Welsh Folk Dance at NAFOW - Portland, Oregon 2010

An Interview with Eirian Owen, Musical Director of the Cor Godre'r Aran who will be appearing at NAFOW 2010 can be found here. More info and registration here Welsh Folk Dance at NAFOW WELSH DANCES The history of Welsh folk dancing is a sad one. With the advent of the Non-conformist sects in the 18th and 19th centuries, the chapels saw the Welsh folk arts and customs as sinful and not in keeping with chapel teaching. They did their utmost to stamp out all sorts of "sinful" folk entertainment except, of course, hymn singing and music in the chapels. Some saw the damage that was being done to the culture and managed to record the dances on paper. Like most music of that period, there was a lot of exchange and borrowing between Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland and Europe and a number of Welsh dances went into British/English collections, and tended to retain the original Welsh names in translation to English. By the start of the 20th Century, folk dancing contributed very little to Welsh culture. In the Twenties, a few people started to take interest in the old dances. In the 1940s, Lois Blake and Gwyn Williams led the way in reviving the Welsh dancing tradition and in 1949 the Welsh Folk Dance Society was formed, with the aim of promoting and resurrecting the old dances. Today, there are over twenty adult teams and hundreds of teams in the schools and clubs across Wales. This program is for all ages and will teach participants a number of Welsh dances, which will be taught by Sian Frick, a well-known and experienced instructor. Music will be provided by the Portland band, Beltaine. Come, enjoy a good time. SIÂN FRICK, Welsh Dance Instructor. Siân is a British national of mainly Welsh parentage. From 1984 to 1991 she attended Cymdeithas Ddawns Werin Cymru (Welsh Folk Dance Society) workshops in Wales to learn the spirited but light-footed Welsh dances, and in 1988 she earned the Cymdeithas Instructors Certificate, Part 1. From 1986 to 1992 Siân led her group Dawnswyr y Tract Cymreig/The Welsh Tract dancers, based in Newark Delaware, and in 1991 she was a member of the Dawnswyr Môn display team in Anglesey for six months. Siân is frequently invited to teach Welsh folk dance workshops and give clogging demonstrations at many of the Celtic festivals in the mid-Atlantic region. On her regular visits to Wales she has joined Welsh teams performing dances at various events such as the Gwyl Ifan (Midsummer) Festival in Cardiff. BELTAINE is a Northwest trio featuring hammered dulcimer, guitar, flute, and marimbula. They are unique in their blend of instrumentation. Their styles range from Celtic to traditional music from around the world. They do not limit themselves to any one genre. Their backgrounds include folk, rock, classical, jazz, and blues. They choose music that speaks to them. They try to put their spin on these tunes to make them unique to Beltaine. Their music is their passion, and they love playing and performing around the Northwest. They are excited to hear that others enjoy their music and they love stories about the music.

St Davids Day Menu

In case you missed it...try our 2007 three course St David's Day recipe. More Welsh recipes to come. Follow the links at the bottom of this post to find individual course recipe pages. Saint David's Day March 1st is Saint David's Day, the National Holiday of Wales, a day to celebrate for the Welsh and Americans of Welsh descent. In Wales, people celebrate Saint David's Day by attending church services, wearing leeks and daffodils (national symbols of Wales and St. David), holding parades and children's parties in the schools. Saint David, Dewi Sant in Welsh, lived in the 6th Century and is unique among British saints in that a surprising amount of information was recorded about his life. He was probably the son of Usai, the king of Ceredigion, and the daughter of a lord of what would later be called Pembrokeshire and was the student of another Welsh saint, Paulinus. Dewi Sant was renowned as a teacher who founded monastic settlements and churches in mostly pagan Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. Today, Saint David's Cathedral stands on the site of a monastery he founded in Glyn Rhosyn (Valley of Roses) in Pembrokeshire. The monastic rule of Dewi Sant taught humility, simplicity and asceticism and he practiced these himself: that monks ploughed, planted and tended their crops themselves, without draft animals; that they drank only water and ate only bread with salt and herbs and never meat or beer; that they spent their evenings in prayer, reading and writing; that no member of the monastery had any personal possessions, everything belonged to them all. Dewi Sant's last sermon was recorded as including the words, "Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about.... Do the little things in life," and this phrase, "Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd," ("Do the little things in life") is a phrase used today. Saint David's Day Menu  Herbed Lamb Chops with Balsamic Glaze w/ Mashed Potatoes with Leeks and Spring Peas Welsh Pot Bread Strawberry-Rhubarb Caerphilly Crumble

Calling All Welsh Bands & Musicians - IRFT St David's Day Special

A Message From Sean Owens of IRFT Celtic Radio It is that time of year! We will be running an "All Welsh Artist" St David's Day show again this year, all artists that are interested in participating should have their music to us NO LATER then 2.23.10 I am working on setting up the specifics now. The run time of the show will be based on how much music we have! To be included in this show artists should be FROM Wales, PERFORM music in in the Welsh language, or, Be a Welsh group living abroad! ALL GENRES WILL BE ACCEPTED! If you know of any interested artists, send them our way! Our contact info is as follows: email single or multiple songs to irftradio@gmail.com send entire CD's to: IRFT C/O Sean Owens 21829 Russian River Drive Sonora, Ca, 95370 As of right now the show will run from 2.28.10 (Sunday at noon) through 3.2.10 (Tuesday) at 2 AM (PSDT) EVERY artist that submits music gets played! We are also looking for as many folks as possible to record "Holiday greetings" that we will broadcast during the duration of the show! In Welsh OR English! They can promote their music in this spot as well! They do NOT have to be an artists to do this spot! ANYONE can send in a greeting! Seán Owens IRFT Celtic Radio www.irftradio.comlu.com