial inscription at the site of the ruined chapel reads:

He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ( Isaiah Book 2, verse 4)

Or in the language of the original custodians of that landscape:

Ac efe a farna rhwng y cenhedloedd, ac a gerydda bobloedd lawer; a hwy a gurant eu cleddyfau yn sychau, a’u gwaywffyn yn bladuriau; ni chyfyd cenedl gleddyf yn erbyn cenedl, ac ni ddysgant ryfel mwyach.

A new memoir published this week paints a vivid picture of life in the South Wales Valleys during the 1930s, and evokes the strong community spirit of the valleys in that period.

In A Childhood in a Welsh Mining Valley , author and ex-Congregational Minister Vivian Jones recounts with great warmth his childhood in a working class family within the community of Garnant, a small mining village in Cwm Aman, Carmarthenshire.

In those inter-war years, times were hard, labour was back-breaking and money, leisure time and material luxuries were in very short supply, but it’s clear that what joys people did find were really valued. As well as hymn-singing and preaching festivals attended by multitudes, there was the fun of the annual chapel daytrip to the seaside, when elders let their hair down and rolled their trouser-legs up. There was the chance to devour classic adventure novels such as Robinson Crusoe and The Three Musketeers , bought as a series from the News Chronicle . And there was the local people’s love of the cinema whose construction they themselves had funded.

‘The raising of the Workmen’s Hall was a stunning political statement for its day, a statement made by the organised working men of the community. It was a statement about the shape of things to come, the direction of the community’s life, and the readiness and ability of the working men to guide it.’ explained Vivian Jones, ‘It was a statement all the more powerful for being made at a time of very, very great hardship for them. Paid for by Union funds put together by subscriptions from miners’ wages over time, it cost £12,000, in 1927 – just one year after the General Strike of 1926.’

‘The underlying theme of this autobiography is the seemingly understated pride in the integrity and decency of these people and their culture,’ said Professor Hywel Francis, formerly professor in adult continuing education at Swansea University ‘and it shines through the powerful descriptions of family, work and community life, which created strong bonds of fellowship and solidarity in an era long before the divisive and fractured consumer society of today.’

A wealth of lively and humorous anecdotes bring the detail of this time, place and culture vividly back to life. Vivian’s autobiography is also a graphic explanation of how his family, community and chapel roots in the Amman Valley in the rural Welsh-speaking anthracite coalfield of West Wales created his reflective outlook, what he calls ‘my basic philosophy for living’ which shaped what he went on to do in life. These were the origins of his ‘radical bent’, his emphasis on community spirit and his concern for individual integrity. From the little boy described in the book, Vivian Jones grew up to be Minister of several Congregational Churches in Wales before leading the Plymouth Church, Minneapolis, USA for 15 years and then retiring back to South Wales.

Vivian’s principal motivation in writing this autobiography originally was to give an account of his humble yet proud Welsh origins for his American congregation, which he served from 1980 until 1995. ‘Most of the immigrants to Minnesota came from Scandinavia. Coming from a background so different to the vast majority of them, it seemed fair to me that the congregation I served had a right to know something of the influences that had shaped the mind of the preacher they listened to graciously Sunday after Sunday, so I wrote this book,’ explained Vivian.

‘Now, years later, the book has resurfaced, and it seems to me that the contents might give to some Welsh people my age the pleasure it has given me of retrieved memories,’ explained Vivian. ‘I would also hope that it would give my children and grandchildren a more rounded view of where they have come from, and that it could help young Welsh people at large to understand a little better how completely the world of some of us has changed in our lifetime.’

‘These reminiscences will preserve for posterity a way of life – a thoroughly Welsh way of life, both in language and culture,’ added Huw Walters, formerly Head of the Bibliography of Wales Unit, National Library of Wales.

A Childhood in a Mining Valley by Vivian Jones (£12.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

AmeriCymru: Hi Matt, care to tell us a little about your Welsh background and when you decided to become a chef?

Matt: My father Phil guy is from llanberis the foot of snowdon and works in the electric mountain my mother is from Deiniolen and a office administrator... they both moved in together in Deiniolen where they had me and two other sons, Justin also a chef and Simon who is a camera man for BBC Wales. I always wanted to be a chef from a very young age and I managed to get an apprenticeship at a hotel down the road from my village I was 15 and I was filmed for a Welsh television programme called pentre ni it was a programme about my village from where I came from and followed a few characters from the village. They followed me leaving school into the world of hospitality I loved it. I was junior chef of Wales in 2004 and was tipped by a north Wales news paper to be the next big thing in the industry.

I then left the hotel and went on my travels around the uk and France learning different skills from different chefs. As a fluent Welsh speaker from a small little village in Wales it was quiet daunting going out to the bigger areas but loved every moment of it and made sure that everyone heard how much I loved being Welsh.

AmeriCymru: In 2015 you became Head Chef at the Miners Arms? What can you tell us about the circumstances surrounding your appointment?

Matt: I became the head chef through a lengthy process, I was one of thousands to appear on the show called chefs on trial. During the week I was one of nine contestants trying to win the job. We were put through challenging challenges from skill test to working a full service and even an interview from the well respected Alex polizzi the hotel inspector. The programme was watched by millions aired on the BBC.

The experience of the competition was incredible and using some brilliant local produce from the area was amazing. Unfortunately things did not go to plan and was a whirl wind of a year. I am thankful for the experience and I learnt some valuable life lessons

AmeriCymru: Where and when can people catch you on television (s4c)?

Matt: I'm normally on prynhawn da in the afternoons at 2pm on s4c, on here I am part of a team who creates day time entertainment including cooking some great dishes that family's can do together and also easy and reasonable price for them.

AmeriCymru: Do you have any recipes on YouTube you would like to mention?

Matt: I have a few recipes on YouTube through the Welsh tv show with more yet to come, most of them are on Facebook and my business Facebook page here are some links

https://m.facebook.com/ foodmattguy/

https://www.facebook.com/ PrynhawnDaS4C/videos/ 1317405858326584/

Even though I cook lovely wholesome dishes on my television clips I am known for my fine dining skills

AmeriCymru: Does your culinary repertoire include traditional Welsh cuisine/dishes?

Matt: I do have a range of Welsh dishes that I use but I have to say my favourite Welsh ingredient is laverbread I used this in a few competitions as well.

Hay smoked loin of lamb served with laverbread risotto , baby carrots and a red wine.

Laverbread risotto

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 5 rashers streaky bacon (rindless), diced
• 1 leek (white only), finely sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 500g risotto rice
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 100g fresh or canned laverbread
• 3100g butter
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place a large saucepan with the olive oil over a moderate heat, add the bacon and cook for 1 minute until just cooked, remove from the pan and set aside. Add the leek and garlic to the pan, sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the rice to the pan and mix it so that it is coated by the oil, cook for 1 minute.stir in a couple of ladles of boiling stock, stir with a wooden spoon until the stock is absorbed. Keep on adding ladles of stock until all the stock is absorbed into the rice. The rice should be moist and tender, with a little bite (not mush). Stir in the laverbread and allow to cook for 1 minute. Add the cooked bacon. Cook the risotto for a few minutes.Gradually mix in the parmesan then butter until melted and well combined. Stir in the lemon zest and juice. Season to taste. Serve at once.

AmeriCymru: Do you think that traditional Welsh cuisine is sufficiently recognized or promoted worldwide?

Matt: I would love for our cuisine to be highlighted a little more as we have great produce and producers who care about what they do.

On my travels I have found that there is a lot of people who think we are a lot like England but when I introduce them to flavours and ingredients of Wales they are blown away.

We might be small but we are a great country and we are getting more known with thanks to our sporting heroes helping us along the way

AmeriCymru: You have an event coming up in June. Care to tell us a little more about that?

Matt: I have a few events on this year but the one I am more excited about will be the kegworth food festival which I am helping to organise. This is going to be a great day held on the third of June, we will have food producers from the area including some great local talent competing and demonstrating, majority of the funds raised will be going to the local air ambulance charity.

http://www.nwleics.gov.uk/ pages/whats_on/2017/06/03/one_ kegworth_family_fun_day_and_ food_festival

https://www.facebook.com/ events/232427777167292??ti=ia

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru ?

Matt: My message to anyone I speak to is live your life don't hold back and aim for your dreams you might get knocked down a few times but get back on and one day you will get there, and where ever I will be in the world I will always have Wales and the Welsh language in my heart.

I have been knocked down over and over again but still got myself back up there I have had some great experiences from schools, colleges, people's houses, the Eisteddfod and many more festivals. I will never stop enjoying what I do.

I really enjoyed doing this interview I hope you enjoy reading it

Matt guy

Welsh Serial Killers

I grew up in a small village in West Wales. The nearest railway line had been discontinued two years after my birth and the motorway never got close. My best friend was the son of a Nonconformist Minister of Religion. As we were gradually shaped into nervous rebellion against our parents and the chapel, we became sucked into the darker regions of counter culture. We were especially interested in the Charles Manson story and quickly became aware that our little country seemed not to feature such a monster. Perverse pubescent punks that we were, we bemoaned what we saw as a qualification lacking in the nation we imagined we were living in and for.

We grew up, we grew apart as assassins shyly made their entrance onto the stage of national horror:

Joseph Kappen was born in 1941. He raped and killed 3 teenage girls who were hitch hiking home from nights out in Swansea in 1973. He escaped justice but his body was exhumed in 2001 for DNA analysis which identified him as the perpetrator, the first time this procedure had been performed on a previously interred corpse. The newspapers at the time of the attacks referred to the unknown assailant as The Saturday Night Strangler . Kappen had worked as a driver, a bouncer, and a “hobbler” in the black economy, and had a number of convictions for burglary, assault and car theft.

Lt Commander Neil Rutherford, DSC and bar, was born in 1922. He killed 4 people in The Red Gables Hotel in Penmaenmawr in 1976, his victims his former employer, her daughter and son-in-law, and their family friend from Texas. Rutherford had worked as the hotel’s gardener and had served in the Royal Navy during World War Two and the Korean War. After leaving military service he had taken over his father’s company before it was liquidated. Death by shooting with a handgun-he killed himself with it after setting fire to the building. Strictly not a serial killer as the murders did not happen over an extended period of time-the end result is the same.

John Cooper was born in 1944. He too killed 4 people, in Pembrokeshire, a millionaire farmer and his sister in 1985 (he set fire to their home) and a tourist couple on the county’s coastal path in 1989. He appeared in the TV show Bullseye which helped in his later identification. Death by sawn-off shotgun. He won Spot The Ball in 1978, an amount worth about £400,000 in 2017, but soon spent that money on gambling and drinking. Following this, he began a career in burglary which resulted in him serving a 10 year prison sentence starting in 1998. He was also convicted of assaulting a group of teenagers, raping one of them. He had worked as a farm labourer and claimed Social Security benefits.

Peter Moore was born in 1940. He killed 4 men in 1995 in isolated locations. He was the owner and manager of a number of cinemas in North Wales but his business was failing at the time of his offending. Death by stabbing. The press dubbed him The Man in Black and he was described as the most dangerous man ever to set foot in Wales at his trial in 1996. In prison, he befriended Harold Shipman, a former GP and Britain’s most prolific murderer.

David Morris was born in 1959. He was convicted of killing 4 members of the same family, all female, aged 8 to 80, in Clydach in 1999. Death by blunt force and, once again, their home was set alight. He has always protested his innocence and DNA found at the scene did not match his. Initially, members of South Wales Police were interviewed in connection with this massacre. Morris had worked as a builder.

Sex, money, rejection, jealousy and power were among the motives in these slayings which occurred all over Wales, at rural as well as urban locations. The backgrounds of these offenders vary considerably but their choices were uncannily similar despite the perceived advantages of some of them.

The first act of the United Kingdom Government in the year when these outrages began was to join the European Economic Community. In 1999, when this particular sequence of crimes ceased, the National Minimum Wage was introduced, Jill Dando was assassinated on her Fulham doorstep, and, on that terrible day when Doris Lawson, her daughter Mandy Power and granddaughters Katie and Emily met a bloody end in a burning house in Clydach, the Millennium Stadium was opened.

This slaughter commenced as we bored boys entered our teenage years. We should have been more careful what we wished for...

I wait for a storm

that has a name

more known

than people I know vaguely

more known than me

I wait for a storm

that knows me

that names me

5th November

Remembrance Sunday

then some wasteful argument

about football players

wearing poppies or not

we escaped being defeated

by German Wunderwaffe

but still insist on such handbags

I remember Jackie Leven

a favourite crooner-writer

who died in the same year

as my mother

I bought him a drink once

the night he visited my county

the kind of thing one does

for one’s heroes

when they make that journey

when one makes that journey

too

Following the critical success of their three remarkable EPs, Moxa, Cloud City and Catapelt , the union of Welsh ‘Super Producer’ Llion Robertson and classically-trained composer Seb Goldfinch as pioneering musical duo, Cotton Wolf bears the fruit of their debut, full length release. Their nine-track album, Life In Analogue , is released on 28th April by Bubblewrap Collective both digitally and on vinyl.

The pair’s return comes after two years of painstaking studio preparation, setting the dials for further public recognition after their 2015 release, ‘Moxa’, gained repeated radio play on BBC Radio One and BBC Radio 6 Music.

With 'Life in Analogue', Cottonwolf have forged 'a symphony to the conflicted love of man and machine absorbed by digitisation and a soundtrack to modern living.Actively resisting the threat of digital post-production techniques that risk deleting human presence from music entirely, Life In Analogue seeks to outlive modern trends by setting warm, human hands upon the cold levers of contemporary, electronic music. As Cotton Wolf’s first release on vinyl, their choice of format is an extension of an artistic process that manages these exhilarating, contemporary conflicts.

These dichotomies have been confronted, interpreted and now presented as the evolution of Cotton Wolf’s sound as Life In Analogue melds influences and boldly takes the baton from kindred musical spirits. Where there are traces of A Guy Called Gerald , there are hints of Massive Attack and where there is kinship with Hans Zimmer or Hans Richter there are traces of 808 State and New Order . It is all underpinned by unified elements - as effective in affecting the human heart today as they ever were - of epic classical strings, synthesised sounds and the sparing use of evocative vocals. It’s an album born equally in Cardiff as Singapore and Barcelona, with the pair responding to experiences in the streets, clubs and studios of international cities to document modern ways of living, all as uncertain as they are thrilling.

‘Glosh’ opens the album. by boldly hitting the accelerator with a driving beat, giving room for shimmering, light melodies to dance around as a counterweight.'Avalon’ follows with tight rhythms and an insistent, single-note motif on the beat punctuating the track and maintains intensity, consistency and rhythmic discipline. A sparse vocal introduces itself as an accent, another form of subtle instrumentation, rather than a focus.

Cotton Wolf’s use of the Welsh language is unapologetic and ‘Lliwiau’ (translation: Colours) employs an entirely Welsh vocal, which settles in at centre stage. All around the breathless, yet commanding vocal are strokes of scant, flickering instrumentation that brings a sense of cavernous depth to the music and fully reveals the duo’s mastery of deft minimalism.

The title track, ‘Life In Analogue’ is warped, pulsing and riven with subtle motifs that denote it as a track central to the record. Familiar touch points exist in a simple, recurring eight-note melody, which could be lifted from a blueprint used by electro pop pioneers of the 70s and 80s, a vital element of what pushed machine music into the mainstream. The same sense ‘less is more’ restraint is present in ‘Ultra Five’ as snatches of voices, perhaps children’s laughter, again forces humanity back into an electronic framework.

The soulful, vocal atmospherics of ‘Future Never’ are set within further glimmering, austere instrumentation and guided by little more than expansive, sustained synth notes. ‘While Night Grows’ closes the album with a deeply drawn, long exhale, washing over the listener with extended strings and a distant vocal, studded with a high-tempo wave of pulsing synthesiser. Holding a firm line with limited fluctuation, it ominously fades out like only half the secret has been told and there’s more, tantalisingly, to come.

Life In Analogue follows the eight tracks released via their two early EPs, the first being their 2013 debut, Catapelt, which crept into European consciousness through the support of Berlin-based electronic enthusiasts. The follow up, 2014’s ‘Cloud City’ saw the pair garner remix commissions from Gulp ( ‘Vast Space’ ) and Trwbador ( ‘Several Wolves’ ), before arriving in 2015 at their most successful release to date, the ‘Moxa’ EP.

AmeriCymru: Hi Ani and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. I think many people will be excited by the impending release of your EP. Care to introduce "Ffrwydrad Tawel" for our readers?

Ani: ‘Ffrwydrad Tawel’ is named after one of Wales’ leading contemporary artists Ivor Davies' major exhibition Silent Explosion/Ffrwydrad Tawel held at National Museum Cardiff in 2016. Ivor's use of colours and the Welsh language to express international dilemmas and frustrations really resonated with me and his work, not only visually, really inspired me. I had spent a few lost years in London and eventually returned home to Wales – the songs are about this journey and of the time spent reconnecting with my language and culture.

AmeriCymru: I wanted to ask you about some of the tracks on the E.P. starting with the first 'Y Newid'. This includes the lyric line:- "change happens underground when you're digging in the dark" and features a vocal sample from Ray Davies' 2014 speech at the Yes Cymru rally. What, for you are the political and personal dimensions of this track?

Ani: I wrote this song as a tribute to Ray who was a peace campaigner, activist and a devoted member of Côr Cochion Caerdydd (Cardiff’s socialist street choir which my Mum is also a member of). The lyric you referenced refers to Ray's experiences of working down the mines as a boy, of his introduction to the unions and subsequent lifelong fight for workers rights. Having known Ray my entire life and learning of his past, it demonstrated to me how it’s possible for the worst in life to shape you in a positive way. For me, the boundary between personal and political is blurry, that is, if it exists at all.

AmeriCymru: 'Dal i Droi' (Another Day) Clearly an intensely personal track. I guess everyone who leaves Wales experiences hiraeth at some point. Is that the driving force behind this song?

Ani: This song is about the loss of a loved one, but also symbolises loss in every sense of the word; a yearning for a time gone by. The concept of time is a reoccurring theme in my work - that notion of knowing and eventually accepting that it's something we can't control.

AmeriCymru: What does 'Cariad Cudd' (A City Sleeps) suggest about modern day Cardiff and its past?

Ani: When I moved back to Cardiff I became very interested in its past. Like many post-industrial cities, it represents a place and a people neglected by the powers that be. Cardiff’s Tiger Bay was often described as a cultural melting pot and although this area was demolished in the 60s to make way for redevelopment, you can still just about hear the echoes of her colourful past rattling around between the walls of the last few remaining old buildings.

Cardiff has changed a lot over the past few years - it certainly seems more vibrant and exciting and, dare I say, more cosmopolitan. There does appear to be an increasing amount of inward investment, a lot of positive developments but some questionable ones too. For example, the musical heart of the city is Womanby Street, one of the oldest streets in Cardiff which houses most of our small venues. It has recently come under threat due to noise complaints and new development proposals for hotels and residential dwellings and, if pushed through, will more than likely mean these venues will eventually have to close. Having lost most of the pubs and clubs in the Bay, we don’t want this to happen to Womanby Street as it would be a loss for the whole city. So we're up for the fight!

AmeriCymru: I know this question has probably been asked many times before but how responsive are largely English speaking audiences to Welsh songs and lyrics in the UK today?

Ani: Strangely enough, I’ve played far fewer gigs with only Welsh language bands on the bill. I suppose there’s an added element of curiosity with English speaking audiences but generally speaking and from my experience there isn’t much difference. I often think that audiences are underestimated, we’re far more open to new or different things than we give ourselves credit.

AmeriCymru: Where can our readers go to purchase "Ffrwydrad Tawel" online?

Ani: It will be available to buy on 21 April from www.recordiauneb.com

AmeriCymru: Care to tell us more about the release party at the Clwb Ifor Bach?

Ani: For homegrown bands, Clwb Ifor is the place you want to play. It’s seen as a milestone - our very own Wembley (albeit much much smaller!) so I’m looking forward to playing there again. Dyl Goch, who directed my video for Y Ddawns, will be providing live visuals, electronic artists Twinfield will be supporting so all in all it’s promising to be an exciting night. I’m really looking forward to it!

AmeriCymru: Any plans to visit/perform in the USA?

Ani: I was fortunate enough to spend some time in New York last year and it was so fantastic. It really was a one of those life-altering experiences; the scale of the place, the wealth of culture and mix of people was just mind blowing. I would love nothing more than to go back! We’ve just started looking at our ancestry and it appears that some of our family moved to America towards the end of the 19th century so I’m really looking forward to finding out more about that! The last time I played in America was during The Pipettes’ North American tour in 2011 so it would be fantastic to return. Soon I hope.

AmeriCymru: What's next for Ani Glass? Any new recordings/gigs/projects in the pipeline?

Ani: I have a lot of gigs coming up of the next few months which will keep me busy. I have a few ideas in mind of what I’d like to do next but I might just wait to see where the wind takes me.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Ani: Keep an eye out for new releases on Recordiau Neb!

AmeriCymru: Hi Dafydd, care to tell us a little about your Welsh background and the reasons for your move to Seattle?

Dafydd: Hello, and thank you very much for letting me write a little bit about my time here in Seattle, and hello to everyone reading.

I was brought up in Wales in an idyllic fashion just outside Aberystwyth, there must have been something about the place as I stayed there to study theatre at the University of Wales. Since graduating I’ve worked in the fields of theatre, TV, and mostly publishing and content creation.

The reason for moving to Seattle must be ingrained in my work, somewhere in the cracks where those creative industries meet, loose like brethyn, clanking around in my head. I guess it starts with storytelling, as all good stories do! Stories are tremendous and good storytellers are among my absolute favourite people, but I’ve also been inspired by that void in the centre between story and person where descriptions, narrative and dialogue become manifest in the minds’ eye. Which is a long way to write that I’ve come to develop interactive products, or more specifically video games, that seek to celebrate, promote and bolster Wales’ vast mythology and history. I am going to create a video game that places our folk tales, history, culture and mythology centre stage. Which is, if you ask me, about time we present our own stories to the world rather than having other cultures wrap them up and show them back to us, busted up and malformed.

How many of us have had to grit our teeth through yet another Hollywood extravaganza that shred the sails of our mythology? The Hollywood Reporter posted an article detailing that Disney are considering revamping their animated ‘classic’, The Sword in the Stone , in the same manner as the recent Beauty in the Beast i.e. as a live action flick, and genuinely, a little piece of my heart floated away like one of Terry Gilliam’s animated suicidal leaves. But it’s not just Disney, it’s other film companies, the BBC , and renowned authors that are knowingly using the mythologies to their own ends, usually uncoupling them from their cultural history. But specifically The Sword in the Stone is an absolute travesty to the legacy of the Mabinogi and seriously questions how mythologies should be treated by those that do not sympathise with that culture.

AmeriCymru: Was it that bad?

Dafydd: For anyone that doesn’t know, the film follows the story of the young ‘king’ Arthur but portrays him in the manner that English Revisionists and French Romanticists portrayed him: Camelot, the sword in the stone and being king of England and all that guff. In itself, that’s not too troublesome, Arthur was a cool dude, many have borrowed him. The problem is within the film they entwined whole sections of the expanded Mabinogi, for example the shapeshifting chase of Taliesin, or Gwion Bach. None of this would be a problem if general audiences were aware of the Mabinogi and where they came from and what they represent but they don’t. And all of a sudden there it is, right in front of you, Arthur is king of England and parts of the Mabinogi are English, or worse, British in the modern political sense. A massive part of our culture and mythology are wiped out, our stories, they’re gone, assimilated by cinema, a drive-by culturing. If you have no stories, you have no past; where do you come from, what do you dramatise for your children? The words and sounds that vibrated your geography thousands of years ago, none of that is connected to you anymore, you are voiceless.

AmeriCymru: Do you have a plan to ensure that those voices are heard?

Dafydd: The third rule of thermo dynamics will tell you that everything that exists will one day perish: I’m fine with the end of existence, I just draw the line at theft. That’s what myself and some very talented friends are going to do (I call them friends , they are decades-old veterans of the video game industry, amazing musicians and extremely talented artists), we’re going to stop the (mostly unknowing) leaching of our heritage, we’re going to reclaim it, stamp it with the red dragon, celebrate it, share it and we are going to make people curious. We’re going to make new games and new friends.

You might be able to tell I’m somewhat passionate about this stuff...

AmeriCymru: How do you think that the medium of video games can be used to promote an awareness of, and interest in, Wales and Welsh Mythology?

Dafydd: Video game enthusiasts are extremely comfortable when devouring content that ascribes to fantastical elements or narratives that allow flights of fancy, or in other words, to walk in another person’s shoes. They are also however an extremely sophisticated bunch, when they want to be, as people generally are, and are very open to new histories and mindsets. Add to that a voracious audience who can never seem to have enough of fantastical elements (just look at the bestseller lists and TV such as Game of Thrones ) and you have a ready-made bed of support for our mythology. So you’re already looking at a sizeable number of people that would be interested, crumbs, if Disney are looking at reinventing their fantasy genre you KNOW you have the numbers for it.

My intention is to fully bake our culture and our history into this experience, not just the characters of our legendary past but the people of our present. I want people to hear the real voices behind these characters, I want them to see the little corner of the planet that Wales rests and the men and women on top of that, and I want it to play a full part in reclaiming our own heritage. When you own a history then your future can be as bright as you want it to be. Now I’m not claiming for one second that Bendigeidfran , for example, is historical, but he represents a history of a people, and of storytelling, like an arrow through time straight into your head or my heart. With Easter coming up I fully sympathise with Christians when they imagine the body and blood of Christ in the Communion, it’s a direct line, in a way, through time to something that is precious to them. That’s how I view the Mabinogi and all the glorious characters within, it doesn’t just call out through history, it lives today in the way that I think about things and view the world. If it doesn’t exist then we are different people, which is no bad thing in and of itself, but as I have a view of it from personal development, as many Cymry do, then it is imperative.

When people are knowledgeable on any given subject they make better decisions around that subject. If more people know about Wales, that’s good for Wales. We’ve got to increase visibility and tap into this enormous market, especially considering our tourism industry is pushing the Year of the Legend .

Also, speaking plainly, there would be no Western video game RPG experiences (such as Dragon Age , Skyrim , The Witcher ) without the Mabinogi. In all but name those things are The Mabinogi, that is a cast iron fact and it’s about time we started getting some credit.

Add onto that that Wales literally looks like most fantasy tropes: mountains, frozen lakes, caves, rolling upland, staggering beaches, some trolls in the pubs. We should rebrand Gwynedd as Mabinogiland! So I’m certain the tourism people will be (very) happy with me. I will be baking in real world locations into the experience.

I expect a bronze leek, signed by Carwyn, on my mantelpiece.

AmeriCymru: Do you have any initial ideas/concepts that you would be willing to share with us?

Dafydd: I can certainly tell you that our finest storytellers will be utilised as vocal artists and really exciting musicians from Wales will be involved, parts will be live action, with documentary-like elements. We have some solid ideas, but the problem is – and it’s a really great problem to have – where do you start?

The Mabinogi is awesome, right? One minute there’s a space/time conundrum with Pwyll unable to catch Rhiannon on a horse, she consistently stays the exact same distance away (the answer: just ask her to stop, a none too insignificant vision of gender relations) the next she’s forced to carry guests into their home on their back because she’s been framed for the murder of their son (spoiler alert).

We will be isolating the elements appropriate for a sophisticated interactive experience, otherwise it would be a MASSIVE undertaking. But foremost it absolutely has to be fun, it cannot be slow and sluggish and it can’t be too difficult to navigate. Then you look to reduce the components: does the narrative drive the experience or does the interaction unpeel the story? Will the visuals call out to recognisable elements that users are comfortable with or comb against the grain and arrest those expectations. These are among the many major questions we are looking at as interactive artists.

Thankfully I am currently under the wing of some amazing people who have such drive, enthusiasm and grace and they are helping me navigate these early few years in a new industry. They have worked on similar projects in the past and know what they’re doing. I will owe them a great debt. Literally. They’re very expensive. (If they are reading this is a joke of course.)

The easy answer to that was ‘no’.

AmeriCymru: Of course there is an online game ( Mabinogi ) which at least nods its head in the direction of Welsh Mythology. What do you think of this game? Will your project be in any way similar?

Dafydd: While it’s called Mabinogi it has nothing whatsoever to do with Welsh mythology. You’ll have to ask Nexon (the publishers) why they decided to use that name. They dip into Irish mythology somewhat, but that’s as close as it gets. And this is one of the problems that I’ve recognised, developing video games is a very narrow field, you have to have a range of skills, training and experience to even consider it. It’s highly unlikely that anyone in that field will have sufficient knowledge to be able to treat subject matter such as under-represented cultures’ mythology with the sophistication that matter deserves. Hopefully that’s where people like me come in. I may have to have a conversation with Nexon regarding that branding.

AmeriCymru: Over what time scale do you hope to bring this project to fruition?

Dafydd: I am aiming for the winter of 2019 or spring 2020 but really it’ll be done when it is done.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Dafydd: Yes we are looking for investors, I have some detailed financial profiles for anyone looking to invest in our project. If you want to be a part of reclaiming, celebrating and making visible Wales’s heritage and culture in the minds of millions then please do give me a call. Video games cost money but are lucrative in the long-term. I am not ashamed of the fact that along with our lofty goals, profits will follow based on competitive benchmarks for similar products.

Also, Cymru am byth.

CONTACT DAFYDD PRYS: @dafprys on twitter