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Contributors: Laura Thomas, Peggy Speakman, Charlotte Prior, Shirley McKee, David C. Jones, Carole Edwards Haley, Barbara Clark, and Donna Boyce
The Thursday evening folk concert started out showcasing a Cincinnati-area trio composed of cello (soddgrwt), harp (telyn) and flute(ffliwt). Lyrica’s program included an extremely lovely arrangement of “Ar Hyd y Nos/All Through the Night” which is included on their 2003 CD “The Crystal Spring/Y Flynnon Risial.”
Sharing the stage that evening was Hogia’r Bonc, “a baker’s dozen” from Bethesda, North Wales. This talented group entertains in pubs and clubs singing traditional and popular Welsh songs, accompanied on guitar by two of their members. You can hear a couple tunes from their newest CD “Un Cam yn Nes” at http://www.hogiarbonc.com. On Saturday the men of Hogia’r Bonc left their casual clothes behind and stepped into tuxedos to become part of the choir for the Grand Concert.
Also appearing at both of the concerts was Gwenan Gibbard – a true breath of fresh air from Pwllheli on the Llyn Peninsula. Gwenan’s harp playing and her crystal clear voice were a perfect balance to the other entertainment, and she demonstrated for us exactly why she has won many harp and singing competitions. Her debut album “Y Gwenith Gwynnaf,” released in June, 2006, is a collection of her own arrangements of traditional folk-songs and music of Wales played on the small Celtic harp and the Welsh triple harp.
WSCO members attended and commented on a number of the seminars:
We’ll just go ahead and take care of “Welsh Folk Dance” -- you know that has to come up since your Editor was the dancing teacher. We had a lot of fun in both sessions and I convinced Gwenan Gibbard, the singer/harpist, to pop in for a couple dances. There were more participants on Saturday than Friday, several folks attended both sessions and one man brought his whole family on Saturday. Obviously, the word got out! It may also have helped that I asked Tim Jilg to make an announcement at the end of his Saturday language class which was right next door, and we did have several more folks join us when Tim’s session ended halfway through mine.
Carole attended “Welsh Immigration to Ohio” presented by Ann Knowles and said the room was filled, the speaker knew her subject well, and the talk was informative. And Carole ended up ordering a copy of the speaker’s book.
Peter Stead offered two seminars and was very knowledgeable on both of his topics. In the “Wales, a Culture of Celebrities” seminar, Barbara “felt as though he knew each person about whom he was talking.” She also said the “Wales and the Movies” seminar “was wonderful!” and covered many facets of the films including the history of the books on which certain films were based, conditions in Wales at the time, film production techniques, and the effect the films had on the viewing public.
A similarly-named presenter, Peter Read, also offered two sessions. Peggy said that “The Poetry of Peter Read” seminar “was humorous and delightful” and I agree. Besides being a good poet and a good reader and reciter, Mr. Read has a quirky sense of humor and the room was frequently filled with the sound of chuckles and laughter. “Dylan Thomas in America: A One Man Show” received rave reviews and Carole described the performance in this way: “Mr. Read captured the personality of Dylan Thomas as an alcoholic hypochondriac who suffered from depression.” Charlotte thought the presentation was “really impressive” and Peggy said it was “very, very good” and wished that WSCO could get Mr. Read for a St. David’s Day dinner program. People up and down the halls were commenting favorably on the session.
A film festival featured Welsh-language films with English subtitles, and a person from the Welsh Film Board was there to answer questions. Shirley said that “’Pork Pie’ was a delightfully funny story of a little boy whose scrapes and escapes were increasingly harrowing.” Barbara also enjoyed herself and ended up watching two feature-length Welsh-language films, a “Beautiful Wales” film and a selection of animated pieces. She thought it was “a good opportunity to see films that reflect Wales -- films that rarely make it to Columbus, Ohio.”
Charlotte also attended one of the singing seminars and thought that it was “really helpful” because there were a lot of songs with which she was not familiar. I was sitting near the gymanfa conductor, Roy Morris, during several of the informal singing sessions and heard him say that he intentionally chose a few songs that were not so familiar. Some of the rest of us probably should have attended the singing seminars…
The Friday night Grand Banquet was co-sponsored by WNGGA and NWAF, the National Welsh American Foundation. Honored guests were Evan and Elizabeth Davis, whose “prominence and recognition in their community comes from a remarkable sustained history of active involvement and major philanthropic activity, much of it directed towards the preservation and promotion of Welsh traditions.” Evan was presented with the NWAF Heritage Medallion during an award ceremony in recognition of his community leadership and philanthropic activities. Mr. and Mrs.Davis live on a farm southeast of Oak Hill, Ohio (See related article on page 9.)
Highlights of NAFOW continued on page 9