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Well I guess most people know the rules by now so without further ado here are this months winners:-
1. Gillian Morgan 88 points ( 68 ranking points plus 10 for quality and 10 for 'traffic', Gillian has blogged consistently on the site this month and our log files indicate that her posts have been well received. View Gillians blog on AC here )
2. SwanseaJack 59 points ( 49 ranking points plus 10 for quantity. Swansea Jack continues to be the most prolific blogger overall on AC. Twice winner of the coveted 'Gold Sheep of Excellence' we confidently predict that Swansea will be the sites first three time winner. View SwanseaJacks blog on AC here )
3. Zoe Brigley Thompson 22 points ( 16 ranking points. View Zoe's blog on AC here )
Fabulous digital prizes will be awarded to our three winners today and Gillian will receive a copy of Aled Lewis Evans, 'Driftwood'. For details of our June 'Top Blogger' prize see below. To view the current weekly leaderboard and peruse the rules of the competition go to this page
If you would like to congratulate our winners please feel free to do so in comments on this page
The Dead of Mametz is a crime novel with an unusual setting, set as it is against the backdrop of the famous battle of Mametz Wood during the Great War in the summer of 1916. Several events also take place in Barry and Swansea. The central character, Thomas Oscendale, is a captain in the Military Police who is charged with investigating the murder of two soldiers of the Welsh Regiment and, subsequently, that of a local Frenchwoman.
Overview
It is early July 1916, the third year of the First World War. The soldiers of the Welsh Division are poised to begin their assault on the German-held Mametz Wood.But there is a murderer in their ranks.
Captain Thomas Oscendale of the Military Police is in a race against time to apprehend the murderer and to find what lies buried in Mametz Wood. He is not alone. Sinister forces on both sides have taken an interest in his investigation and are closing in.
An Interview with Gwenno Dafydd - Welsh Actress, Singer, Writer and Broadcaster
By Ceri Shaw, 2011-02-13
In the run up to this years Saint David's Day Parade AmeriCymru spoke to Gwenno Dafydd Welsh Actress, Singer, Writer and Broadcaster and former Partnership Consultant and Representative at NSDDP. Gwenno also co- wrote the official Saint David's Day song Cenwch y Clychau i Dewi'.
AmeriCymru: Hi Gwenno and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru. You have been involved in the organization of the Annual St. David's Day Parade for some years now. Care to explain for our readers how you became involved in this project?
Gwenno: I wasn't in the very first National Saint David's Day Parade (NSDDP) in 2004 which was quite a small event of a couple of hundred attendees and little publicity. I did hear about it afterwards and decided as a very patriotic Welsh woman that I had to be there the next year, which I was.
AmeriCymru: You also wrote the official St David's Day Parade song 'Cenwch y Clychau i Dewi'. Care to tell us a little more about the song and in particular where readers can go to hear it online or purchase sheet music?
Gwenno: In the 2005 NSDDP I was taking part and ringing one of the six bells (reproductions) of Saint David's bells that had been made for the occasion and suddenly, as we were just approaching Cardiff Castle at the top end of Queen Street, I felt as if Id been struck by a bolt of lightning (literally!!!) I just had this feeling that I had to create a song, an anthem that could be sung by children, adults, brass bands and choirs.
I got really excited about this idea but didnt say anything to anyone. I just went away and wrote a verse and a chorus in both Welsh and English and took it to my song-writing partner at the time, Heulwen Thomas, a peripatetic violin teacher and told her what I had in mind. She wrote the music, I took it to the NSDDP Committee and in the 2006 Parade we performed the song in front of the National Museum of Wales at the end of the Parade.
The NSDDP Committee were delighted with the response we had with the song and asked if it could be sung the following year. They were trying to find ways of engaging schools and children in the parade and as I had worked as a supply teacher for fifteen years and also did a lot of Directing Theatre in Education, they invited me on the Committee as the Voluntary Schools Liaison Officer and since 2006 I have been responsible for engaging the schools and their pupils.
I have also been a professional broadcaster and performer for the last thirty years and I saw a way of using the song which I had co-written, as a way of levering a lot of publicity in the media which it did. When the children came on board was the year the parade grew phenomenally from a few hundred to well over 1,500. This growth meant that we had to ask for help from Cardiff City Council and the National Assembly for Wales as we were all volunteers. And it was all becoming too much for us as volunteers to organise.
In November 2009 I resigned from the NSDDP Committee as I was finding that the work to promote, lobby for additional funding, engaging interest and organising was taking over my own self-employed life so much so that I wasnt able to earn a living.
However, last year I was approached by Cardiff City Council and employed to bring the children on board. There were at least 900 schoolchildren present and probably another 600 including parents and friends. I also presented the Council with a very comprehensive report which would enable them to organise the childrens participation from now on from within their own Education Department.
Here are details and photographs of some of these events. You can also hear the youtube of me singing the song which I recorded as part of the Songs of our Nation project last year. www.gwennodafydd.co.uk/4html
The song made history by being the very first Welsh medium song to be sold as a download from a website and it was launched by World famous singer Bryn Terfel and Tim Rhys Evans Choir Master of Only Men Aloud, award winning choir. There are four versions of the song available piano and voice, SATB, (Mixed Voice Choir) male voice and female voice. http://www.ylolfa.com/dangos.php?ISBN=9781847711342
AmeriCymru: You were also involved with the design of the 'Pembrokeshire Banner'. Can you tell us more?
Gwenno: Whilst I was still on the NSDDP Committee we were looking for ways to engage more people and one of our members had seen that the Saint Patricks Day Parade in Birmingham had a big focus on County participation. Another of the Committee had talked about getting the old Colliery Lodge Banners involved so I came up with an idea of having County Banners for every Welsh County so that people could walk behind their County Banner every Saint Davids Day and even if they didnt come to Cardiff for the NSDDP there would be something that would link them to the Mother parade in Cardiff. The banner is based on the words and images of some of the lyrics ain the song and also symbols of Saint Davids Cathedral. It seems fitting that the first County Banner should come from Pembrokeshire, spiritual home of our Nations Patron Saint and also where I grew up. The full story about the banner and beautiful and inspiring images can be found here: http://www.fishguardartssociety.org.uk/ThePembrokeshireBanner.html
The Banner is now permanently on display in Saint Davids Cathedral and was blessed by The Right Reverend Wyn Evans, Bishop of Saint Davids in a Homecoming Ceremony attended by Fishguard Choir, Goodwick Brass Band, Civil Dignitaries, the makers and their friends and families last February.
Although the National Saint Davids Day Parade happens in Cardiff every year, the only thing that is really mobile about the parade is the song and banners which can be re-created anywhere in the world by schools, Welsh ex-patriot groups, choirs and chapels.
I was recently invited to become an Ambassador for Cardiff in recognition of all the voluntary work I have done in developing Saint Davids Day Celebrations in Wales and further afield. I would like to develop this role long term to becoming the Saint Davids Day Ambassador for Wales working towards developing world-wide celebrations of our Nations Patron Saint, Dewi Sant.
AmeriCymru: Do you think March 1st should be, or ever will be , a national holiday in Wales?
Gwenno: Back in the sixties all Welsh schools had a half day for Saint Davids Day with the Eisteddfod in the morning and the afternoon free. I think this would be a good compromise so that people would be able to go along to the Parade in the afternoon.
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| Image by Ben Bore (Rhys) / Rhys Wynne License CC Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 |
AmeriCymru: OK...prediction time. How many people are going to turn out for the parade this year and what's the weather going to be like?
Gwenno: No idea how many people will be there this year. I do hope it will be successful as a huge amount of peoples hard work has gone into it over the last few years and it would be very sad for those efforts to have been wasted. I am no longer involved in the practical organisation as it was just too time consuming and I gave several years service during which time it grew from a few hundred to many many thousands so I feel I have made my contribution on one level. I will continue to develop my own projects including the two Facebook groups I have set up and am focusing my efforts on developing the idea of encouraging and inspiring others in Wales and world-wide to become really proactive about their Saint David's Day celebrations.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Gwenno: Yes use the two Facebook groups I have set up Celebrate Saint Davids Day and National Saint Davids Day Parade to let others know how you intend to celebrate Saint Davids Day. Get a copy of the song and sing it, make a banner either based on the Pembrokeshire Banner or on your own design, lets grow these celebrations world-wide and make all those who came originally from this tiny little speck of a Nation realise that it is a very special place and we need to make a big noise about it. Come here on holiday, go and visit the Pembrokeshire Banner in Saint Davids Cathedral and remind yourself what a privilege it was for you to have Welsh blood coursing through your veins.
Care to tell our members and readers something about your musical background ? Noelle: There was always music going on in our house and family. All three of my brothers are musicians (one of whom, Daniel Hughes, is an internationally-known choral conductor, and whose choir, The Choral Project, took 2nd place in the Mixed Choir competition at the 58th annual International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales). Also, my father sang and played the cornet and both of my mother's parents were musicians.
During my teens I began a journal and I picked up a little guitar from a class I had taken during summer break from school. These journal musings later turned into songs.
I also sang in the church choir from age 11. There were two choir groups for kids, but I wanted to sing in the adult choir, because they sang better music! I asked my parents to speak with the director about that and the director was pleasantly surprised. They made a special robe for me to wear and I sang with that group for several years: first as a soprano, then, after a three-month bout of pneumonia, an alto.
Through the late 80's-early 00's, I performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in original music bands: Das Tango, a dance-music group, Taste No More, a folk trio with a strong political edge tinged with ironic humor, and World For Ransom, an alternative-folk band. I've seen a lot of bands come and go. I also saw the decline of the live music scene in San Francisco, which is really sad for me--but that's for another discussion!
I took some time off from music due to this last fact, though, as it started to feel like I was just spinning my wheels. I kept writing but I wasn't performing or working with anyone.
A couple of years ago, I was complaining to my brother Dan about how stifled I felt, creatively (I'm also a visual artist and graphic designer, but music is where it's really at for me) and he pretty much slapped me across the head because I wasn't doing music any more!
That was when I decided to record i am me/am i not?
Americymru: Who would you say are your musical influences?
Noelle: My musical influences are hard to track due to the fact that there was such a diversity of musical training in my house growing up. I listened to a lot of Joni Mitchell, Kansas, ELP and Yes when I first started writing, and I think that Kerry Livgren (of Kansas) as well as Jon Anderson (of Yes) and Joni Mitchell have heavily influenced me as a writer. I'm not sure if any of that shows up in my work these days.
More recently, I'm all over the map. I listen to ambient, bhangra, Tom Waits, a lot of indie stuff. The rule of thumb for me is that if it's on the radio I'm probably not going to like it!
Vocally, I'm really trying to stretch myself to become a better singer and I'm always experimenting with my songwriting to express a thought or a feeling. I try to match the emotion to the note and then hang it on the right word. Or visa versa. It depends on whether I have the note first or the word first. It depends on where my inspiration started.
I'm hoping that I've transcended my influences.
Americymru: Your song 'Deeper Understanding' is very haunting both musically and lyrically. Care to tell us a little about how it came to be written?
Noelle: 'Deeper Understanding' was a sketch of a chord progression from a jam session with a friend of mine who wanted to get a duo together. We were going to call ourselves The Mad Hamiltons and had all these ideas about how we would perform and such, but we only ever had one jam session to create any material.
The song is about unconditional love and how the pathway to understanding is true and abiding love; the total freedom of love. Agape.
A lot of my songs explore spiritual themes or emotional challenges, because writing has always been a kind of therapy for me. It's often the only way I can get these things, these thoughts or feelings out. To process them out of my body.
This kind of writing can be a double-edged sword, because it can make the song hard to sing. On i am me/am i not? I have a song called, 'No One Told Me', which is a song I wrote after my father died unexpectedly. For a long time I was unable to get through that song without breaking down in tears in some way. What makes it more challenging with that piece it that it's solo voce!
When I write, I tend to discard the first several vocal melodies I come up with, outright. I keep moving away, moving away, moving away. I almost never want to use the first and most obvious vocal melody or harmony when I'm writing something, because if I do that, I'll never push myself to be a better writer.
Americymru: What is your Welsh connection?
Noelle: My father's mother's family was from Wales. Although I've known this all my life, my father was quite distant from his Welsh-ness and his connection to his family. Since he's been gone, I've felt more strongly than ever to connect with my roots and embrace my heritage. I'm delighted to have found AmeriCymru and look forward to learning more about my past, my Welsh culture and connect with other Welsh people. I have a goal to learn to speak Welsh.
Americymru: Where can people purchase your work online?
Noelle: I am available through:
iTunes
( http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/noelle-hughes/id351444518 ),
Amazon
( http://www.amazon.com/Am-Me-Not/dp/B0038AMZRU/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1289354232&sr=1-1 ) and
CD Baby ( http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/noellehughes ) as well as
Auryaun.com
( http://www.auryaun.com/sono )
Americymru: Whats next for Noelle Hughes?
Noelle: Plenty! As Auryaun (my stage character), I'm in the process of recording a follow up album that will feature new tracks and a rework of a couple of tracks from i am me/am i not?. I'm also in the process of storyboarding for music videos for 'Deeper Understanding' and a couple of other tracks, which will be filmed using a really unique method. I'll be posting those to my YouTube Channel when they are complete, so your readers will want to subscribe to me there so as not to miss that. http://www.youtube.com/user/auryaun
As Noelle Hughes, I've been rehearsing and recording with my fellow chanteuse, Billie Eyeball (of Taste No More and World For Ransom). We should be lining up some shows in the SF Bay Area soon, so look out for that!
Noelle: I'm offering all members and readers of AmeriCymru a free download of 'Deeper Understanding' when they sign up for my E-Team by going to my website at http://www.auryaun.com/AmeriCymru . Just as a special thank you!
Diolch
A Croeso! Did I do that right?
Our present to you...
Get a free copy of 'Christmas in Wales' when you order directly from the Seren website
 | Order from the Seren website before Thursday 20th December 2012 and we'll give you a copy of Christmas in Wales (normally 7.99), absolutely free.The offer applies to all orders (even to Christmas in Wales itself if you want more than one copy!).We'll automatically include your free book when we despatch your order.It's the perfect literary companion to the festive season, a present that will be opened again and again... Order now, while stocks last!! |
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It's almost time for new years resolutions so here's mine:-
I will take up long distance running again in 2012.
This will involve a complete lifestyle change. Firstly I will have to stop smoking ( groan ) and that means that i have to stop drinking as well because the two go together for me.
I used to be able to run 13 miles. It will be interesting to see if its possible to get back to that level of fitness and if so, how long it will take.
Have you settled on a new years resolution yet ? If so what impossible task have you set yourself? Post below and review progress in comments over the coming months. Crowd source your will power!!!
I know I'll need help and encouragement with the new fitness regime
