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The new comic Mellten will be launching on Y Lolfa’s stall at the Urdd Eisteddfod in Flintshire at 12 o’ clock on Monday the 30 ^th of May.

Mellten is a new quarterly comic for the children of Wales. Mainly aimed at children between the ages of 7 and 13, this is the first original Welsh comic to be published in decades. Edited by Wales’ best and most original cartoonist, Huw Aaron, Melten contains contributons from many artists, cartoonists and authors.

Between the pages the comic offers exciting new stories in a variety of genres, original characters, puzzles, jokes, competitions and advice on how to create your own comic and cartoons.

‘The idea was to create something original and new for children that would only be available in Welsh,’ says the editor Huw Aaron, ‘There will be an emphasis on the stories and the colourful artwork that will frighten, intrigue, inspire and cause children to laugh and capture their imaginations.’

Mellten will appear every three months with the second issue arriving on the 1 ^st of September. But, the fun will be continuing on the website with new content added weekly.

Within the comic there are memorable characters such as Gwil Garw, a hero from an age before history who loves collecting and fighting monsters, the world’s best footballer – Gari Pêl, Capten Clonc – the most handsome hero in the universe, Bloben and Iola, the young pilot who dreams of winning the Space Rally Competition but she is stuck on planet Cymru Newydd (New Wales) with no crew or spaceship...

Mellten wil be available to buy seperately or by subscription through the website, schools or local bookshops.

The first issue of Mellten will be available from Monday, the 30 ^th of May onwards.

1. Click HERE (or on the Top 50 page or from your profile page). You will need to be logged in to AmeriCymru to add a video. Be sure to add ONLY the YouTube id or the complete YouTube url.  (see screenshot below)

2. On your video page click the 'Update' icon (see screenshot below).

3. Set the category to 'Music' (if it isn't already) and you are good to go. Your video can be rated and promoted either from the video page or from the YouTube Welsh Music Video Top 50 page.

N.B. Please note that any videos posted should be in compliance with copyright law. If it is your own video, that's fine. If it is an official video posted by the artist that is also fine.

Writing On AmeriCymru

Vacancies for members on AmeriCymru!!! We are also looking for part time correspondents. Join the site with the link below and message me (Ceri Shaw) on the site if you are interested. https://americymru.net/user/signup

I suppose I should expand, expound and exposit a little on this because the initial post was a trifle ambiguous. What we are looking for is a group of writers who we will engage to write features for us from time to time. We will create a closed group on the site -The Bullpen, and members/correspondents can pitch us there on articles they would like to write. We will also suggest topics and invite members to bid on them ( yes these will be paid articles ). Of course we are going to prioritise invitations to site members who have been active for a while and have already made some contributions but nothing is written in stone.

We will be looking for material that promotes Wales and/or Welsh writers, musicians, artists to an international audience.

I should stress that ALL correspondence on this topic MUST be carried on via the AmeriCymru site. Please no emails or FB messages. Join or login to AmeriCymru and message us here if you are interested.....diolch

All parties say that they want more ‘real people’ in politics, but one man’s experience perhaps suggests otherwise.

In the normally sedate rural constituency of Ceredigion, the general election of 2015 exploded into sensationalist headlines and the dirtiest campaign in living memory. At the centre of the fray was Plaid Cymru’s English-born, first-time candidate, author and broadcaster Mike Parker.

The Greasy Poll  is Mike’s witheringly honest diary of the campaign, in which he chronicles the exhilaration and exhaustion of this knife-edge fight, from the many moments of great hope to the controversies that saw him vilified in sensationalist newspaper headlines, and his ultimate defeat by three thousand votes to the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP.

‘As an incomer to Wales and an outsider in politics,’ says Mike Parker, ‘I wanted to find out for myself if our electoral system really was as broken as I feared.’

‘When I heard that Mike had been chosen as Plaid’s candidate in Ceredigion, I knew he would face some problems,’ says former Plaid Cymru President and musician, Dafydd Iwan, ‘He was not only from outside the county, but was from Kidderminster, had outspoken left-field radical views, was gay and – wait for it – sported an ear-ring. At the same time, I was elated at the news because I knew he would bring something different to Plaid’s cause.’

‘The fact that Mike is English born, and has learnt Welsh as a second language gives him a refreshingly different perspective on Wales and its people,’ added Dafydd.

The book throws a searching light on many aspects of contemporary Welsh and British politics, as well as the means by which the press and media deal with it.

‘He paid a harsh and high price as an individual and a writer for choosing to take a stand instead of grumbling from the sidelines,’ says author Dr Jasmine Donahaye, ‘But he returns as a writer with this damning, unflinching exposé of the foul practices of politicians, political parties and the press when an outsider threatens entrenched, corrupt power.’

From the perils of social media to the drumbeat rise of neo-fascism, The Greasy Poll details the splits, sags and soggy compromises of modern Welsh politics, and how badly it is failing us.

‘The rise of UKIP is based almost entirely on the increasing acceptability of racism in public life,’ says Mike Parker. ‘We see it happening all over the world, from Trump to Le Pen, and we need to call it out for what it is. But it’s not just UKIP. Our media and other political parties are playing their disreputable part in its rise.’

‘We need to discuss it far more, and with greater understanding of its historical context.’ he added.

Mike also touches upon the homophobia he experienced as a candidate, especially during the controversy, and the effect it had on his mental health.

‘Only after the election did I come to realise just how mentally battered I was by the whole experience,’ he says. ‘It’s one of the reasons that I wanted to try and understand what happened by unpicking and writing about it. Politics is a rough game, we all know that, but this shouldn’t be the norm. Small wonder that it tends to attract some odd and rather lost people.’

Based near Machynlleth in mid Wales but originally from Worcestershire, Mike Parker has written numerous critically acclaimed books inspired by his sense of place. In 25 years of self-employment, he's also been a columnist, TV and radio presenter and stand-up comedian.

The Greasy Poll – Diary of a Controversial Election will be launched at Wiff Waff Bar in Aberystwyth on the 19 ^th of May at 7pm.

On the 9th of June at 5.30pm Mike Parker will be in discussion with Adrian Masters at the Gallery at y Senedd building in Cardiff Bay.

Events will also be held on th e 7th of June at 7.30 pm at the Black Lion Hotel in Llanbed and on the 14th of June at 7.30pm at the Grosvenor in Cardigan.

The Greasy Poll – Diary of a Controversial Election by Mike Parker (£9.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.

Gwenno strolls on stage with no fanfare and presses play on a rhythmic throbbing bass line. Kick snare kick snare enter and pulse along, white noise, and a simple three-note synth melody. Gwenno knows how to let these things build and she’s slowly bringing in the elements of the title track of her Welsh Music Prize-winning album, Y Dydd Olaf.

The set-up is minimal, just her behind a makeshift table on which sit her synthesizer and effects pedals, but the sound is huge.

Next up is single ‘Patriarchaeth’, a fantastic pop number especially with its ‘oo’s at the end. The songs (barring the final number, which is sung in Cornish) are all in Welsh and Gwen introduces this one as “this song is called ‘Patriarchaeth’ which means ‘patriarchy’ which means a really shit time for everyone”.

Despite the heaviness of the themes, there’s playfulness - and humor in her talking about them - which makes for the richness of the listening experience. Gwenno smilingly announces the third song - a cover of 80s Welsh electronic music pioneer Malcolm Neon’s ‘Nefolaidd’ – “a pretty happy song in contrast to most of my own”. The title means ‘Heavenly’ and, along with Gwen being a big fan of Neon’s work, it's a nice nod to Heavenly Recordings, the label who picked up Y Dydd Olaf last year. A studio version of ‘Nefolaidd’ can be found on the bonus disc of the album along with b-sides and remixes.

There’s a noticeable stylistic contrast as soon as she begins, this is stark, 80s cold wave. Gwen’s voice has warmed up now and it’s interesting to hear her sing a melody that isn’t her own. She takes a different approach tonally, the pronunciation of the ‘o’s in ‘o-o-o-o’ section especially grab one’s ear. It all comes as an intriguing surprise, not least the end section which jumps through hyperspace into a frenetic stabbing outro.

“This one was inspired by Chelsea Manning. It’s about exposing war crimes, media manipulation, happy stuff”. An ominous single synth note crescendos as ‘Calon Peiriant’ (The Heart Of The Machine) begins to form under it. It’s lovely how Gwen’s vocals sit here in the midst of the propulsive forward motion of its juggernaut rhythm and the jarring, abrasive synths floating in and out of the action.

‘Sisial Y Môr’ fittingly (as it translates to ‘The Whispering Sea’) begins as an ocean of sound. This ethereal undulating bed, evoking a twilight psychedelic shoreline, with aggressive swarms passing over and thru. I’ve seen this song performed numerous times and it always seems to appear in a different body, and sounding more audacious than on record. The sonic theme continues through the outro as huge waves wash over. And then there’s even a cool extension tacked on the end, a captivating melody underneath with its notes sounding like they’re breaking apart.

“This song is about the power of people when they get together. Change can happen, we’ve seen it happen.” And ‘Chwyldro’ (‘Revolution’) starts off a cappella over spacey effects, slow, drawn out, before the tempo kicks up and into the actual song.

Gwen seems really into it now despite “having been up for two days” (their journey began with a four-and-a-half hour bus ride from Cardiff to Gatwick Airport the previous morning, arriving in Boston the night before the gig) and the positivity of her introductory words is very much reflected in the performance of this excellent tune, one of the most badass grooves of recent years. Gwenno smiles throughout and wonderfully trills the note going into the second chorus. The song ends as it began, a cappella.

Gwen then tells us about the sci-fi novel that inspired her album of the same name, Y Dydd Olaf by Welsh nuclear scientist Owain Owain. A dystopian world where everyone is getting turned into robots, the narrator writing the book in the form of a diary and only escaping the mechanical overlords’ notice by nature of it being in Welsh, which they can’t understand.

This is by way of introducing ‘Fratolish Hiang Perpeshski’, its title being the nonsense phrase the narrator repeats to himself as he loses his mind at Y Dydd Olaf’s end. “So this is the final dance before he himself gets turned into a clone and loses his soul. It’s also inspired by major label pop music…”

Gwen stops for a second and smiles, “I mean that in a complimentary way.” And ‘Fratolish’ is Fierce. Ethereal and Fierce. A magnificent dance tune. It sounds great in this club setting. Gwen leaning over her Korg to let forth a rad arpeggiated bit in the extended break before the outro. And with a sweep it’s done.

Which brings us to last song, ‘Amser’. Which is sung in Cornish, “a Celtic language not dissimilar to Welsh” and Gwen tells how the UK government has just cut all of the minimal funding there was for the Cornish language.

A tri-linguist herself, Gwen talks passionately about how important language is to her and to everyone. And what follows is a spirited version of the tune, a meditation on Time, the song standing proud against Time’s passing and decay, which is all we can really do. And this is evident in the jubilant musical turbulence of the song’s ending where there are usually just vocals, continuing on before Gwen exits the stage to two repeated blips.

A great performance which really had a powerful effect on the crowd, who all lined up to buy merchandise and talk to Gwenno post-gig.

I overheard one gentleman saying ‘Thank you so much for playing. We get lots of shows coming through Boston but this was really unique and interesting.”

And a friend commented to me ‘That was great. I thought there would some barrier with the songs all being in Welsh, but there wasn’t at all.” Which goes to show the power of music and reinforce one of Gwenno’s central messages - that it’s about people coming together to communicate with each other and make things happen.

Upcoming Shows In Brooklyn, Washington D.C. and Durham N.C.

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Welsh writer and journalist Tim Hartley has travelled the world in an attempt to make sense of globalisation, international culture and politics, football and his own place in the modern world.

Kicking off in North Korea is a series of travel diaries that follow his adventures from herding reindeer with the last of the Sami people to watching football in a silent crowd of 50,000 in North Korea. Through his travelling, Tim casts a piercing and sometimes judgemental eye on the kaleidoscopic world around him.

‘I think the seed for my travel addiction may have been planted when I visited the former Yugoslavia in 1979.’ says Tim, ‘It was still a communist country, I was a politics student and while my family were happy to sit on the beaches of the Dalmatian coast I was peering into offices and government buildings looking for evidence of workers committees, red banners, hammers and sickles.’

‘The travel bug was there, in my head, and I think the aim was to find further, maybe more difficult places to go to.’ he continued.

‘Some of charity drives we did across Europe, to Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Macedonia were fascinating because the landscape and people changed every day. The shockwaves of the fall of the communist empire is still being felt in Eastern Europe.’ he explained.

‘The riots in Kiev, the blood feuds in Albania and the ethnic tensions across the former Yugoslavia are for real, but you don’t have a chance of understanding them without going there yourself and talking to those involved.’ he continued.

But it was not all plain sailing.

‘There have been some hairy moments like when we hitched a lift across the Jordanian desert at dusk with the driver asking us to spell ‘terrorist.’’ says Tim. ‘There have been checkpoints, North Korean minders and young Israelis with guns. But there’s a myth that foreign places are inherently dangerous.’

The travel diaries also tell the story of his developing relationship with his son, Chester, while they travel the world together.

‘It never crossed our minds that Chester would not be part of our travels.’ he says, ‘I have seen him grow in confidence and become thirsty for knowledge of other places, other people.’

Tim Hartley is a writer and journalist. He has worked for the BBC for 17 years and for the British Council and the United Nations Development Programme in Central Asia and Africa.

He is also a regular contributor on radio and television and has shared his obsessions on the BBC’s ‘From our own Correspondent’ and a number of newspapers and magazines including the Guardian, Golwg and the Western Mail.

‘You don’t have to travel to the ends of the world to get some great travelling experiences.’ concludes Tim. ‘North Wales may seem small on a map but every town has its own history and character.’

READ MORE HERE