AmeriCymru: Hi Lorin and many thanks for agreeing to talk to AmeriCymru. Can you describe for us some of the highlights of the forthcoming event?

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Lorin: Headlining the concert will be Siobhan Owen from North Wales, an award winning soprano and harpist. Siobhan has increased her visibility in Celtic and cross-over music throughout Australia, UK, United States and Japan. Topping charts, and performing at major festivals worldwide. Her new album Storybook Journey has been heralded as one of the best albums of 2012. Also to her credit she proudly sang the Welsh National Anthem for the Australia vs Wales rugby match in front of a sell-out Sydney stadium, televised worldwide. We are also very excited by the return of Paul Child, Wales biggest independent selling artist and 'Official Voice of Welsh Rugby'. Child will be performing tracks from his much anticipated new album The King of Wales. The Welsh Choir of Southern California (Cr Cymraeg De Califfornia) will be supplying us with angelic harmonies of our favorite Welsh songs and there will be a special screening of the 1962 award winning short film Dylan Thomas by Jack Howells & starring Richard Burton. .

AmeriCymru: This is both an indoor and outdoor event. Care to tell our readers a little about the location and the schedule?

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Barnsdall Art Park

Lorin: Barnsdall Art Park was selected for the architecture of Welsh-American Frank Lloyd Wright. Nestled atop a shaded hill and away from the city bustle, the park has a clear view of the Hollywood sign in Griffith Park (named for Welsh philanthropist Griffith J. Griffith) and near the infamous Gower Street to the west (known for the golden age of cinema and Welsh-American stars like Glenn Ford and Myrna Loy).

Outside the concert, visitors will be delighted in a free Celtic Marketplace, Welsh language classes by Jason Shepherd of the Learn Welsh Podcast, Celtic workshops,

Welsh Corgi demonstrations, Kids Crafts at the Ogden Nash Children's Area, and the LA Eisteddfod featuring poetry, storytelling, readings and performance at the Harold Lloyd Outdoor Stage. Welsh authors involved include Jude Johnson and Peter Griffiths. The Welsh Baker will be revealing a brand new tasty pastie to complement their delicious Welsh cakes, and there will be a special focus on Welsh nursery rhymes with sculptures by Kevin Caufield, Nichola and Sarah Hope from Barry. Additionally, there will be a book release party for The Childrens Voice by Peter Anthony Freeman featuring over 27 artists from Wales and the US depicting Welsh nursery rhymes.

AmeriCymru: Can you tell us more about this new book?

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Lorin: In 2011, A Raven Above Press released A Welsh Alphabet by Lorin Morgan-Richards, featuring artists from the US and Wales and including a special commentary and introduction by Peter Anthony Freeman. Through the poetry of Richards and knowledge of Freeman readers both learned the Welsh alphabet and gained a deeper understanding of the mythology and legend of Wales associated with each stanza. Each letter was beautifully depicted by the artists. The poem began,

A is for Afanc
Whose scales could not be pierced.
He flooded the harbors
set town ablaze
Terrorizing those he unearthed.

The cover was created by the very talented Welsh artist Jen Delyth.

In our second release The Childrens Voice byPeter Anthony Freeman the focus is now on Welsh nursery rhymes. Like its predecessor, the book features 27 different Welsh and US artists bridged together to depict the rhymes. This book includes an all-star cast of illustrators from Nathan Wyburn of Abergavenny jamming Y Broga Bach on toast, Anthony Richards of Ammanford dripping Bwrw Glaw, and Siobhan Owen rendering Fuoch chi Rioed yn Morio?, to name a few. Freeman is again at his best revealing the origin and background of the rhymes, and providing meaningful insight into what family life and the social and economic factors were like in Wales from early history to the rise of the rhymes popularity.

AmeriCymru: Do you plan to make this an annual festival? If so....have any plans been finalized for next year?

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Lorin: With the closure of the Welsh Presbyterian Church, a center for Welsh culture in Los Angeles for over a hundred years, and following the great success of the 2011 West Coast Eisteddfod I felt an urgency to rebuild and bring about more awareness of Welsh identity in Southern California. I believe there is a need to create an annual event, akin to our great Celtic cousins, where people of Welsh descent and fans alike can gather and celebrate while the greater community could benefit from learning about Welsh culture and grow a fondness for Wales as we have.

A RAVEN ABOVE PRESS

Presents the

Los Angeles St. David's Day Festival - National Day of Wales

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant, Los Angeles - Diwrnod Cenedlaethol Cymru

March 3, 2013

Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd.,

Los Angeles, CA, 90027

Interview by Ceri Shaw Ceri Shaw on Google+

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