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Dark Territory by American-born and Wales-based author Jerry Hunter is set in the seventeenth century around the period of the English Civil War, and highlights the fact that the violence associated with religious extremism is not a new issue.
‘It is relatively well known that during his bloody military campaign in Ireland Oliver Cromwell approved the wholesale slaughter of civilians in Wexford and Drogheda because they were Catholics,’ said Jerry Hunter, ‘but less attention has been given to another massacre suffered at his forces’ hands.’
‘This is the story of the Women of Naseby, a dark episode of Welsh history which has been surprisingly absent from popular histories,’ he said.
After the Battle of Naseby in June 1645 the Parliamentarian cavalry, in pursuit of fleeing Royalists, came upon the Royalist camp and a large group of women. Hearing them screaming in an unknown tongue, the English soldiers assumed they were Irish Catholics, and cut them down in cold blood.
But in fact these women were crying out in Welsh – most of Wales had declared for the King, and these were the wives of soldiers in Welsh Royalist regiments who had followed their husbands to war to cook and wash for them, as was the custom at that time. Despite over a hundred of them being killed on the spot, and the faces of others mutilated, their fate has largely been forgotten.
Dark Territory ’s protagonist is a zealous Welsh Puritan whose beliefs initially lead him to embrace Parliament’s cause and the violence of Cromwell’s New Model Army, but whose conviction is tested by these atrocities.
Described as ‘an epic historical adventure set during one of the most turbulent periods in history’, the novel also poses questions about violence, power, religious extremism and rejection of difference which are chillingly relevant to our world today.
Jerry Hunter was born in Cincinnati, USA and is now is a Professor of Welsh and Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Bangor, and lives with his family in North Wales.
‘With this novel I also wanted to cross-examine the ideological foundations of “American Exceptionalism”,’ he explained. ‘For centuries politicians in the USA have referred to the nation as a “shining light” for the rest of the world to follow. Through the prism of fiction, this work examines the dark realities at the foundations of those beliefs.’
‘Particularly now in the age of Trump, when the old myths of exceptionalism are being invoked once again in an attempt to “make America great again”,’ he added.
The novel has already received acclaim, with literary critic and author Jon Gower praising it as ‘the work of a master... nothing less than a classic’.
Jerry Hunter is best known as a Welsh-language author and has won prestigious literary awards including Welsh Book of the Year for his academic work Llwch Cenhedloedd , and the National Eisteddfod Prose Medal for his first novel, Gwenddydd .
Dark Territory by Jerry Hunter (£9.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.
Porter Square Books in Cambridge Mass
Friday, May 25, 2018 - 7:00pm
Also featuring translator Pat Ford, former chair of Celtic Languages and Literatures department at Harvard.
Portsmouth Athenaeum in Portsmouth NH
Sunday, May 27th 2018 - Time TBD
Sponsored by RiverRun Bookstore
Harvard Coop Bookstore, Cambridge MA
Friday, October 5, - 7:00 p.m
Jerry will be participating in the Harvard Celtic Colloquium
The Tates release new single 'Water' FFO: 1975, Duran Duran, New Order, MGMT
By Ceri Shaw, 2017-11-20
The Tates release their new single 'Water' on the 1st of December as a digital download through Libertino Records.
‘Water’ , the brightly infectious new single by Welsh five-piece The Tates , has been eagerly anticipated after the success of the band’s debut release ‘Electric Girl’ . The song was supported by Huw Stephens, BBC Introducing, Radio 1 and gained Amazing radio playlisting as well as being A-listed on BBC Radio Wales.
Energized by their summer tour in support of ‘Electric Girl’ a confident and inspired band returned to the studio in Cardiff to work with producer Steffan Pringle ( Estrons, Himalayas, Future Of The Left ) again. They emerged with a sense of purpose with a song that will redefine 'The Tates' as the torch-bearers of a new sound, a sound that ranges from The Libertines ’ poetic raw energy to the death disco of early New Order and the fuzzed day-glow pop melodies of MGMT .
Lyrically ‘Water’ asks a poetic question exploring themes of nature over nurture, as Tom the guitarist explains: “Are the flaws that we share with our parents who we are, or have we learnt from them? Are we free to be the people we want to be or are we trapped by our genetic makeup and our immediate environment and society?” I t is testament to the band that with their unwavering belief in the pop song they are in full control of their chosen genre - they make the pop song theirs. 'The Tates' build from the ground up, step by step until they can reach the stars.
LINKS
https://www.facebook.com/TheTa
Print/Digital PR contact: Bill Cummings
(Sound and Vision PR) soundandvisionpr@gmail.com
www.soundandvisionpr.com
Niterooms release their self-titled debut EP on the 20th of November through all major streaming outlets!
By Ceri Shaw, 2017-11-12
Niterooms are wrapped up in computers and introspection. Their musical landscapes blur the lines between electronica, grime, r'n'b, hip hop, ambient and alternative music, imbuing their personal songwriting with a boundary-pushing, intriguing sound that shifts contemporary music into different places.
The four tracks on Niterooms self-titled debut EP are an unmissable depiction of a swiftly emerging outfit already gathering strong praise , "...they're genuinely trying to do something different without it being a challenge ... it exists somehow, somewhere between grime, dream pop and ambient electronic music..." Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales.
'Headway' the EPs new single, is laced with a deep groove, synth textures and percussive ticks, that vividly demonstrates their mysterious production style. It comes replete with a shape-shifting vocal delivery that tumbles between vocoder and rap, watch the Ed Townend directed video here .
Niterooms are a young three-piece from Brithdir, a small forgotten mining town in South Wales. They are supported by the Forté Project, a new music development project which supports ten young acts from around the region. Their debut EP is the follow up to ' Wash' , their exhilarating minimalist pop debut from earlier this year.
Niterooms debut EP, will be available through Spotify/AppleMusic/iTunes on the 20th of November .
THE INSIDE STORY OF BBC WALES BY A FORMER CONTROLLER RAISES ‘QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ROLE OF THE BBC IN TODAY’S WALES’
By Ceri Shaw, 2017-11-11
The Broadcasters of BBC Wales, 1964–1990 by Gareth Price, published this week by Y Lolfa, is the inside story of an exceptional period in Welsh broadcasting when an eclectic collection of characters emerged both in front and behind the microphone.
Gareth Price, a former Controller of BBC Wales (1986-90), worked for the Corporation between 1964 and 1990, during the most exciting period of growth in the history of Welsh broadcasting. He spent ten years (1964-74) as a radio and television producer and 16 years (1974-90) appointing, enabling and leading production teams in all their varied activities at the BBC.
‘Gareth Price has produced an admirably readable account of three exhilarating decades in Welsh broadcasting, an account which tracks his rise to the Controller’s office of BBC Wales,’ said broadcaster Huw Edwards,
‘His story is full of absorbing insights into BBC culture, and along the way he profiles some of the biggest names in the business. It also raises pertinent questions about the role and status of the BBC in today’s Wales.’
His memoir is the human story of those individuals who worked through the most exciting period of growth in the history of Welsh broadcasting.
‘Many were an extraordinary mix of creative and often eccentric people making music and writing drama; celebrities in the world of sport and entertainment; or inquisitive journalists reporting on daily events and producing in-depth documentaries’ said Gareth.
‘The memories remain of an eclectic group of people who were attracted to an institution which, in the words of Head of Programmes Hywel Davies in 1962, ‘must be a debating chamber, an exhibition centre, a publishing house, a theatre, a concert hall, a centre which, if near to its audience, can develop the national identity in English and in Welsh.’’ added Gareth.
In just six years, between January 1977 and November 1982, two national radio stations (Radio Wales and Radio Cymru) and S4C were launched, leading to the simultaneous relaunch of a BBC Wales TV service devoid of the Welsh language.
By 1982, BBC Wales had grown to become the largest BBC operation outside London.
Gareth recalls the tensions between BBC Wales and S4C in the run-up to S4C’s launch as well as the difficulties in selling programmes with Welsh content to London controllers.
As well as recounting the work of high profile and creative colleagues, Gareth Price recalls events which shaped Wales and the BBC during this time, such as the anguish of Aberfan in 1966; a surge of national pride created by great Welsh rugby teams of the 1970s and the sadness and suff ering as King Coal died a slow death during and after the last great strike of 1984–5.
‘Mine is a social history of a specific era and the personalities who enlarged and revolutionised the broadcasting landscape of Wales.’ added Gareth.
Gareth Price was educated in Aberaeron and at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, before becoming an assistant lecturer at Queen’s University, Belfast. He joined BBC Wales in 1964 and during the next 26 years spent ten years as a producer before joining the management team as Head of Programmes and Controller, BBC Wales. In 1990 he left the BBC to join the international Thomson Foundation. Gareth is a Fellow of Aberystwyth University and was awarded the Commonwealth Association Medal for Services to International Public Broadcasting in 2006.
The Broadcasters of BBC Wales, 1964–1990 will be launched at Tŷ Oldfield, Llandaf on Thursday the 16 th of November at 6pm in the company of Gareth Price, Roy Noble and Frank Lincoln.
The Broadcasters of BBC Wales, 1964–1990 by Gareth Price is available now (£12.99, Y Lolfa).
‘I was eased out of the Wales team; subjected, in my view, to bullying treatment; dragged back and forth from Clermont to squad training in Wales without WRU reimbursement for travel expenses, just to hold tackle bags’ says Lee, ‘By the end of 2013, there’d been no communication with the management for two years, but here was a man – a man who I felt had tried to humiliate me in front of my teammates – ringing up and expecting me to come running because he’d clicked his fingers’.
The Byrne Identity charts Lee’s meteoric rise from a childhood on a tough estate in Bridgend through teenage years on building sites across Europe to rugby stardom at the very top of world rugby, earning forty-six caps for Wales and securing his place as one of the nation’s best-ever full backs and one of the brightest talents to grace the Welsh game.
Lee talks frankly about the joy of playing at the highest level for the Scarlets, the Ospreys, Wales and the Lions, and gives an insider’s glimpse into Welsh rugby under Warren Gatland and the tactics and psychology employed.
The autobiography has already been dubbed ‘rugby book of the year’ by Wales on Sunday .
In this candid, no-holds-barred autobiography, Lee Byrne reveals all for the first time about the gambling habit he managed to kick, how he’s come to terms with dyslexia, and how he struggled with depression after his enforced early retirement due to injury. He also gives an insight into players’ and coaches’ hilarious off-field antics, the rugby drinking culture that exists within Welsh rugby, and opens up about how the death of his good friend Jerry Collins affected him.
‘After two somewhat tough years following my forced retirement from the game, I felt the time had come to tell my story,’ explained Lee. ‘Despite my unconventional route into rugby, I managed to make it to the pinnacle of the game, playing nearly fifty times for Wales and representing the British and Irish Lions. I had talent, perhaps, but it also required an awful lot of hard work.’
‘There’s also much about the sheer joy of playing rugby at the highest level, and the fun I had off the field,’ he added.
The book includes a foreword written by his friend and Welsh International, Shane Williams.
‘Straight away you could tell [Lee] was a good player. Within a couple of years he was being talked about as the best full back in the world, and rightly so,’ said Shane.
Former England star Jeremy Guscott also waxes lyrical about Lee’s abilities. ‘Lee played sublime rugby that really stood out. Great players have the ability to slow everything down… Lee certainly had that ability. A world-class full back with an exceptional skill-set – sheer class.’
Lee currently runs rugby camps for young players, and pursues a number of business interests. He is an ambassador for Tomorrow’s Generation , a dyslexia charity based in Cardiff. He lives in Bridgend.
The autobiography was co-written by television journalist and sports reporter Richard Morgan.
Lee Byrne will be embarking on a book signing tour to promote his book, beginning in Llanelli on November 3rd, and will visit Swansea, Carmarthen, Newport, Cwmbran, Penarth and Bridgend.
The Byrne Identity by Lee Byrne (£9.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.
In The Last Days of Owain Glyndŵr , which is published this week by Y Lolfa, Gruffydd Aled Williams, a leading authority on the subject, here rigorously assesses the evidence in oral tradition, manuscripts and printed sources, as well as on the ground, sorting fact from fiction.
He also investigates Glyndŵr family history and, based on new research, brings to light new information available in English for the first time on Wales’ most enduringly inspiring national hero, who led the war of independence in the early fifteenth century.
A descendant of the Princes of Powys through his father and of the Princes of Deheubarth through his mother, Glyndŵr was proclaimed Prince of Wales in 1400, the last native-born leader to boast this title. In the first years of the century, he led a successful campaign against the English rule of Wales under Henry IV, capturing strategically-important castles and winning key battles against the English army.
However, by 1409 the castles had been retaken and the last documented sighting of Glyndŵr seems to have been in 1412. What happened to him after that and the locations of his death and subsequent burial remain shrouded in uncertainty.
‘There are certain mysteries that can never be finally solved. One such mystery is that of the last days of Owain Glyndwr,’ says Gruffydd Aled.
‘This volume, therefore, has not been written with the intention of finally revealing where Owain died or where he was buried. Its aim is rather to survey the various traditions that have been recorded about Owain’s last days in detail and to evaluate them as far as is possible in the light of known historical facts and the broader historical context,’ he added.
The author’s original Welsh language book, Dyddiau Olaf Owain Glyndŵr (2015) – the first extended and comprehensive analysis of the subject -- was hailed as ‘outstanding’ and won the 2016 Wales Book of the Year ‘Creative non-fiction’ award.
The Last Days of Owain Glyndŵr also discusses one or two new locations and traditions which have come to light since the publication of the 2015 volume, and which are significant from the point of view of tracing Owain’s last days.
The volume also includes colour photos by acclaimed photographer Iestyn Hughes.
‘It was my intention to fill a gap in Welsh historiography and to do that in as readable a manner as possible,’ added Gruffydd Aled.
Gruffydd Aled Williams grew up in Glyndyfrdwy, the district which gave Owain Glyndŵr his name. Before retiring, he lectured in Welsh at University College, Dublin and the University of Wales, Bangor, and was Professor of Welsh and Head of the Department of Welsh at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He delivered the 2010 British Academy Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture on medieval poetry associated with Owain Glyndŵr, and contributed chapters to Owain Glynd ŵ r: A Casebook (2013). He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, President of the Merioneth Historical and Record Society, and a member of Gorsedd y Beirdd (Gorsedd of the Bards).
The Last Days of Owain Glyndŵr by Gruffydd Aled Williams (£12.99, Y Lolfa) is available now.
Songs Of Remembrance
Hi from the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir,
The choir has an exciting season ahead, performing two afternoon Remembrance concerts in November with the 15 th Field Regimental Band, followed by five Sounds of Christmas concerts. Our choir toured the Normandy beaches last spring as part of WW1 Centenary events. The memories are fresh in our minds.
For our first Remembrance concert on Sunday Nov.5 th we sing at a new venue, Beth Israel Synagogue at Oak Street/West 28 th Avenue in Vancouver, with entrance and free underground parking at 989 West 28 th Avenue.
On Nov.11 th , Remembrance Day, we perform at the South Delta Baptist Church in Tsawwassen. Please check the attachment for details. These Songs of Remembrance will lift your spirits, put a tear in your eye, and send you home singing a familiar melody.
A brief ‘heads up’ on the Christmas concerts; downtown Vancouver on Nov.30 th , White Rock on Dec.2 nd , New West with Winter Harp on Dec.3 rd , North Vancouver Dec.8 th , Shaughnessy Heights United Church Dec.16 th .
Our website www.vwmc.ca has concert details at both the home page and the 'concerts and tickets' link. Remembrance tickets can be purchased online now, $29, $27, $12 or at the door. Christmas tickets will be available soon.
We hope you will join us again.
...
West Wales three-piece Ysgol Sul recently self-released their first collection of English language songs –“Eventide” to a warm reception.
Today they release “Silhouette ” available on Bandcamp now. The opening track from their EP it's an affecting song replete with a sense of yearning. Singer Iolo Jones's wistful sigh meditating upon an unfulfilled summer. Framed by exquisite jangling guitars, the evocative interplay between bass and drums: swelling to glorious widescreen crescendos.
Brought together by a mutual love of the 90s underground, Iolo Jones (singer, guitarist), Llew Davies (drummer), Cian Owen (bass guitar), formed Ysgol Sul in 2014.
Having released several singles and an EP called “Huno”, the band has managed to earn a cult following within the Welsh language scene.
“Promise Me” sees a return to the trio’s early surfy sound, drenched in reverb. “Elsewhere” is an unholy union of haunting distant sounds and a fierce unrelenting beat. Introverted lyrics coupled with sweet harmonies are brought to the EP by “Dwell” . Krautrock locomotive, “Solitude” , closes the collection.
“Eventide” is a stark departure from the slacker and languor of their debut EP, and introduces a touch of darkness to the bands dreamy sound.
https://www.facebook.com/ ysgol
https://soundcloud.com/ysgol-sul
