“A eus le rag hwedhlow dyffrans?” So goes the first track on Le Kov, the second album by Welsh singer Gwenno Saunders. But it isn’t Welsh: it’s Cornish, a minority language spoken by fewer than a thousand people. The line translates as “is there room for different stories?” – and this is the question at the heart of her record, which celebrates variance in language, culture and identity. Continue reading “Welsh singer Gwenno’s new album is in Cornish. It’s one of many ‘lost’ languages being reborn”
Tag: 9Bach
Why Welsh language pop is music to our ears
It may be a native tongue of our landmass, but for many in Britain the Welsh language sounds pure tongue-twister. That sing-song tone, that Celtic lilt; the spittle-flecking double-Ls and guttural back-of-throat vowels… And yet Welsh also holds a real fascination – especially when married to that universal language: music. Continue reading “Why Welsh language pop is music to our ears”
Review: The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion, SSE Swalec Stadum
Only the imagination of Gruff Rhys could have come up with this singular show. He expands his 2007 album Candylion into a psychedelic fable – for all the family! Billed by National Theatre Wales as a “theatre gig”, live music propels the story, with the audience standing or moving about the space. Continue reading “Review: The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion, SSE Swalec Stadum”