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Dafydd Iwan - 50 years of Singing
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Dafydd
Iwan: 50 years of singing and songwriting |
You’ll never believe it, but
Dafydd Iwan has been entertaining audiences across Wales for half a
century this year. Since the very beginning, in Fishguard in 1962, his
songs have served to accompany the history of Wales as it unfolded
over the past 50 years. Singer and political songwriter, ex-Plaid
Cymru president and ex-Gwynedd county councillor, founder of the Welsh
major record label Recordiau Sain Cyf, Dafydd has earned his place in
the hall of fame.
The National Eisteddfod Of Wales comes to Llandow in The Vale Of
Glamorgan from August 4 to 11, and on Monday evening, August 6, Dafydd
is joined by some of his friends and fellow performers over the past
fifty years - the mighty Ar Log, Heather Jones, the lovely Vale Of
Glamorgan sisters Miriam and Greta Isaac, Edward Morus Jones and the
Heol-y-March Children’s Choir.
Exactly 50 years ago, in the summer of 1962, Dafydd embarked on his
singing career. Although he had performed on many Eisteddfod stages
before this and gained an army of fans from his days in Glan Llyn,
Fishguard was where it all ‘officially’ started. The first concert was
soon followed by a slot on TWW’s current affairs programme Y Dydd and
a recording contract from Welsh Teldisc.
One of four brothers who came from Brynaman, Dafydd lived in
Llanuwchllyn, Mold, Cardiff, Penarth, Llanystumdwy and Waunfawr before
settling in Rhos-bach, near Caernarfon, where he has lived for 24
years with his wife Bethan, his youngest sons, Caio a Celt, and the
two dogs, Cadi ac Iestyn. He has three older children, Llion, Elliw
and Telor, and three grandsons, Morgan John, Louis Llywelyn and Eban
Dafydd. He’s an elder brother to Alun Ffred Jones, Welsh Parliament
AM.
This year sees the launch of a CD pack including all Dafydd’s
recordings, and he will be performing at a series of concerts at
theatres across Wales celebrating his milestone. And it all started at
the Eisteddfod, when Dafydd and his friends will revisit some of the
highlights of the past fifty years.
Les Barker at
Llantrisant Folk Club
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Les Barker: Welsh learner of
the year |
Llantrisant Folk Club is
expecting a sell-out when Les Barker, master of mirth and prince of
poets, reads his hilarious work at the Windsor Hotel in Pontyclun –
and it’s not until August 8. Many fans have booked their places to see
and hear Les, perpetrator of Cosmo The Fairly Accurate Knifethrower,
Guide Cats For The Blind and Dachshunds With Erections Can’t Climb
Stairs.
Born in Manchester and trained as an accountant, Les made his name
when he started reading some of his surreal poems to incredulous
audiences at festivals up and down the country, always accompanied by
Mrs Ackroyd, an elderly terrier of doubtful parentage. Mrs Ackroyd,
however, went to The Great Lamp-post In The Sky, and Les carried on
alone. Since then he has published over 70 books containing his
parodies of well-known folk culture and some of his more serious work,
including the folk opera The Stones Of Callanish. Titles of his books
illustrate a tribute to Mrs Ackroyd and his fascination with word-play
(Royders Of The Lost Ack) and his love of Wales (The Mabidogion,
Llandrindod And One Dalmatians).
In fact, Les moved to a North Wales village, and has been awarded the
Welsh Learner Of The Year prize. He’s a keen Eisteddfodwr - and the
National Eisteddfod takes place in the Vale Of Glamorgan in Llandow in
August. He has published two Welsh-language books; when he was centre
stage at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, he translated into Welsh one of
his famous poems, inspired by a Bill Tidy cartoon, Have You Got Any
News Of The Iceberg? Les was hospitalised with a serious heart
problem, and straight away wrote a brilliant parody on the well-known
Welsh hymn Calon Lan, composed by John Hughes, who was employed first
as a door-boy at the Cwm Colliery in Beddau. Les called it Calon Wan -
A Weak Heart.
Respected folk names, such as June Tabor and Martin Carthy MBE, have
clamoured to perform Les’s work, and well-known personalities – such
as actor Robert Lindsay, Prunella Scales, Terry Wogan and BBC
weatherman Brian Perkins - have offered to recite his poems, too.
However, the MrsAckroyd trio – trained classical singers Hilary
Spencer and Alison Younger, accompanied by keyboards player Chris
Harvey from Strawhead – have had to do without Les, their key member,
following his slow recovery from heart surgery. But MrsAckroyd will be
back on Wednesday June 20 at the Windsor Hotel with their
side-splitting tribute to the prodigious poet, philosopher,
photographer and fruitcake. Les appears in August, but duplicating
material should not be a problem; Hilary, Alison and Chris have the
enviable choice of more than 70 books to select their repertoire!
Llantrisant Folk Club meets on Wednesdays every week, and the
highlights are Derbyshire duo David Gibb and Elly Lucas (June 11);
Showcase with The Garth Mountain Boys, South Wales’ own bluegrass
pickers (August 22); Keith Kendrick and Silvia Needham (September 5)
and Jim Bainbridge (October 3).
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Workshop, Saturday 16th
June
Internationally-known
triple harper Robin Huw Bowen, pibgorn and fiddle maker/restorer
Gerard Kilbride and multi-instrumentalist/composer Stacey Blythe will
lead a Saturday morning/afternoon workshop which takes place at the
Gartholwg Lifelong Learning Centre in Church Village, Rhondda Cynon
Tâf on Saturday June 16. The workshop is being put on by Clera, the
Welsh instruments organisation, and Clera member Meurig Williams is
organising it.
Robin, who is workshop leader and and harp tutor, has championed the
cause of the Welsh Triple Harp since 1983. He has toured widely,
introducing Welsh music to thousands all over the world – and his
visionary work of researching and publishing old lost Welsh melodies
has been inspirational to folk musicians, especially in Wales.
Gerard will take a session entitled Giving Spirit To A Melody. One of
the Kilbride Brothers, he plays fiddle, pipes, pibgorn and the lute.
He is part of a large South Wales family of fiddlers and traditional
musicians, who have been at the forefront of the traditional music and
dance revival in Wales for the last 40 years. Gerard has performed and
recorded with some of Wales's traditional music icons, including Yr
Hwntws, Pibau Bach and Juice, and recently created the band Taran.
This class is suitable for experienced players of melody instruments.
Stacey has perfomed, recorded, composed and collaborated with many
artists, poets musicians and storytellers, and coached many students
at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In her workshop, Melody
And Accompaniment, she will share her enthusiasm for Welsh traditional
music and teach melody and accompaniment of some of the easier Welsh
melodies to less experienced learners. The day starts at 10am and
finishes at 2.30pm. Meurig’s phone number is 029 20628300 (meurig@sesiwn.com).
Big Experiment/Arbrawf
Mawr, November 2012
Crasdant and Ar Log musician Stephen Rees will be the guest tutor at
this year’s Big Experiment/Arbrawf Mawr, which takes place at the
beautiful National Trust Centre at Stackpole on the Pembrokeshire
coast from Thursday evening, November 1, until Sunday November 3.
BEAM2012 is being organised by trac, the all-Wales folk development
body, with events such as a dedicated folk song strand with Lynne
Denman, Cerdd Dant and plygain singing with Arfon Gwilym,
multi-instrumentalist Neil Browning from Gwynedd family band Never
Mind The Box, past fiddle champion Christine Cooper, Stacey Blythe –
back by popular demand – and Huw Williams, who will be teaching
clogging steps.
Silver-voiced Heather
Jones will spend a hour singing and answering questions at the
Welsh For Adults tent in Cardiff Castle at 2.30pm on Saturday, June
23. Welsh-language events, which last from 12pm to 6pm, are free.
Congratulations to
Ruth Exell and Steve Lockheart, who were married in The Small Nations
big top at The Ancient Briton pub in the village of Penycae, Swansea
Valley, on Saturday May 5. Former Pontardawe Festival director Ruth,
is now administrator at the Small Nations Festival in Cilycwm,
Carmarthenshire.
trac
Kevin Brennan, Cardiff
West MP and Shadow Education Secretary, has agreed to join Frank
Hennessy, Huw Stevens and Dafydd Iwan as a patron of trac, the folk
development organisation for Wales. Kevin is a keen musician with a
lifelong interest in folk music, and will shortly become chair of the
All-Party Parliamentary Group supporting folk music.
Meurig Williams, Dr Keith Floyd and Eiry Palfrey have joined the trac
board of trustees. Meurig, a familiar face from the Clerorfa and Welsh
sessions around Cardiff, is a fiddler, harper and guitarist and is
well-known as a tutor and session leader. Keith is a fiddler and
dancer, a twmpath band musician and stalwart of the traditional music
scene in Ceredigion. Eiry, a performer, author and TV producer, is
chair of Cymdeithas Genedlaethol Dawns Werin Cymru, the Welsh National
Dance Society.
The National Eisteddfod
at Llandow in the Vale Of Glamorgan is offering a cash prize for
traditional singers and musicians at this year’s festival from August
4 to 11. The winners will receive £150 for playing and singing Welsh
traditional music of up to seven minutes, with £100 going to the
runners-up and £50 for the third prize. But don’t get excited; entries
closed on May 1.
The second Brecon Harp
Summer School, run by Glasbury Arts in conjunction with Theatr
Brycheiniog, will be held from August 29 to September 1. Details can
be obtained from Cathey Morgan, Education and Outreach Officer, at
Theatr Brycheiniog on 01874 622838, email
cathey@brycheiniog.co.uk
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Lessons in folk
harmonica for absolute beginners and an intermediate class for
blues harmonica players have already started at Whitchurch Rugby Club,
Cardiff – but it’s not too late to join now. Aidan Sheehan from Cajun
band Whiskey River is running the classes on Wednesdays, with absolute
beginners at 7.30pm and intermediate beginners at 8.15pm (£5). Aidan
holds a BA (Hons), and he’s an accredited tutor for the National
Harmonica League and HarpsCool, the Musicians Union body.
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