David R Edwards: The No Holds Bard
There are many good reasons to learn Welsh – but the music of Datblygu is the best one. Because when the ancient Celts were sat around on stones and inventing the language, some 2,000 years…
Owen Smith: The Britain First MP
It would be unfair to say that Owen Smith is ideologically opposed to Wales. That’s because, as a career politician, his views on the world are so incoherent and contradictory that it’s difficult to say…
Candelas – Rhedeg i Paris
This is Candelas performing Rhedig i Paris at the Tafwyl festival in Cardiff. The song was originally released in 1990 by punk band Yr Anrhefn and inspired by the energy and attitude of the student…
We All Live in a UKIP Wonderland
How could it happen? How could a party which views Wales as nothing more than a region of England become the fastest growing movement in Welsh politics? How could so many voters support an English…
Striking Miners, Dragons and Floating Castles
The shutting down of Welsh industry; the ripping apart of communities with no plans to rebuild them – that was bad. But it’s 30 years since the miners’ strike; it’s time we stopped grumbling and…
Mr Phormula – Minority
It’s hard to be Welsh and not a minority. Whether it’s the language you speak. Or not having a furious passion for monarchy. Or being part of that crackpot minority who think Wales should be…
Raising a Glass to Dead Taffy Flavoured Water
You have to admire the jaunty way the idea of drowning a north Wales village was first broached by the London establishment. This is a newspaper report from 1887 – that’s 80 years before the…
Gwenno Saunders: This is Cymru Calling
The Welsh media landscape can be a grey and gloomy place. A place of suffocating blandness. Of sports banter and traffic updates and Jason Mohammads – as far as the eye can see. But up…
Carwyn Ellis & Debademba – Pan Ddaw’r Nos
This is Carwyn Ellis from Colorama doing a version of Pan Ddaw’r Nos (When Night Falls) with Parisian African group Debademba. Sounds so good – and no Jools Holland. Colorama are about to release a…
Dic Mortimer: The Elephant in Welsh Footy Room
Each week, Radio Wales devotes around 15 hours of airtime to middle-aged men chuntering on about sport – mostly the English Premier League. Nothing else in Wales receives the same level of saturation coverage. Not…
Welsh Celebs: The Roll of Dishonour
The honours system is the British establishment’s version of the TV Quick awards. The main difference being that the only people allowed to vote for the award winners are a privileged London elite. These are…
Rhys Mwyn: Go Ahead, Punk
Back in the C19th, Wales was a gobby country. It was a place known for its activism; where radical groups were challenging the establishment. It was a place of debates and marches; of strikes and…
Plant Duw – Pwy Sy’n Dwad Dros y Bryn?
[x_video_embed type=”16:9″ no_container=”true”][/x_video_embed] Plant Duw with a superbly un-Christmassy version of a Christmas song. You can follow them on Twitter or Soundcloud.
Genod Droog – Breuddwyd Oer
[x_video_embed type=”16:9″ no_container=”true”][/x_video_embed] If Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones represents what Wales currently is – a grey, gutless and limp country. Then this is what Wales should aspire to be – an unstoppable force, running…
They Have Ways of Making You Talk…Welsh
First, you’ll meet up in a cabin in a remote part of Wales. There’ll be about ten of you. Nobody really knows each other; so you’ll trade pleasantries, talk about where you’ve travelled from and…
Joe Goddard – Taking Over
A classy video, filmed in Cardiff, and directed by Welsh graphic designer Mark James. It captures that dreamy post pub/club vibe when you’re going home and everything feels a bit weird and distant and…your kebab…
The Chicken Farmer Who Trolled Wales
Lloyd George called it “foul garbage”. Meetings were held throughout Wales to denounce it. Newspapers printed angry letters and speculated about the identity of the mysterious author; known only as ‘Draig Glas’. This was all…
Meredydd Evans: The Man Don’t Give a Folk
This is Welsh folk historian and singer Meredydd Evans talking about language and culture. He talks about how identity is something that needs to be fought for; something he speaks from experience on. Despite being…
The Welsh Military Remembrance Machine
When Welsh farmer and poet Ellis Humphrey Evans lay injured on a battlefield in Flanders, he must have known he was about to die. As the life drained from his body, he must have thought…
Welsh Rappers: The Maida Vale Session
This is from one of the last sessions recorded for John Peel. It was arranged in 2004 and originally meant to be for Welsh rapper MC Sleifar, aka Steffan Cravos. But by the time it…
Peter Hybart’s Barmy Army
It’s true what they say; those nationalist types really do pose a threat to the future of Wales. They’re fanatics. They’re extremists; they’re people who have developed a deluded set of beliefs about Wales. But…