Wales

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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east, the Irish Sea to its north and west, and the Bristol Channel to its south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate. Although Wales closely shares its political and social history with the rest of Great Britain, and the vast majority of the population speaks English, the country has retained a distinct cultural identity and is officially bilingual. Over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west.

Links To Peel[]

John_Peel's_Views_-_Welsh_language_music_and_Margaret_Thatcher — John Peel's Views - Welsh language music and Margaret Thatcher

Peel talks about Welsh language musicians

Peel's family had links to Wales in terms of his grandfather living in Anglesey and himself going to Woodlands School in Deganwy near Conwy and his national service in Ynys Môn. In an interview with a Welsh fanzine called White Lemonade in 1991, Peel answers questions relating to the Welsh language and Wales: [1]

How did you become aware of and interested in bands that sing in Welsh?

Well, I was always aware of Wales, as it were, because we could see it across the Dee where I lived – we were three miles from the frontier. My grandfather lived in Rhosneigr, Ynys Môn (Anglesey). Also, I went to school near Conwy and my brother went to Treaddur, also in Ynys Môn. And I did my national service in Ty Croes which is where Gorwel Owen, a prime mover in Welsh language music now lives. I bought my first iced-lolly I ate in my life from a shop in Rhosneigr!

Rhys from Anhrefn was the first person to bring the music to my attention and, although he no longer calls, he kept me posted for several years. Now Dave Edwards from Datblyguwrites to me a lot. Gorwel keeps in touch and I hear intermittently from Y Llwybr Llaethog and others. Although I am not too keen on the wave of nationalism that has destabilised Yugoslavia, and will do the same for other eastern European countries before we are through. I do understand why people feel it is vital to preserve their language and culture against all the odds. Although I am revolted by violence, I can understand, living in a village where a pattern of life is being first distorted and then destroyed by incomers, why Meibion Glyndwr are moved to such extreme measures by the insensitivity of some English incomers. I’d like to find a Welsh holiday home in England by way of comparison though.

John_Peel's_Interview_On_Bandit_(S4C_Music_TV_Programme) — John Peel's Interview On Bandit (S4C Music TV Programme)

Peel talks about Welsh music

Do you think it’s a good thing that such bands do sing in their native tongue?

Yes, I do. I have pointed out to bands overseas – Japan, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, etc – that they are already too many English speaking (or singing anyway) bands in Britain, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand; so trying to interest the world in yet more English speaking bands from Japan, Spain, etc, seems doomed to failure. I prefer bands to sing in their own language and, without getting silly about it, to have some element in their music that identifies it as being of their culture – this doesn’t mean that Anhrefn should a harpist or anything. Using Welsh is enough in itself, I think.

Do you support any of the Welsh activist groups campaigning to halt the flow of English people buying houses for ‘holiday homes’?

I seem to have answered that above. There are times, on the other hand, when I would like eventually to retire to Anglesey/Môn because so much of my childhood was spent there and I associate it with my Dad a lot. He died in the early 1970′s and. For one reason and another, I never knew him well. However, I miss him terribly and about 5 years ago I went back to Rhosneigr on my own and sat on the bridge over the stream that ran past my grandfather’s house, a bridge on which my Dad and I sat a lot, with our legs dangling over the edge, and cried my eyes out for a very long time. I have a bottle of shells he collected from Anglesey beaches in front of me as I type. Also, the first time I ever saw him was in Treaddur, when he was demobbed from the army in 1946. So it saddens me to think that if I did retire to Rhosneigr, or somewhere, there would be local hostility.

Why do you think that so few bands emerge from Wales, when compared to places such as Manchester and Liverpool?

There are as many reasons as there are bands but essentially it comes down to lack of venues, lack of local radio/TV encouragement or sponsorship and, I’m afraid, the indifference of a majority of Welsh people to their own culture. This is universal really – go to Mongolia, for example, as Andy Kershaw did recently, and the local radio is playing Madonna and they thought he was nuts when he asked about the local music. I get the same reaction wherever I go. In Sierra Leone it took me two weeks to persuade local musicians that I wanted to hear what they did, not what they thought they should do for tourists. Also, to get back to your question, in a city the size of Manchester or Liverpool everything is much more concentrated than it could ever be in a country the size of Wales.