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 1, 2014

Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90027

Free Outdoor Festival 10am-5pm
Druid Blessing 1:30pm and Grand Concert from 2pm to 5pm

We are very proud to announce Meinir Gwilym will be making her North American debut headlining the St. David's Day Festival-National Day of Wales Grand Concert!

Born and raised in the small village of Llangristiolus in the heart of the Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mn) off the North Wales coast, singer-songwriter Meinir Gwilym has established herself as one of the best-selling Welsh language artists ever. Her breakout release Smcs, Coffi a Fodca Rhad (Cigarrettes, Coffee and Cheap Vodka) in 2002 met with phenomenal response being hailed as one of the most original and inspired compilations to come out of Wales in years. Follow-up albums have built on her success with performances at all major festivals in Wales, including Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau, Maes B, The Royal Welsh Show and Bryn Terfels Faenol Festival.

Meinirs list of accomplishments include presenting shows for: BBC radio and Heart FM, music series Noson Chis a Meinir on television and school tours, S4C (Channel 4 Wales)s nightly magazine show, Wedi 7, and a special one hour fly-on-the-wall S4C broadcast documentary which followed Meinir for a year, including an inside look at Yamaha by whom she is endorsed.

Along with traditional Welsh songs and her hits, Meinir will be performing new material from her forthcoming album!

The Grand Concert will also be featuring Welsh harpsichordist Christopher D. Lewis!

Christopher was born in Rhiwbina, Wales, and moved to North America in 2005 to study harpsichord with Luc Beausejour & Hank Knox at McGill University, Montreal. Since that time he has received outstanding recognition and accolades for his performances internationally. Christopher will be performing a special set dedicated to British and Welsh composers (and he will be playing on the harpsichord that appeared in the movie Titanic).

Christopher's set is sure to be informative, as he has presented numerous lectures on the history of the harpsichord and narrated for many projects. Past projects include collaborations and performances with American Bach Soloists, The San Francisco Bach Choir, The Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Ensemble Parallele and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music's New Music Ensemble.

We are also excited by the return of the Welsh Choir of Southern California (Cor Cymraeg De Califfornia) to the Grand Concert stage. Under the direction of Tony Davis, the choir performs Welsh traditional and hymnal music and believes in the power of music to restore our faith in life, in ourselves, and in each other. The Choirs repertoire is one hundred percent Welsh, with approximately two-thirds sung in the Welsh language and one-third in English.

To begin the Grand Concert, we will be showing Yr Etifeddiaeth (The Heritage).

Yr Etifeddiaeth was filmed between 1947 and 1949 by 'Y Cymro' photographer Geoffrey Charles, with the newspaper's editor, John Roberts Williams, as director and script-writer. It presents the culture, work and rural way of life in Llyn and Eifionydd. Freddie Grant, a young, black evacuee from Liverpool who was housed with Eliseus Williams, ex-headteacher of Llangybi school and friend of John Roberts Williams, is used, initially, as (voice-less) presenter. The poet 'Cynan' [Albert Evans-Jones], is the narrator, extolling the area's past and present - in which communities are held together by a shared culture and language - but expressing concern that its future is threatened by the readily available modern, but English-language, media and the hordes of English-speaking summer visitors who visit, many of whom stay at the new Butlins holiday camp at Pwllheli (opened in 1947 with accommodation for 5,000 people).

The film closes with shots of the summer visitors splashing about in the Butlins swimming pool and, in contrast, a small but respectable band of the Cymry Cymraeg gathered outside the chapel on Sunday morning, torch-bearers for the threatened faith and tradition.

Yr Etifeddiaeth was first shown at the National Eisteddfod in Dolgellau in 1949, attracting full houses for the nightly screenings. (Description from the National Screen and Sound Archives of Wales)

Outside the Grand Concert beginning at 10am 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, and the LA Eisteddfod featuring poetry, storytelling, readings, performance, Welsh food, and much more.

We will be promoting artists from both Wales and the US in a special book release party for 'The Age of Saints. An illustrated guide to the Saints of Wales' written by Peter Anthony Freeman from Llanelli, Wales and published by A Raven Above Press. Artists include Ruth Jn Evans, Jen Delyth, Martyn Jones, Anthony Richards, Nathan Wyburn, Siobhan Owen, Sarah Hope, Nichola Hope, Robert Karr, Judy Adamson, Kerry Evans, Jo Mazelis, Liam OConnor, Eirian Llwyd, Istebrak Al, Michele Witchipoo, Karen Richards, Briana Lopez, Kelly Haigh, Rochelle Shelly Rosenkild, John Charles, Geri Gallas, Danny Walden, Kimberly Wlassak, Jason Shepherd, Lorin Morgan-Richards, and many more!

Also, artist Kimberly Wlassak will be exhibiting her artwork from the book 'Tylwyth Teg: Excerpts from The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries ,' by W.Y. Evans-Wentz, and illustrated by Kimberly Wlassak. This book will be in association with activities for kids, where they can try on their own fairy wings or learn how to fly like a dragon at the kids craft corner!