Festival of Wales celebrates, preserves cultureBuzz up!By Deborah Deasy, TRIBUNE-REVIEWWednesday, September 2, 2009Last updated: 3:35 pm78th North American Festival of WalesWhen: Noon-midnight today, 9 a.m.-midnight Friday-SundayAdmission: $15 per day; $55 for four days; $30-$70 additional per concertWhere: Hilton Hotel, 600 Commonwealth Place, DowntownDetails: 412-391-4600 or Web siteAbout the writerDeborah Deasy can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7989.Sign up now!Home DeliverySubscribe to our publicationsYou might be Welsh and not know it.A last name that sounds like a first one -- Thomas, Williams, Richards, Roberts or Davis, for example -- betrays Welsh blood in many Americans' family trees."They intermarried with anyone that was around," says Nancy Gulliford of Natrona Heights, whose ancestors include people from Wales named Evans. "They came in waves."Expect a wave of their descendants to arrive today in Pittsburgh for the 78th North American Festival of Wales at the Hilton Hotel, Downtown.The annual event, hosted this year by the St. David's Society of Pittsburgh, features hymn singing -- a favorite Welsh pastime -- and a smorgasbord of culture from the rugged land of leeks, daffodils and sheep."There is a great love and history of music and poetry in the Welsh language," says Stacy Evans, executive director of the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association, based in Granville, Ohio."Gymanfa Ganu" loosely means "festival of hymn singing" in a language that uses a familiar alphabet in unfamiliar ways. "We use the Roman alphabet, but the vowels are not pronounced the same way, in most cases," Evans says.Festival organizers expect to welcome about 400 Welsh-blooded guests from as far as California, Canada and the United Kingdom."These are people who are interested in preserving their Welsh heritage, and passing along their Welsh language and culture to future generations," Evans says.However, anyone may attend the festival's seminars, concerts and hymn sings. A marketplace and tearoom will offer Welsh sweets and imported goods.Performers will include politician-minstrel Dafydd Iwan and the folk group Ar Log (at 7:30 p.m. today, $30); tenor Gwyndaf Jones (7 p.m. Friday banquet performance, $70); the Bangor Slater High School Marching Band (3 p.m. today in Point State Park, free); the 80-voice North American Welsh Choir (7:30 p.m. Saturday, $40); and contestants in an "Eisteddfod" competition for singers, dancers and elocutionists.One-hour seminars will include "Welsh Immigrants in the American Coalfields," "The Diaries of Richard Burton," "The Welsh Fiddle" and "The Welsh Harp."Welsh language and singing classes will be available, plus a seminar on the Welsh Nationality Room at the University of Pittsburgh, and screenings of Welsh films and TV shows (2 to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday).Guest artisans will include love spoon carver Chris Watkins and topographical artist Olwen Hughes.Children's entertainment will be available, along with a puppet show (2:30 p.m. Saturday) by the Pastime Puppets of Mahoning Presbyterian Church, Lawrence County.The Rev. Robert Dayton leads the puppet troupe and looks forward to participating in the festival's hymn singing sessions (2:30 to 4:30 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday). Conductor Eilir Owen Griffiths and organist Alan Thomas will lead participants in singing the songs in Welsh and English."The very important thing that held Welsh culture together over the years -- because the British were so anti-Welsh language -- was the Welsh language," Dayton says. "One of the ways the Welsh language has been kept alive is through the hymns."