Blogs
I just recently finished binge-watching the entire three seasons of this BBC miniseries on hulu.com
"The Indian Doctor" has a 7.9 star rating from the Internet Movie Database at imdb.com and I was excited to see that Ifan Huw Daffyd, known to us as AmeriCymru member Huw Davies, is in it.
Dr. Prem Sharma (Sanjeev Bhaskar) and his wife, Kamini Sharma (Ayesha Dharker), emigrate from Delhi, India to the south Wales valleys village of Trefelin of in the early 1960s, and learn to become part of the community and adjust to their new home. Huw Davies plays Owen Griffiths, whose invitation brings the Sharmas to Wales; a miner and labor leader, widower and the troubled father of a young son.
The show is very light, gently touching on social issues but it's beautiful to look at and pleasant to watch. Not a world-changing documentary, just some nice story lines, period nostalgia and gorgeous scenery when you want to relax and, if you're looking for it, some chances to hear Welsh spoken by some residents of the town.
And Huw Davies is in it, so watch and rate! ;)
AmeriCymru: Hi Bob and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. What can you tell us about the history of the Welsh Festival?
Bob: “The Fredericksburg Welsh Festival ”, originally “A Little Welsh Festival”, was started back in 1989 by John Pearce, then the Director of the James Monroe Museum in Fredericksburg. John’s ancestry was Welsh and he had discovered that our fifth President, James Monroe’ s mother, Elizabeth Jones, was the daughter of a Welsh emigrant. While the Irish and the Scots have always been very successful at advertising the contributions of their Celtic ancestors, the Welsh have not. To remedy this, the first Welsh Festival was held in September 1989, in the garden of the James Monroe Museum, located on the site of James Monroe’s first law office. Entertainment was provided, among others, by Roslyn LaDrew, a professor of Celtic studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Welsh folk singer and Sian Frick, Welsh folk dance instructor. Both of these individuals are still performing for us today. After about ten years, the festival had grown and it was decided to change the name to “The Fredericksburg Welsh Festival”
AmeriCymru: There is a strong emphasis on traditional music at the Festival. Can you tell us a little about this years performers?
Bob: We have a strong group of performers this year. We seem to go from success to success. The entertainment will begin with the Stafford Regional Choral Society under the direction of Kevin Perry. Kevin is the music director at my church and also, along with his wife Barbara Perry, the director of the Choral society. We have had other choruses in the past: The Rehoboth Welsh Chorus and the Burry Port Male Chorus and the British School Chorus. I helped Kevin perform Calon Lan at our church and he loved the music, so we decided to have the Stafford Regional Choral Society perform for us. This will be their third year. They do a mixture of Welsh folk tunes as well as some Broadway and pop songs as done by choirs back in Wales. This year they will be adding the love duet between Blodwen and Hywel from Joseph Parry’s opera “Blodwen”. There are three bands featuring Welsh folk tunes and some venturing to other Brythonic lands such as Cornwall and Brittany. First folk group on the program will be a new Welsh folk group “DragonFyre” featuring Welsh- American folk singer Jodee James (guitar, lead vocals) and Dave Rich (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Deb Wenrich (fiddle, accordion, vocals), James Brown (guitar, bodhran, vocals) and Bob Roser (highland and small pipes). Iona, the top Celtic folk band in the Mid Atlantic area will return again featuring Barbara Ryan (guitar, bouzouki, bodhran, lead vocals) , Bernard Argent (wind instruments), Jim Queen (fiddle, banjo and vocals) and Chuck Lawhorn (bass guitar). Moch Pryderi, which got its start at the Welsh Festival, will feature Bill Reese(bouzouki and anything with strings and wind), Mary Triola (Celtic and Triple Harp, whistles, flute), Rik Rice (percussion), Paul Burgess (highland pipes, shuttle pipes and whistles) and Luke Gray (fiddle). Moch Pryderi also plays for the Fredericksburg Welsh Dancers who will finish up the main stage entertainment. Besides dancing for your enjoyment, there will be an audience participation set.
AmeriCymru: In addition to the music, there are many other attractions. Can you tell us some of the highlights?
Bob: We always have a full set of attractions and talks in Mrs. Monroe’s garden behind the Museum. Each year has had a slightly different lineup. This year we have the following thirty minutes programs in the Garden. Bill Reese and Mary Triola will discuss unusual Welsh musical instruments such as the pibgorn. Jay Harrison will portray Colonel James Monroe and discuss his life and times. Later he will also do a talk on James Monroe’s Revolutionary War service. Monroe was seriously wounded at the Battle of Trenton. Sian Frick will discuss Welsh customs. John Gwyn, who is the winner of our annual Festival Bard award, will do a program of Welsh hymns and folk songs on the guitar in a more intimate setting than the main stage. Trip Wiggins will discuss Welsh genealogy. Bob Roser will give a short Welsh language lesson. Prize winning Welsh storyteller Cindy Roser will present a program of Welsh folk tales. The Rappahannock Rugby Club will discuss rugby. In the past we have had a genuine Rhondda Valley rugby player, but Rowland Evans is not available this year. Roslyn LaDrew will discuss the Mabinogion. Chris Pugh who is a Middle Ages reenactor will discuss the Medieval long bow, which was a Welsh weapon. There will also be a Medieval Welsh display in the vendor area. There will be a number of vendors selling Welsh goods, Welsh books, and the Infamous Welsh Cookie Company will be here once again. The Honey Baked Ham store will appear for the first time this year. We have a Welsh information booth run by the Welsh Society and another with Cheryl Mitchell from the St. David’s Society of Washington, D.C. complete with brochures from the Welsh Tourist Board.
AmeriCymru: The Festival is organized by the Welsh Society of Fredericksburg Virginia. Please tell us a more about the society and its work?
Bob: The Welsh Society of Fredericksburg was formed at the first Welsh Festival in 1989. Last year was our 25 th Anniversary of both the Festival and the Society. Besides the Welsh Festival which takes a lot of effort, each year we have an annual picnic, a Christmas Noson Lawen, a St David’s Day pot luck, and six programs on Wales. We have given talks on Wales to organizations and schools in the Fredericksburg area including the University of Mary Washington. We have attended the University’s multicultural festival usually in conjunction with the Scottish Society. We have had a Welsh language course on several occasions. We have marched in the annual Christmas parade along with the Scottish Society and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. We publish a monthly newsletter, The Cambrian. The Welsh Society is very active and we are always ready to help spread the contributions of Wales to our community.
AmeriCymru: OK...so, when and where? Can you give us some directions?
Bob: We time the festival to be at the same time as the University Parents’ Day weekend. The Welsh Festival is on Saturday, September 19, 2015 from 11AM to 5PM. We used to start at noon, but the addition of more entertainment made us decide to add another hour for your enjoyment. The festival is held on the 900 block of Charles Street in front of the James Monroe Museum in the old town section of Fredericksburg. We close the street and have a massive Welsh block party. The Welsh Society has a website at www.welshfred.com and instructions will be posted. There will also be directional signage. The historic city of Fredericksburg is right off of Interstate 95.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Bob: If you are looking for an extended vacation there is none better than in Fredericksburg, VA. Within a ten mile radius were fought four of the largest battles of the American Civil War making this area the bloodiest in all of North America. Fredericksburg is one of only two cities in our country to experience door to door fighting (Gettysburg being the other) and you can still see the bullet holes from the battle. George Washington’s boyhood home is just across the Rappahannock River at Ferry Farm and Mount Vernon is not that far. Mary Ball Washington (the President’s mother) is buried here as well as other notables of our history. Washington, D.C. is about 45 miles away to the north while the Virginia capital of Richmond is about 50 miles in the other direction. There are Revolutionary War sites, such as the home and apothecary shop of General Mercer (killed at the Battle of Princeton and ancestor of Johnny Mercer and Colonial American historical sites as well.
AmeriCymru: Hi Alison. What can you tell us about your forthcoming book 'The Salt Maker's Year"?
Alison: It's a book about a family business through a year. We've often been asked to talk about what business and personal paths led us to creating Halen Môn and so this is a great way to do it. It'll be anecdotes and stories which we hope will encourage others down the entrepreneurial route, plus seasonal recipes to make great feasts to share with family and friends, all brought together with sumptuous photographs of our beautiful Anglesey sea and landscape.
AmeriCymru: You are funding production of this title in an unusual way. Care to tell us more?
Alison: It's an interesting way of fund raising that we've chosen. We invite people to pledge in advance for the book- digital copies are just £10 and do not attract any postage fees- and when enough people decide they want the book to go ahead, we publish it. We're already working on the photos, recipes and stories, and have held 3 feasts to 'limber up' for the real events later this year. It lets us talk to the readers of the book and they can play a real part in how it develops, interacting with the authors in The Shed and receiving regular updates.
AmeriCymru: How can people support you and what rewards are you offering?
Alison: The base level of support is £10 for a digital download, rising to the star reward of a trip to Anglesey on an 'innovators' day' on branding a small business and lunch with David and Alison, the owners and founders of Halen Môn for £1,000 and lots of books and salty hampers in-between.
AmeriCymru: Who are the authors?
Alison: David and Alison Lea-Wilson, founders and directors of Halen Môn. Married and working together for over 35 years, this is the third successful business they've started and run.
AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about Halen Mon, its history and products?
Alison: It's a family business founded in 1997 to resuscitate the lost art of sea salt making on Anglesey- Môn Mam Cymru. It's grown from being made in a saucepan on the kitchen AGA to moving into its own purpose-built Saltcote with a visitor centre and behind the scenes tours. It can be found in 20 countries, including the USA where its oak smoked Halen Môn flavours the top of President Obama's favourite butter caramels from Fran's Chocolates in Seattle.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Alison: Take a look at the video and let us know how you can support us- and if you have any questions we'd love to hear from you. Better still, drop in for a panad and a slice of our local bara brith when you're next visiting the Principality. Diolch o galon.
Welsh First Minister To Visit New York - Dylan Thomas 100th Anniversary Celebrations
By Ceri Shaw, 2015-03-18
"Dylan Thomas is a cultural icon around the world and a poet who made a major impact on poetry itself. In many ways, poetry was never the same after the publication of the astonishing 18 Poems in 1934 and 25 Poems in 1936. For Wales, it is a great opportunity to celebrate his life and works and to put the spotlight on the main places of his inspiration, Swansea and Laugharne, indeed the whole of Wales."
,,,
...AmeriCymru: Hi Peter and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. What in your opinion is the significance of this Dylan Thomas centenary year to Wales and the Welsh American community?
Peter: Dylan Thomas is a cultural icon around the world and a poet who made a major impact on poetry itself. In many ways, poetry was never the same after the publication of the astonishing 18 Poems in 1934 and 25 Poems in 1936. For Wales, it is a great opportunity to celebrate his life and works and to put the spotlight on the main places of his inspiration, Swansea and Laugharne, indeed the whole of Wales. It will also be an opportunity to spotlight both literatures, English-language and Welsh-language, the unique culture of Wales and its varied and inspiring landscapes. It will be great if Welsh tourism, as well as literature, also gets a huge boost via DT100.
AmeriCymru: Of course, Dylan Thomas visited the US several times in his later years. How do you think he rated and valued the experience?
Peter: It was Dylan who wanted to go on that final tour, against the wishes of Caitlin and his tour-organiser, John Malcolm Brinnin. I think he was probably shocked and awe-struck by America, in particular New York, on the first visit. He was an ‘impoverished poet’, escaping a country still stuck in the rationing of World War Two, so the sheer size of everything American must have been a real eye-opener. He wrote a letter to his parents describing the size of an average American dinner and he sent sweets and treats back home for Caitlin and the children. He made many close friends there, such as sculptor David Slivka, who was to be the one, with Ibram Lassaw, to make Dylan’s death mask; and he loved to sit and talk to working-class, non-literary men in pubs such as The White Horse Tavern. He was ‘at home’ in such places.
I also think the incredible response to his first visit from audiences, where the likes of poet e. e. cummings were blown away by Dylan’s performances, endorsed a need for more clarity in his writing, which he had already started in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog and in Deaths and Entrances. Under Milk Wood was a step in that direction and had he lived I think he would have written dramas for television and worked on scripts for commercial films. Maybe Lennon and McCartney would have chosen him, rather than fellow Welshman Alun Owen, to write the script for A Hard Day’s Night, as they were fans of Dylan. He met many famous people during his visits, such as Charlie Chaplin, and he was as excited as any fan by such a meeting. His historic Caedmon recordings established what was to become the spoken-word industry. Dylan, in many ways and all alone, did what The Beatles were to do in 1964: take America by storm.
AmeriCymru: We understand that the First Minister of Wales will be visiting New York in February 2014 and that he will be guided on the Dylan Thomas Walking Tour as part of the DT100 launch in America . Care to tell us more about this visit?
Peter: Yes, the visit by the First Minister of Wales will be the launch of DT100 Starless and Bible Black in America, organized by The British Council. My and Aeronwy’s Dylan Thomas Walking Tour of Greenwich Village, commissioned and developed in 2008 by Catrin Brace of the Welsh Assembly Government in New York, will be launched as a tourist pocket-book. It has previously been available as a PDF, an audio version narrated by Welsh actor John Pierce Jones, and a guided tour with New York Fun Tours. Along with the tourist pocket-book, The British Council and Welsh Government have commissioned a company to do an internet/smart phone version. I have been helping the company and it is an exciting development, which hopefully will stimulate an interest in Dylan and his New York visits among young people who engage with this new technology.
The First Minister, other dignitaries, and the media will experience aspects of the Walk, such as The White Horse Tavern, guided by an official New York tourist-guide, Hannah Ellis, Dylan’s granddaughter, and me. My New York publisher, Stanley H. Barkan of Cross-Cultural Communications, will be accompanying me. Robert Titley of the Welsh Government in New York has organized it all.
Also, my New York publisher has organized a launch for the book at Poet’s House, New York, on March 5th. Hannah has written the Foreword; and it has such (extra) things as an unpublished photo of Dylan’s death mask, a drawing self-portrait by Dylan, a drawing of Dylan and Caitlin by Caitlin Thomas, and paintings of Dylan by America’s Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and Carey Crockett, and Italy’s Gianpiero Actis. I will give a talk, Dylan Thomas in New York, and Stanley H. Barkan, a terrific reader, will read some poems at the launch.
AmeriCymru: Are there plans to visit other US cities?
Peter: Yes, I am at the NEMLA Conference in Pennysylvania in early April, where I’ll be on a literary translation panel and where I’ll give a talk on Dylan Thomas and organise a poetry workshop. Whilst back in America, the book will be launched at the historic The Grolier Poetry Workshop in Boston on April 9th. I’ll deliver my talk again and Dr. Kristine Doll, my host and a poet, and poet and owner of the Bookshop, Ifeanyi Menkiti, will read some poems. Then in July, when I am writer-in-residence again in California for a fifth summer, it will be launched at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, where I’ll be accompanied by Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and John Dotson.
Its Welsh launch, by the way, will be at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. I have also researched and organized a Dylan Quotations Trail, which will be on display for people to follow at the Museum, from July 2014 to March 2015.
AmeriCymru: Can you tell us a little about the internet app version of the Dylan Thomas Walking Tour Of Greenwich Village, which is being launched to coincide with the centenary?
Peter: It is based on the book version and is being produced by a Welsh company. A Welsh actor is being chosen to narrate the Walk and read some of Dylan’s works. Obviously an app has so much creative and interactive potential and so I can’t wait to see what is produced. Aeronwy and I always felt there should be a tourist book version and she would be so pleased. I’m sure, too, she would be thrilled by an app version. Her daughter, Hannah, is very excited by the book and the app.
AmeriCymru: Where can people go online to discover more detail about the various events and publications?
Peter: Firstly,
http://dylanthomas.org ; secondly, The British Council/Wales website, under Starless and Bible Black; thirdly, the Poets House website; and there will be various other links as things unfold.
AmeriCymru: How will your international poetry publication, The Seventh Quarry, mark the centenary?
Peter: I am including some wonderful drawings of Dylan during periods of his life by Swansea artist Jeffrey Phillips in the Winter/Spring and Summer/Autumn issues. Jeff has put together an exhibition on Dylan that will tour parts of Wales. I have also interviewed Dreena Morgan-Harvey of the Dylan Thomas Theatre in Swansea for the Summer/Autumn issue. Lastly, Quarry Press will publish a chapbook of Dylan-inspired work by a writers’ group based in Swansea. I will give a talk on Dylan and carry out a writing workshop with the group.
For years Ceri and I have talked about what we should do to celebrate St David's Day: special dinner, get roaring drunk, what? We decided this year to do something we've been talking about for years - to make St David's Day a day of community service and "do the little things."
We made a special breakfast and drug a child out with us as the other two had escaped to their biological father's house. We decided we'd dip in slowly this year and walk a neighbor's dog and pick up litter. Up until about fifteen years ago, I don't remember seeing much litter here, if you dropped a cigarette packet on the ground, twenty people would scream at you to pick it up and stand there and wait until you did, lecturing you on what scum you were for littering. Things have changed, though, and there's plenty of crap thrown on the ground now. We started on the main road near our house and put in about three hours picking up bottles, fast food trash, candy wrappers and gunk thrown in the bushes along the road and paths. We filled up the few bags we'd brought pretty quickly and next time I think I'd like something like a grabber to pick things up with. I recommend gloves, too.
Next year I want to plan this better and expand the things that we do by maybe signing up with a community group. You can find productive and positive community groups almost anywhere that are doing things you agree are worth doing and would welcome your help. I'd love to find some other Portlanders who'd like to join us and celebrate after, and to hear if there are other people doing this wherever you are.
If you want to find some little things to do to improve your community and the world but need some ideas or want to work with an existing group, try these links:
In Wales
http://www.volunteering-wales.net/
http://www.wcva.org.uk/volunteering
In the USA
http://www.volunteermatch.org/
In Canada
Now bring on the beer!
.cymru and .wales are open to all marking a historic moment for Wales on the internet
By AmeriCymru, 2015-02-28
On 1 st March 2015 – St David’s Day - .cymru and .wales domain names will be available to everyone, on a first come, first serve basis, putting Wales squarely on the digital map.
Ieuan Evans MBE, Chair of the .cymru and .wales Advisory Group and former Wales rugby captain has welcomed the release of the domains and said, “These domains are about taking our Welsh passion, pride and provenance to the online world and as a consequence we all now have an opportunity both within Wales and around the world to do exactly that.
“I’m thrilled to finally be able to use my own .cymru and .wales web addresses and know that anyone with a connection with Wales will want to do the same and join me in making the web more Welsh.”
There is a growing online Welsh population - over 95% of people under 44 years old use the internet*. .cymru and .wales are a part of the biggest shake-up in the world of domains with the introduction of thousands of new top-level domain names and with Wales becoming one of the few countries to have two domain names. We’ve developed a unique approach especially for these domains, both .cymru and .wales will be bilingual and allow the registration of names with the diacritic marks used in the Welsh language.
The domain names have been on limited availability since September 2014 but from today, anyone who wants to show off their national pride and Welsh identity will be able to choose and buy their perfect website or email address through their domain provider. New research shows significant interest in Wales’ home online, with 65% of those questioned saying that they would want to highlight their Welsh connections through a dedicated .cymru or .wales domain name if they were launching a new personal or business website**.
The Welsh Government, S4C and the Welsh Rugby Union are all marking St David’s Day by switching on their new .cymru and .wales websites today. Many of Wales’ leading businesses, brands and organisations are already backing the new domains including the National Assembly, the Millennium Stadium, Sport Wales, the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, the Scarlets rugby team and the Arts Council for Wales.
Digwyddiad Hanesyddol i Gymru ar y Rhyngrwyd: .cymru a .wales ar gael i bawb
Ar 1af Fawrth 2015 – Dydd Gŵyl Dewi - fe fydd enwau parth .cymru a .wales ar gael i bawb ar sail gyntaf i’r felin, gan osod Cymru ar lwyfan ddigidol fyd-eang.
Mae Ieuan Evans MBE, Cadeirydd Grŵp Cynghori .cymru a .wales a chyn-gapten tîm rygbi Cymru wedi croesawu rhyddhad y parthau a dywedodd, “Bwriad y parthau hyn yw datgan ein hangerdd, balchder a’n gwreiddiau Cymreig i’r byd ar-lein ac o ganlyniad rydym nawr gyda’r cyfle i wneud hynny, yng Nghymru ac ar draws y byd.
“Rwy’n hynod falch fy mod o’r diwedd yn gallu defnyddio fy nghyfeiriadau we .cymru a .wales ac rwy’n gwybod bydd unrhyw un gyda chysylltiad â Chymru eisiau gwneud yr un peth ac ymuno a fi wrth i ni Gymreigio’r we.”
Mae yna boblogaeth Gymreig gynyddol ar-lein – mae dros 95% o bobl o dan 44 mlwydd oed yn defnyddio’r rhyngrwyd*. Mae .cymru a .wales yn rhan o’r newid mwyaf i fyd parthau gyda chyflwyniad miloedd o enwau parth lefel uchaf newydd a Chymru yw un o’r ychydig wledydd sydd gyda dau enw parth. Rydym wedi datblygu dull unigryw yn arbennig ar gyfer y parthau hyn; fe fydd .cymru a .wales yn ddwyieithog ac yn caniatáu cofrestriad enwau gydag acenion y Gymraeg.
Mae’r enwau parth wedi bod ar gael yn gyfyngedig ers Medi 2014 ond o heddiw ymlaen, fe fydd unrhyw un sydd eisiau dangos eu balchder cenedlaethol a’u hunaniaeth Gymreig yn gallu dewis y cyfeiriad we neu e-bost delfrydol trwy eu darparwr parthau. Mae ymchwil newydd yn dangos diddordeb sylweddol yng nghartref Cymru ar-lein, gyda 65% o’r rheiny a holwyd yn nodi eu bod eisiau amlygu eu cysylltiadau Cymreig gydag enw parth .cymru neu .wales os fydden nhw’n lansio gwefan personol neu fusnes newydd.**.
Mae Llywodraeth Cymru, S4C ac Undeb Rygbi Cymru i gyd yn dathlu Dydd Gŵyl dewi wrth lansio eu gwefannau .cymru a .wales newydd heddiw. Mae llawer o fusnesau, brandiau a sefydliadau blaenllaw Cymru eisoes yn cefnogi’r parthau newydd gan gynnwys Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru, Stadiwm y Mileniwm, Chwaraeon Cymru, Ffederasiwn Busnesau Bychain Cymru, tîm rygbi’r Scarlets a Chyngor Celfyddydau Cymru.
"It is a story of conflict and conciliation, of antagonism and integration, of greed and generosity.”
This is how Cerys Matthews begins her voice over of the first video in The Dragon and the Eagle / Y Ddraig a’r Eryr, an enhanced eBook on Wales and America. Published digitally by Cardiff based Thud Media, the English language version was launched on August 30 at the North American Festival of Wales in Minneapolis by its author/producer Colin Thomas.
The term ‘app’ understates what a breakthrough this is in Welsh publishing. For the first time in Wales, history is being related by means of video, music, interactive maps and text in a single digital product.The project tells the often dramatic story of the way that Welsh emigrants became Welsh Americans and how they maintained their distinctive identity over four hundred years.
It includes some forgotten Welsh American heroes – farmer Cadwalder Morgan who spoke out against slavery, missionary Evan Jones who stuck with the Cherokee Indians during their ‘Vale of Tears’ exile, and miner’s wife Mary Thomas who played a leading role in a bloody strike in Colorado.
But it doesn’t ignore those who tarnished the reputation of Welsh Americans – dentist Hiram W. Evans, who became the leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and Llewellyn Morris Humphreys, aka ‘Murray the Hump’, right hand man of Al Capone.The video sections in the project include some of Humphreys’ home movie footage.
The thirteen video sections come from both American and Welsh film archives, much of the Welsh archive generously contributed by BBC Wales, ITVWales and Sianel Pedwar Cymru. S4C Digital and Welsh Books Council also gave funding support to this bilingual project.
The Dragon and the Eagle is now available for iOS and Android devices:
● GB iTunes App Store link:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/thedragonandtheeagle/id911462417?mt=8
● US iTunes App Store link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/thedragonandtheeagle/id911462417?mt=8
The Welsh language version, Y Ddraig a’r Eryr is also available on both iOS and Android:
● GB iTunes (Welsh Language)
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/yddraigareryr/id932895503?mt=8
● US iTunes (Welsh Language)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yddraigareryr/id932895503?mt=8
A bilingual trailer/intro is available at www.thudmedia.com/ and clips or sound tracks from other sections can be made available for publicity purposes. Colin Thomas is available for interview, Helen Davies for Welsh language interviews and Ben Cawthorne, its designer, for technical aspects of the project.
Colin Thomas was a BBC staff director until he resigned ove rwhat he saw as censorship of programmes he had directed in Northern Ireland. Since then he has produced C4’s history of Wales The Dragon has Two Tongues , directed dramas and documentaries for ITV, S4C, C4 and the BBC and has written the book Dreaming A City on the embattled city of Donetsk. His awards include a Prix Europa, the Jury Award at the Celtic Media Festival and, on three occasions ,the Best Documentary/DramaDocumentary award from BAFTA Cymru. The Financial Times wrote of C4’s The Divided Kingdom that it “bears the name of Colin Thomas as one of its directors, a guarantee of intelligence and scrupulous integrity.” Bill Jones, the Professor of Modern Welsh History at Cardiff University, describes The Dragon and the Eagle as “a very lively, entertaining and informative work; it tells the story of the Welsh in America in an excitingly new and innovative way.”
Colin Thomas
I'm very slowly building a site in my spare time to put all my own stuff on and Ceri asked to re-post the post I did today on my studio set up to shoot the Lamb Argenteuil he did for St David's Day, so here's that post, from randomgaab.blogspot.com.
March 1 is Saint David's Day, the national day of Wales, and my partner and I run a Welsh-American social network site, so this date has to be a big deal for us. This year, Ceri decided we should do a recipe for Lamb Argenteuil on the site, which he liked as a special indulgence for St. David's Day in Cardiff. Ceri made it and I had to get a photo to go with his text, and this is it:
My photography "training" was mainly limited to what I needed to study multimedia, so it's all digital and heavy on fixing things in graphics programs like GIMP or Photoshop. I'm otherwise self taught and I mainly focus on images for the web, for clients' websites, for our own and for stock photo sites. I'm better with Photoshop than I am with filters and I don't have the kind of education, equipment and studio set up that an artist like Glyn Davies has.
However, I love DIY. I love figuring out how to make things myself, I love hacking an idea and figuring out how to repurpose objects. My idea of shopping is the hardware store, the thrift store and the art supply store. An unfortunate side effect is that my space is full of piles of random odds and ends and I have to argue their value, and that I am NOT a hoarder! , with other people.
Ceri was going to make this dish for dinner, so it would be in the evening, long after good light has fled. At first, I wanted to try to make a light tent or light box, which is a cube frame with white fabric and lights outside it, the item you want to shoot is set inside, like this super cute, pop-up light tent, shot by Marc Carlson on Wikimedia Commons:
To reproduce this effect, I made a cube frame out of pvc pipe cut to 2'x 2', covered it with a white, cotton sheet from a thrift store and used three mechanic's lights with 32W CFL bulbs - one on each side and one on top. That still didn't look right and I didn't want a solid-colored background, so I built the set up, below, while Ceri was cooking:
Years ago, I saw and coveted the Lowel EGO Digital Imaging, Tabletop Fluorescent Light Unit but couldn't afford to buy them, so I made my own version. Lowell lights are good and I'm sure theirs are a lot better than mine but, until I can afford them, mine will have to do. My lights are on either side of the pvc cube in the shot, above. To make them, I bent a piece of corrugated plastic (such as you would use for political signs stuck on wires in the dirt) at about a 100 degree angle. I unwound and cut a wire hanger in two halves and used the halves as braces at the top and bottom of the plastic sheet to hold it in place - poke the ends into the last hole of your corrugated plastic sheet. I used half a sheet of plastic light cover (as you'd find in a fluorescent ceiling light) bent across the front of the corrugated sheet as the diffuser in front and anchored it all with clear duct tape. Then, just cut a hole in the back and put your light socket through it. Two lights are better than one so I used a twin socket adapter like this one.
I always use CFL bulbs as they are cool and won't melt or set your diffuser on fire, if you're setting your light close or even right on top of it. I haven't tried LED lights yet, that might be even better than the CFL and, of course, those are also cool. There's probably a better material than the plastic sheet I used for the diffuser - this stuff is annoyingly brittle and prone to shattering so be careful when you're cutting and especially bending it. I used a very fine tooth jigsaw and went slow, as though I were cutting bread and I shattered two of them trying to bend it to fit my frame, so go very slow on that.
I used plastic clothespins from the dollar store to attach a square of white sheet to the top of the pvc cube frame, pulled very tight so I could put a mechanic's light right on top of it to shine down on the plate.ppI wanted something more exotic than the dark window behind my worktable so I made a cheap chroma key screen with a sheet of acid green poster board attached with spray mount to a sheet of foam board from a dollar store. This allows you to select that horrible green in GIMP or Photoshop or whatever program you're using for editing and replace it with something else. For this to work best, there can't be any shadows or any tints or shades on your background but that horrible green, so be sure to smooth it out and get rid of any wrinkles or bubbles, which is why I recommend using something like spray mount instead of glue. The "table" underneath the plate is another sheet of foam board, covered in faux wood-grain shelf liner, also from the dollar store.
If this is all too much fiddling and you're not into DIY but you still want to try some tabletop photos, Amazon has this pretty cool looking light tent and lights kit. 
Ceri brought me the plate and it looked delicious but I knew it wouldn't come across sexy enough in the shot. There would be too much reflection of the green background, the potatoes and asparagus would be dull and matte, it really needed to be brightened up but we also had to eat it as it was thirty bucks worth of lamb, so no spraying the food with glycerin to make it look better. I covered the potatoes and asparagus in melted butter and shot fast, before it set up, and then went in to edit in Photoshop.ppThe first thing was to duplicate the original image layer - always save your original image layer untouched, applying "no pixel shall be harmed," so you have it, unaltered, if you need it. I then hid the original layer and used the magic wand tool on the duplicate layer to select and remove the background. I replaced that with a public domain image of Caerphilly Castle from wikimedia commons for the background layer, blurred with the Gaussian Blur filter. I used the blur tool on edges of the plate and the "table" where they met the background to reduce that unnatural pop-out effect.
That bright green background turned out to really adversely effect colors in the image. I adjusted hue and saturation of the meat and potatoes to reduce the reflection of the original green background and pop them out more, adding more blue and reducing the yellow. I did the same to the plate to reduce reflection of the original background in the white of the plate and lowered its saturation to further get rid of the reflection, and to reduce it as a focal point in the picture, letting the food stand out. I didn't do this to the entire image as I liked the green on the leeks, asparagus and the asparagus cream sauce on the meat, and I wanted to keep that.
I think the final version came out in sort of an early 70's cookbook style, as though the next page ought to be green olives and tuna in tomato gelatin or something. You can see the before editing on the left, and the after editing on the right.
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If you'd like to try your hand at Lamb Argenteuil, Ceri's recipe is here .
If you like the idea of olive, tuna and tomato Jello-o salads, don't despair .
Tony Kendrew is an American poet of Welsh ancestry. In September 2012 he started an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Wales, Trinity St. David. The campus for the course is in the small town of Lampeter, site of the third oldest institute of higher education in Britain - after Oxford and Cambridge. AmeriCymru spoke to Tony about his work and future plans. Visit Tony Kendrew's website here
Tony: I would love to. I’ve been living in Northern California since the 80's. Each time I moved it was to a more remote and beautiful place, until ten years ago I found the valley I now call home. All of the places I lived inspired what I suppose we could call nature poetry, though the poems aren’t just descriptive, because I always seem to find a human story hidden in the rivers and forests and deserts. And I don’t mean that my poems tell the story of the people living in those places, but that the places themselves give rise to reflections about what it is to be human. We have been living on earth for a very long time, and I think the landscape is intimately connected with our thoughts and feelings. To give an obvious example, the river: constant but changeable, deep or bickering, “wider than a mile,” you can’t push it, and of course “you can’t step into the same river twice.” And it isn’t just landscape either: sudden encounters with plants and wildlife bring insights of their own. Our minds have been sculpted by nature.
About half the poems in 'Feathers Scattered in the Wind' were written in California. The other half come from Wales. They were my responses to my year living and learning and rambling in West Wales, on the Coastal Path, in the ruins of Strata Florida or the beaches of Ceredigion.
I am, I suppose most interested in the communication of awe. The collection has a number of poems that try to communicate that response to beauty and the ineffable, whether it’s nature, or the effect of a painting on the viewer or a piece of music on the listener.
AmeriCymru: In September 2012 you started an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Wales. What can you tell us about this experience?
Tony: Well, it was a wonderful experience! I fell into it by a stroke of serendipity, and knew immediately that the teaching style and the faculty at Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, were going to suit me just fine. The personal attention and intimacy of this small school made me feel cared for, and the sessions with poet Menna Elfyn and dramatist Dic Edwards, and regular visits from Wales’ best writers, meant that everything I wrote went under the microscope. Just what I needed! It was a lot of work, but that‘s exactly what I was there for.
AmeriCymru: The poems on your Turning CD focus on the themes of migration and identity. What inspired this collection? Tony: My mother was Welsh and went to China as a teacher in her late twenties. There she met and married my English father. So not only did I have to figure out where I came from, but my options were on the other side of the world!
The themes of movement and identity have concerned me all my life, and my year at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David brought them into focus like never before. So I decided to write as my MA dissertation a series of poems that reflect on the urge to migrate and explore, how that urge was expressed in my own family and life, and how it relates to a sense of place and belonging. There are twenty-two poems, and they take two directions, one towards the history of the Welsh side of my family, arranged chronologically, the other towards the nature of nationality and diaspor a in general.
A number of poems tell the stories of particular members of the Welsh side of my family, trying to capture some of the characteristics of Welshness with illustrations of the delights and tragedies of family and emigration. I also touch on the influence of my cultural and genetic heritage on my own life and work.
And though the Welsh word hiraeth does not appear in these English language poems, we could say that the collection is really an exploration of hiraeth in poetic form.
AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about your anthology 'Seven Views of the South Fork River'?
Tony: The South Fork of the Trinity River runs past the bottom of my property and has been my muse for the last ten years. It’s designation as a wild and scenic river means it goes up when it rains and goes down when it doesn’t – something that dams and reservoirs have hidden from the experience of a large part of the population. It is an awesome sight to watch the river rise and spread out across the valley. Some years ago I decided to sing the river’s praises with a group of poems describing places along its course. This became 'Seven Views of the South Fork River', which is embedded in the printed collection 'Feathers Scattered in the Wind'. The poems talk about the river in a blatantly metaphorical way!
AmeriCymru: What's next for Tony Kendrew?
Tony: I am currently on the editorial board of The Lampeter Review, the online magazine of the University of Wales Trinity St. David's Creative Writing Centre. It’s terrific to be at the receiving end of great writing and to be in touch with the other editors on the production of the magazine. I also write a regular piece for the magazine, a sort of letter from America, that gives a personal view of the issue’s theme or a literary topic that’s caught my eye.
I hope 'Feathers Scattered in the Wind' will find a US publisher, as I think it has roots on both sides of the Atlantic and wish we didn’t have to get it shipped from the UK. And I’d like to see the poems of the CD Turning in print too. I love to hear poets reading their work, but many people prefer to snuggle down with a book of poems than hear them read out loud.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of Americymru?
Tony: I’m delighted to be able to meet with other Welsh Americans via Americymru. As a writer I’ve been a bit of a hermit, so it’s heartening to see these connections being made through that difficult to define something that is our shared Welshness. And with March 1st coming up I’d like to wish everyone a very happy St. David’s Day. Cymru am Byth.
POEMS FROM 'TURNING'
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Pant y Hirion, 1876 ... Is there a way to bridge the years now the forest has darkened the mountain and covered the mineshafts now a wrought-iron gate makes us back up half way to the road? ... The view is much the same northwest down the Rheidol to Aberystwyth. Somebody built right here for that view - must have loved the summer sunsets over the Lleyn. ... What made you leave this place? Send your wife to her mother with your children? And what did you tell them when you left for Liverpool? God be with you? Look after yourselves? See you in a few years? ... Who knows now? Those conversations took off with the wind over Llanafan and never came back. ... Someone might remember the accident with the steam engine the cheap foreign lead the drift to the cities the cough. ... But that's not enough for me. I want to lean on that gate look in your eyes and ask what took you away? ''' What longing in your poet soul sent you wandering? Was strong enough to override your chapel interdictions a life of lessons in duty in provision in fatherhood? ''' Or did the meetings merely aspirate your lungs give service to your lips? ... William Richards stonemason they called you so you would have known about building. Did you never make the connection between building and fatherhood between abandonment and decay? ''' You left us letters and notebooks full of poems brimming with guilt that urged God's message to the needy and gave surrogate succour while the infants dwindled in their bowls and in your prodigal conscience. |
Leaving ... We have all left some clean some not so clean some so strong there is no justification and we override the rules and ride the consequences down the rapids of remorse. ...
How many words does it take to heal? How many years? How many deaths? ... And who returns? A few to town, some into the hills some never with no glance back - call it ruthless call it heartless call it iron cold they settle their land and reap their honest corn. ... How many moons does it take to forgive? How much forgetting? How many strikes of the plough? |
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