Croeso cynnes i bawb! To a new edition of the weekly newsletter for the Welsh Diaspora, wherever they may be in the world. A Word From Wales seeks to provide a snapshot of stories from Wales over the past week. This week, we’ll cover a brilliant new Welsh language movie just released, the International Eisteddfod’s decision to drop their Welsh motto, and an invitation to write for one of the main independence bloggers in Scotland.
Making a noise about the language.
A new film about a Welsh language campaign has been released to huge acclaim this week.
“Y Swn” is a film about Welsh politician Gwynfor Evans’s decision to go on a hunger strike to secure a Welsh language Television Station in 1979.
Despite the film being set in 1979, it has a modern 2023 feel to it with the daring use of visuals, graphics, titles and music making it a colourful and multi-sensory experience for viewers.
If ever there was a way to attract a young generation to take an interest in our history, this would seem to be it!
“Y Swn” is currently on tour around theatres and cinemas in Wales and it will appear on S4C in three weeks time.
The film, written by Roger Williams and directed by Lee Haven Jones presents the story from three perspectives: with Welsh language campaigners and Gwynfor Evans’s family at one end of the spectrum and Westminster Politicians Willie Whitelaw and Nicholas Edwards on the opposite end of the spectrum.
But with an interesting “in the middle” perspective also presented by means of a fictitious civil servant at the Welsh Office.
With all three perspectives presented convincingly well, including some fantastic acting performances, especially from Rhodri Meilir( Nicholas Edwards) and Mark Lewis Jones( Willie Whitelaw).
The film opens with a cryptic verse from a famous Welsh poet, R.Williams Parry:
“Nes na’r hanesydd a’r gwir di-goll
Yw’r dramodydd sy’n gelwydd oll”
( Closer than the historian with all his facts
Is the dramatist with all his lies)
Which suggests that a good deal of creative imagination is at work here, but that such imagination can sometimes be more revelatory than pure fact.
And certainly the film does appeal to one’s imagination in the way it is presented, with the deliberate ambivalence around both the “Hero”( Gwynfor Evans) and the “Antagonist”( Westminster) adding to this dimension.
It’s a great addition to modern Welsh film-making. And shows the way in bringing our history alive to people of all ages!
Lost in Translation…Yet Again
We seem to be living in a world where misinterpretation of words and their meaning is rife and even weaponised in some cases.
And where external considerations are also increasingly impinging on the Welsh language and a whole world-view expressed through the language.
The latest example of all this is the Llangollen International Eisteddfod’s decision to drop a 75 year old motto, in case it “offends” the sensibilities of contestants from overseas.
For 75 years, the Welsh language motto has read: “Byd gwyn fydd byd a gana
gwaraidd fydd ei gerddi ef”.
Making use of the Welsh word Gwyn to describe a sense of blessedness and beneficience that a world of singing can provide for all.
With even an English- language translation provided of late: “Blessed is the world of song”- just to make sure that there should not be any misunderstanding of any kind with the Welsh language word Gwyn which also means white.
But even that clear translation is not enough anymore it seems. Now the International Eisteddfod’s Executive have decided to bin the motto, with an intention to commission a new Welsh language motto later this summer.
It really is an appalling decision on several levels. Intimating that the use of “gwyn” in Welsh is racist, when it clearly is nothing of the sort is bad enough. But it’s also a self-defeating move in a way in the sense that it suggests that the Eisteddfod has been racist for the past 75 years in using such a motto!
And the most ironical element of it all? The poet who penned the famous words was called T. Gwynn Jones…..
God help us if a minority language like Cymraeg is to be stripped of all it nuance, subtleties and metaphorical beauty, and just reduced to a hard and harsh literalness to suit modern sensibilities.
Presenting Wales to a Scottish audience
A kind invitation from Scotland has provided another platform for my writing.
Barrhead Boy is pro-Scottish independence blogger who has an audience of 10,000 for his blog and podcast”Through a Scottish Prism”.
He has extended an offer for me to write “A Letter From Wales” for his blog on a regular basis, providing his readership with an overview on the state of play with the Welsh Independence Movement today.
Hoping that such an exchange of views can promote more co-operation between the two independence movements as we seek to prise ourselves free of the clutches of the British State.
The first letter played with the old notion “For Wales, see England”- an actual entry in the original Encyclopedia Brittanica years ago- changing it to “For Wales- Seek Scotland”.
A reference to the fact that Wales does have a “little brother” relationship with Scotland to a large degree, cautiously waiting to see what Scotland does before venturing ourselves quite often.
In the article, I said that this “look and learn” approach does have its merits, and that adopting good practices from Scotland does make sense for Wales, especially as it is ahead of us politically and economically, along with the fact that it also a stronger sense of a civic identity than Wales has.
Even so, it is important to acknowledge that Wales is a different nation to Scotland with its own path to tread towards national liberation.
So, it should not just be emulation for emulation’s sake.
Hopefully though, this new joint enterprise can strengthen an important idea.
Two nations = one dream.
Wel, dyna ni am wythnos arall. We’ll see you all next week….
Aled