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Wales Celebrates its Rock Star Poet During His Centenary Year
Additional Programs Announced
New York, May 21, 2014 The centenary celebration of Dylan Thomas’s birth (born Swansea: October 27, 1914; died New York City: November 9, 1953) - Dylan Thomas 100 – continues in Wales with news of additional multi-disciplinary events being added to the festival’s creative mix.
An inspiration for poet-musicians like Bob Dylan and John Lennon and actors like Richard Burton, Dylan Thomas was a bona-fide rock-star before there was such a thing – sometimes playing to crowds of 1,000 – especially in the USA. Welsh actor Matthew Rhys ( The Americans; Brothers and Sisters ) who has channeled the poet (in the film Edge of Love ) hopes you’ll join the festivities, “We’ve been celebrating Dylan Thomas in Wales for decades now. Come to Wales this year and celebrate his centenary.”
The eponymously named digital hub www.dylanthomas100.org makes it easy and fun to discover Dylan Thomas, explore places in Wales he is connected with, engage via social networking and locate festival events via a Timeline tab. The site americas.visitwales.com is a resource for planning your Dylan-themed trip to Wales and for downloading a full list of Dylan Thomas 100 events.
Here is a sampling of the inspired programs on tap during the second half of 2014:
- June 28–Dec 20: Dylan – National Library of Wales – www.dylanthomas100.org/llgc.org.uk :
A combination of dance, poetry and the visual arts will provide a fresh take on Dylan’s life and work. The event will enliven several of the Library’s gallery spaces in Aberystwyth and will include displays of personal items, providing a unique view of Dylan’s world.
- June 28: Dylanathon – 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Swansea - www.dylanthomasbirthplace.com
Using a camera, smartphone or tablet, entrants are asked to use innovation over picture quality to interpret Dylan-related themes throughout the day.
- July 19: Dylan Thomas’ Swansea Hollywood: The Mummy and the Old Dark Horse – www.literaturewales.org
This Dylan odyssey visits three of Dylan’s childhood cinemas in Swansea with a talk in a secret space at a fourth. The evening culminates with Andrew Davies introducing a screening of his new film, “A Poet in New York,” starring Tom Hollander, followed by a Q & A session.
- Aug-Sept: Bedazzled - A Welshman in New York - www.ffotogallery.org
Celebrating Dylan’s special relationship with the USA, especially New York, a series of live events will “re-imagine” Dylan’s favorite watering hole – New York’s White Horse Tavern. Audiences will be transported to the bohemian world of 1950’s Greenwich Village where Dylan held court.
- Sept 5–Dec 24 Manuscripts Exhibition – Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea – www.dylanthomas.com
Infrequently exhibited items on loan from the University of Buffalo include poems, lists of rhyming words and black and white photographs.
- Oct 26-Oct 27 The Dylathon – The Swansea Grand Theatre – www.dylathon100.com
The Wales Theatre Company stages a non-stop 36 hour marathon reading of Dylan’s work. Performers include Sir Derek Jacobi, Jonathan Pryce, and many more acclaimed personalities together with schools, bands and choirs numbering in the hundreds.
- Oct 27-Nov 9 Dylan Thomas Festival – Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea – www.dylanthomas.com
This 17 th annual eclectic celebration will feature talks, exhibitions, workshops and performances.
Dylan Thomas 100 and www.dylanthomas100.org highlights Welsh locations closely associated with the poet-like his birthplace, Swansea, his old writing shed, and his home -The Boathouse - in the town of Laugharne. And the program ranges across all artistic disciplines – from literature, to opera, theatre and painting. From high profile exhibits and live performances to community-based educational programs.
Business and Tourism Minister Edwina Hart said: “Dylan Thomas is one of the literary giants of the last century.” … “These events will help contribute to a fitting legacy for Dylan’s life and work, but I also hope they will resurrect a passion for literature and inspire people of all ages to connect more actively with our rich cultural heritage. In the spirit of Dylan, it is an opportunity to showcase Wales as a land of artistic excellence to an international audience and raise further the iconic status of this great literary figure.”
To find out more about these landmark events visit www.dylanthoms100.org . To plan your itinerary in Wales and for a downloadable program of Dylan Thomas 100 events: americas.visitwales.com .
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Bydd Mai 31ain yn gweld gŵyl sydd yn dathlu un o’r safiadau cynharaf gan weithwyr mewn protest yn erbyn cyflogau isel ac amodau echrydus yn y gweithfeydd haearn a phyllau glo, sef Gwrthryfel Merthyr 1831.Nod yr Ŵyl hon yw dathlu hanes a diwylliant radicalaidd y dre, gan gynnig cyfle i drafod yr heriau sydd yn wynebu pobl Merthyr, Cymru a’r byd heddiw.
Bydd yr Ŵyl yn cynnwys ystod eang o siaradwyr, perfformwyr, cerddorion, gwneuthurwyr ffilm ac awduron o Gymru a thu hwnt. Ymhlith yr uchafbwyntiau bydd cyngerdd gyda’r athrylith Gruff Rhys gyda chefnogaeth cantorion lleol Kizzy Crawford, Fingertrap a Delyth McLean.Yn y prynhawn fe fydd yr economegydd John Weeks yn siarad ar y thema ‘Economeg yr 1%’ ac fe fydd y gwneuthurwr ffilm lleol Jon Owen yn dangos ei ffilm gomedi newydd ‘Svengali’. Bydd 30 mlynedd ers streic y glowyr yn cael ei nodi trwy ddangos gwaith pwerus Karl Francis ‘Miss Rhymney Valley 1985’ a pherfformiadau gan Y Beirdd Coch a’r canwr lleol Jamie Bevan.
Canolbwynt yr Ŵyl fydd Canolfan a Theatr Soar gyda digwyddiadau ymylol o gwmpas y dre.Mae croeso i gynrychiolwyr sefydliadau gymryd stondin yn yr Ŵyl ac mae’r gost o £10 yn caniatáu mynediad i’r digwyddiadau dydd.
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The website can be fund here:
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Wales will start out in the Plum Division ( see left )
First match against Russia on Friday, July 11 at 9.30 a.m.
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PLEASE HELP THEM MEET THEIR GOALS - RETWEET & RE SHARE ON FB , G+...DIOLCH
A message from AmeriCymru member Jake Whittaker:-
I am working with a collection of artists, storytellers and musicians on a project called Singing the Line into Existence, a creative contribution to the campaign to re-open the Carmarthen-Aberystwyth railway line in west Wales. Please visit our wordpress site http://
singingthelineintoexistence. for more infowordpress.com/
We launched the indiegogo fundraising campaign for this new project yesterday and need wide support to make it happen.
From the website:- This exciting new project proposes to bring artists together to create a multidisciplinary performance and accompanying exhibition of work, inspired by the landscape and history of the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth railway line.... Read More Here
From the Indiegogo page:- Singing the Line into Existence is an artist led, creative contribution to the campaign to re-open the Carmarthen-Aberystwyth railway line in west Wales, UK.... Read More Here
F rom the Wikipedia:- The Carmarthen to Aberystwyth Line was a 4 ft 8½-in (1,435-mm) branch line of the Great Western Railway(GWR) in Wales , connecting Carmarthen and Aberystwyth.
At Carmarthen, the line connected with the GWR mainline from London Paddington to Fishguard. At Aberystwyth, the line connected with the Cambrian Line. The line also had connecting branches to Aberaeron, Llandeilo and Newcastle Emlyn.
As a result of floods and the Beeching Axe, the line was entirely closed to passengers from 1965. Freight transport from Pont Llanio creamery (near Tregaron) to Aberaeron Junction (near Lampeter) ended in 1970; that from Aberaeron and the Newcastle Emlyn branch to Carmarthen ended in September 1973.... Read More Here
RETWEET AND RE SHARE ON G+ BELOW....DIOLCH 
Checking out "Singing the Line into Existence - Carmarthen to Aberystwyth" on americymru1: http://t.co/U6t3NpMlH2
— americymru (@americymru) May 7, 2014
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Astudiaethau Cymreig a Cheltaidd
Astudio ôl-raddedig yn Ysgol y Gymraeg, Prifysgol Caerdydd
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Cysylltwch â RobertsC1@caerdydd.ac.uk / 029 2087 4843 www.caerdydd.ac.uk/cymraeg
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Postgraduate study at the School of Welsh, Cardiff University
· A rare opportunity to explore an exciting range of subjects:
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December 11-27, 2015 – 17 Performances more details here
Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, MA
Now in its 45 th year, The Christmas Revels is an annual theatrical celebration of the Winter Solstice that features traditional music, dance, rituals and folk plays. Each year a new culture is explored. This year we’re traveling to Wales!
Set in a village not too different than the one described in Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales this year's Christmas Revels takes a leap into the past to access the world of Celtic legend and song. We'll spin tales of shape-changers and dragons, of ghostly white horses and of the little wren — king of the birds, enjoy rich Welsh anthems, wild border Morris, a traditional mummers play, and lots of audience participation — a Revels hallmark.
Please join us at one of our 17 family performances as we celebrate a Revels Christmas in Wales!
Christmas Revels on WCVB:- Sounds And Sights Of The Season
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AmeriCymru: Who were the Tunnelrunners? How was the band formed and What was your role in it?
Madoc: The Tunnelrunners were a punk band formed in Neath around 1977. We played around the Swansea area for a few years made a record and then split up when we went to college. What we didn’t know is that after splitting up we had a career which involved several bootlegs and our records selling for as much as $1,000.
Our gigs were very rare because there weren’t many places to play and our drummer Jeff Burton only had a small van. We used to have to pay him for petrol with our pocket money, that is how young we were. There were three of us in the band. Graham Jones who played guitar, Jeff Burton who played drums and myself, Madoc Roberts. I was the main singer and played guitar. Graham and I wrote the songs. It was a great laugh with lots of late night practicing and funny gigs.
The name came whilst we were watching Magpie a children’s television programme. The presenter forgot the name of a small mammal that was featured in an item and kept calling them tunnelrunners we thought this was hysterical and chose it for our name.
Our first gig was at Circles club in Swansea which was notorious for its sticky floor. Many famous bands played there and legend has it that the Sex Pistols played a gig there. On the night of our first gig our drummer pulled out and in true punk spirit someone else stepped in. However he didn’t know the songs and the sound hadn’t been set up properly. We were dreadful and an older man at the bar started booing. By the end of the set he had given up booing and was pleading with us to get off the stage as we were ruining his night.
After that the gigs improved and we built up a bit of a reputation. Then one night we were approached by Steve Mitchell who was a radio dj with Swansea Sound. He had started his own record label called Sonic International and asked us if we wanted to make a record.
Without us knowing our record became quite sought after and appeared on several bootlegs. When I finally got the internet I was amazed to find all this interest in the Tunnelrunners had been going on without us knowing. One of our records was even sold in an ebay auction for $1,000. So in our absence we had done quite well!
Every now and then I am contacted by someone who wants to do an interview or re-release our music. A few years ago it was Sing Sing records from New York who re- released Plastic Land and this year I was approached by Stephen “Haggis” Harris of Punk House records. Stephen lives in New York but is originally from Swansea. As a youngster he sneaked into our gigs (he was only fourteen at the time). He later went on to have a glittering career as a musician, playing bass for Guns and Roses and forming Zodiac Mind Warp and the Love Reaction. He thinks that the Swansea Punk scene had something special and wants to make a record of the bands. His record label, Punk House are re-releasing stuff by Swansea bands from that era and it is good stuff. They have already released our 100mph ep which sold very quickly and they are going to a second pressing. They are re-issuing Plastic Land around June 10th. They make the records interesting by adding memorabilia from the time.
http://punkhouserecordshop.com/
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AmeriCymru: How would you describe the early punk scene in Swansea and in the UK generally?
Madoc: The Punk scene in Swansea was unique. We didn’t really know what was going on in London because punk wasn’t reported in the newspapers except in some shock horror story, but the main thing about punk was the do-it-yourself attitude. Music had become big business, the bands were massive and the music had become self -indulgent. We couldn’t play like Led Zeppelin. That amount of gear would never fit in Jeff’s van. So punk was a way of reclaiming music from big business. In the early days each band interpreted this in their own way and we were all different. The same thing happened with the fashion. There were no Sid Vicious clones in black leather, we wore colourful stuff that we got from jumble sales or charity shops. It was only later that the punk image and music became a stereotype. They were fun times although we did get some trouble from older rockers who were scared of anything new and different.
There were some great bands in Swansea at that time like the DC10s, The End, The Lost Boys, the Urge, The Dodos, Venom, The Autonomes etc We all played at the same venues and then would see each other at gigs. There is a Facebook page where we all meet up, share photos and chat about old times. I think it is a closed group but if you are interested let me know. Swansea - Punk Rock and New Wave .
AmeriCymru: What were your favourite bands of that era? Which ones did you get to see live?
Madoc: I went to see bands whenever I could including the Clash, The Damned, The Buzzcocks, The Lurkers etc. My favourite band was the Ramones. It could be quite dangerous going to see a punk band. On one occasion I was chased by some angry locals from Port Talbot and on another occasion I went to see the Damned in Cardiff. This was a big adventure for a boy from Neath. The venue was an old cinema called the Prince of Wales which showed “adult” films. We found the people selling the tickets and they looked like proper London punks. They giggled as we left but we didn’t know why. Then when the Damned came on stage we realised that these were the people we had brought the tickets from. We had heard their music but we had never seen pictures of them them. During the gig, which was on the first floor (second to you Americans) there was so much pogoing (bouncing up and down) that the floor started to shake. That was the last gig allowed at the venue.
The other thing that happened around that time was the Rock Against Racism gigs which were organised by the Anti Nazi League. This was in response to an unhealthy surge in right wing politics in the UK. Groups like the National Front and the British National Party were pretty nasty and seemed to hate everyone who wasn’t like them. Something had to be done about them and music became the rallying point. At these gigs reggae bands and punk bands would share the same stage. I saw lots of great acts like Elvis Costello, Matumbi, Burning Spear, Aswad, Richrad Hell and the Voidoids. It was fun but we were also politically aware and active.
AmeriCymru: Where can readers go to hear the Tunnelrunners online?
Madoc: If anyone is interested in hearing our music there is a myspace site https://myspace.com/tunnelrunners/music/songs
and there are several videos on youtube. Here is a link to Plastic Land
There is no footage of us live just photos and these are on our facebook site https://www.facebook.com/TheTunnelrunners?fref=ts
The music sounds best on vinyl so if you can get hold of it that way you should.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for AmeriCymru members and readers?
Madoc: The Tunnelrunners did reform in the eighties and made a film which still exists somewhere. We got some new band members. Neil Sinclair on Bass and Guy Lawrence on drums. The music became a bit less punky but we never smoothed off the rough edges. We played gigs in Cardiff and Newport for a few years. We even played at TJs where Kurt Cobain proposed to Courtney Love. Our last gig was in the late nineties by which time I was becoming too old and too fat so we had the good sense to stop.
There is a lot of nonsense written about punk and what happened in the late seventies but as far as I am concerned it gave the music industry the kick it needed. These days kids can make music in their bedrooms which sounds very punk but then they all seem to want a record deal from a big company. We did it for ourselves and there is something to be said for that. It teaches you valuable lessons for life about being self-reliant and builds up a healthy distrust of authority which has stood me in good stead through my career. I now work in television and have worked on many pop videos and music shows with lots of Welsh bands like Cataonia, The Stereophonics, The Manic Street Preachers and the Super Furry Animals. All these bands owe something to the punk revolution of the late seventies and it was great fun being young and in a band at that time.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH JAYNE JOSO HERE
" A work of stunning originality and deftness of prose, in which Jayne Joso explores with delicate skill and rare empathy what becomes of the broken hearted. " Cathi Unsworth, author
A love letter to architecture, this novel is set in the dazzling and eccentric world of the star architect. After the death of her architect husband Charles and the discovery of intimate correspondence with another woman, Gaia Ore is about to learn some harsh but rewarding lessons on the nature of erotic and artistic obsession. A competition emerges to design her perfect home, and the private world of international architects is opened up. Flowing between Spain, Italy, the US and the UK, four world class architects – Charles’ former adversaries – take up the challenge. But will they truly understand what is required of them? Accustomed as they are to large scale projects such as skyscrapers, bridges, museums and galleries, will the request for a modest dwelling ultimately get the better of them?
Using written correspondence as a tool for the plot as well as a key to shifts in register and intimacy, this novel celebrates the old-fashioned postal service, exploring the age-old affinity of letters to romance. The international settings and glamour associated with the world of star architects – their passion, vision, their ideas and their egos – are set in counterpoint to the warm and funny local story of mailman Tom and his low-flashpoint, fleshy wife Cara. Jayne Joso is herself and journalist and ghost writer on architecture, as well as having lived in Kenya, China and Japan; this is the background to the novel’s central concern with uncovering the dream home. Joso says,
The desire to feel comfortable, at ease and at home, is something I think I have always been curious about. I love asking: what does it mean to find the right place? What makes one building your ideal dwelling and another just a house? We moved around a lot when I was little, so I was used to spending time figuring out how best to organise my things... It’s what we all do, and discovering the best use of the space you’re in and how best to accommodate yourself and who you live with is really quite an adventure. My travels, too, and the sheer excitement of seeing very different kinds of architecture and ways of living close up, of viewing space and how to inhabit it – all of these experiences in various ways have fed my passion for architecture, and have enriched Perfect Architect.”
This is UK-based Jayne Joso’s second novel. Her first, Soothing Music for Stray Cats, was heralded by the TLS as one of the “great London novels”, was described by author Joe Moran as the “debut of a distinctive voice in contemporary British fiction”, and by Natalie Haynes on BBC Six Music’s Cerys Matthews show as “the must-have novel for Christmas 2010”. It was also shortlisted for the People’s Book Prize 2010. Having written for various architecture publications, Joso now draws on her passion for the discipline in what may be coined as “Grand Designs meets I am Love. Perfect Architect is already attracting the attention of architecture magazines, and is a joyous and life-affirming read filled with warmth and humour, houses... and a hand-carved penguin!
Composed by Gwenno Dafydd a Heulwen Thomas
If you, your school, choir, church or dinner wants to sing the Saint David’s Day song which has already been performed in Ontario, Patagonia, Vancouver, Disneyland Paris, the Houses of Parliament, Llandaff and Saint David’s Cathedral, by choirs and schools throughout Wales then you can buy a manuscript copy online from: http://www.ylolfa.com SATB, Male Voice, Female Voice and Piano and Voice versions are available.
Buy the St David's Day Song
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READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH GWENNO DAFYDD HERE
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