Book Review: Patagonia, Matthew Rhys

Matthew Rhys, a native of Cardiff now living in Los Angeles, has appeared in more than 30 roles for film and television, including "The House of America," "The Edge of Love," and the television drama "Brothers and Sisters."

In 1885, a group of Welsh settlers in Chubut, Argentina set out to explore the Andes and found and settled Cwm Hyfryd, "Pleasant Valley". They were members of the largest Welsh settlement in South America, founded twenty years earlier by the passengers of the Mimosa.

Actor and author Matthew Rhys joined a group of the descendants of the original Cwm Hyfryd expedition to recreate their accomplishment, on horseback as they did themselves. Rhys has published a beautiful book of his photographs and commentary on this experience: Patagonia: Croesi'r Paith/Crossing the Plain, a photographic memoir of this journey by horse through the Patagonian landscape and some of its Welsh history.

Although formatted as a beautiful coffee-table style book, Patagonia is about equal parts text and photographs, mainly black and white. It's presented in English and Welsh, including an introduction in those languages and Spanish. Rhys has included some background history of Welsh immigration to Argentina and the story of the original journey, including a few wonderful historic photos of those early settlers and the Argentina of their time. Instead of a linear description of the trip, chapters focus on Rhys' companions and elements of his experience, with titles like "Lunch," about the routine of easting, resting and riding and "Knives," which gives some insight into the arrangement of the trip. Rhys describes the following encounter:

"A number of farmers, and their wives and children, came out to greet us. One old gentleman gestured toward me inviting me to slow down. He ventured something in Spanish, and I gave him my customary response:

"'Perdon, no hablo catellano, señor.'

"'Wyt ti'n siarad Cymraeg, fachgen?' ('Do you speak Welsh?') was his answer."

The photographs are excellent. Sometimes humorous, sometimes heroically panoramic. Sometimes warm and small and precise little narratives themselves of people and things.

Patagonia was a comfortable pleasure to read. Picture and narrative together subtly built a sense of place and people, of Rhys' experience, the things he saw and the men who accompanied him, the marks on the land the original settlers left and the effect all this had at the end of the trail. The people, the landscape and customs are brought vividly and splendidly to life and conjure the desire to enjoy an asado in the Andes with these wonderful people, in this beautiful place.

Patagonia is published by Gomer Press and is available through Amazon.com

Matthew Rhys's first book - Patagonia

Patagonia has long intrigued many an intrepid traveller, particularly the Welsh, who flock to this area of South America to trace the footsteps of their ancestors, founders of a Welsh speaking colony in the area back in 1865, which still survives to this day.

Hollywood actor and Welshman Matthew Rhys, is one such traveller. Patagonia is a photographic account of his month-long journey on horseback from the Atlantic to the Andes. His co-riders were all descendants of the 30 Welsh-speakers who had made the same gruelling journey 125 years ago.

Evocative black-and-white photography features throughout, along with extended captions for each of the 90 images. Penned by Matthew Rhys, these provide the reader with first-hand insight into the demands of the trek and an overview of the lives of his fellow travellers.

The author’s introduction will also provide the journey’s historical context, and will remind the reader of the pioneering courage of those Welshmen who originally established the Welsh colony in Patagonia.

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Title: PATAGONIA ISBN: 9781848511972

Author: Matthew Rhys Price: £19.99

Category: Travel / Photography Format: 200mmx300mm, hb, 120pp

Publication date: 30^th October 2010

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

• Matthew Rhys hails from Cardiff but currently lives in Los Angeles.
• He is most well known for his role in hit American TV series Brothers and Sisters which attracts approx. 10 million viewers per episode.
• He is a familiar face worldwide following his critically acclaimed portrayal of Dylan Thomas in 2008 Hollywood film The Edge of Love.

AVAILABLE FROM: Gardners Books Ltd, 1 Whittle Drive, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QH

Tel: 01323 521777 Fax: 01323 521666 E-mail: custcare@gardners.com

An Interview With the Welsh-Argentine Guitar Duo

The Welsh Argentine Guitar Duo are Luis Orias Diz and Adam Khan. Argentina and Wales have strong links and the duo is exploring the musical heritage of both countries as well as performing works from their respective folk traditions and pieces by living composers from Wales and Argentina. Americymru spoke to the duo about their history, influences and their forthcoming Album and tour of Wales details here:- Voyage To Patagonia   Americymru: We read in your bio that you met while taking master classes with Cuban composer guitarist Leo Brouwer? Care to tell us a little about that experience? Adam/Luis: Having the chance to play for and take lessons with Leo Brouwer was a very important experience, He is one of the most important people in the guitar community and his compositions have become a part of the standard repertoire and will remain so for centuries. It was very interesting playing his own compositions for him and discovering why he wrote them and his conception of how they should be played. Americymru: It has been said of you that:- 'The duo sounds like one guitarist playing with immense concentration'. At what point did you discover how amazingly well you work together? when did you decide to form the Duo? Adam/Luis: After we met in Portugal in the mid nineties we often talked about working together but the distance between Wales and Argentina made it unlikely that we would be able to do something serious, luckily in 2006 we got offered the chance to record Brouwer's complete repertoire for guitar duo with Argentine record label "Guitar Masters". After this experience we decided to try and put together a project and use the cultural connections between our two countries as a catalyst to encourage composers to write new works and to research the music of Welsh Patagonia. Americymru: You have recorded two studio albums 'Interludio' and more recently 'Voyage to Patagonia'. Can you tell us a little about them? Adam/Luis: 'Interludio' was recorded in Buenos Aires in 2006 for PAI records and it was a pretty crazy time, We had not seen each other for more than 9 years and had no idea how we would sound together or how we would get on as people, I flew out to Argentina we did a couple of gigs and everything seemed to slip into place, we recorded the album in about 3 days and I flew home!....and that was supposed to be the end of it, it was only supposed to be a one off collaboration. When I heard the recording some 6 months later I thought that we should try and continue working together, but we needed a focus as there are many Guitar duo's around the world, so we needed to offer something different. I started to look into the Welsh connections between the 2 countries and this is what led us to work only on music from Wales and Argentina and to look for Argentine composers of Welsh descent. 'Voyage to Patagonia' is the culmination of this, it is packed with welsh and Argentine folk music as well as pieces written especially for the project by Stephen Goss, Howard Rees and Dafydd Bullock, It was recorded in Buenos Aires during 2009 and early 2010 and we spent much more time in the studio really working on our sound and the musical ideas we wanted to put across. Americymru: Where can people go to hear/purchase your work? Adam/Luis: Both of our cd's are available for download at iTunes and you can buy physical copies of the cd's from various internet retailers, just search 'Welsh Argentine guitar duo' and you will find plenty of choices Americymru: You have worked in the past with Welsh Guitarist and composer Stephen Goss. Can you tell us a little about that collaboration? Adam/Luis: Stephen Goss is a very important Composer and Guitarist who originally comes from Swansea, He is currently professor of composition at Surrey university. I have known Stephen since 2003 when I was Guitarist in residence at the Dundee international guitar festival. When we decided on the direction we wanted to take the duo Stephen was one of the first people I contacted and he was keen to get involved by arranging some welsh and Patagonian folksongs for us. His music is well worth investigating. Americymru: What kind of music do you perform live? What is your typical concert repertoire? Adam/Luis: We basically play Welsh and Argentine folk based music and some more serious classical pieces by contemporay Welsh and Argentine composer's such as Howard Rees and Fernando Millet. We will be playing 'Voyage to Patagonia' in it's entirity during our summer concerts in the uk. Americymru: You will be touring Wales this year. Care to tell us a little about your plans? Adam/Luis: We have lots of concerts in wales during July and are really looking forward to sharing our music with the people, details of our tour dates can be found at www.welshargentineguitarduo.com Americymru: This will not be your first visit to play in Wales. Care to tell us about your previous tours and engagements? Adam/Luis: Well I was born in Neath and grew up in the area so I have been playing concerts on my own in wales for years, hundreds of them!. As a duo we toured Wales in 2008 and had a great time, Luis even has a slight Neath twang to his british accent! Americymru: You celebrate the connection between Wales and Argentina in your music, indeed the very name of the band does that. Can you tell us a little about how this historical connection affects your own lives and where our readers can go to discover more about it? Adam/Luis: Again there is a lot of information about it on our website but I would urge any welsh people to make the trip to Patagonia, you will be amazed at How strong the welsh culture and language is alive there, we played several concerts in Patagonia and the Welsh Chaple in Gaiman was a surreal and wondeful experience, it was like being in wales but in the middle of the desert. Americymru: Any last message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru? Adam/Luis: Thanks for reading we really hope you might chack out our Cd and make friends with us on americymru. We are hoping to come over and do some dates in the USA so if anyone can help us please get in touch! Interview by Ceri Shaw Email

Welsh Argentine Guitar Duo - Wales Tour Dates

The Welsh-Argentine Duo consists of Welsh guitarist Adam Khan and Argentine guitarist Luis Orias Diz. The duo first met in Portugal in the mid nineties while taking master classes with Cuban composer guitarist Leo Brouwer. It was not until 2006 when the opportunity arose to record Brouwer’s complete works for guitar duo for Argentine record label Pairecords that they decided to work together as a duo.Argentina and Wales have strong links and this has become the centre point for the duos activities; there are large Welsh colonies in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina formed by Welsh immigrants in the late 1800’s who were looking to find a place to keep their language and traditions alive.  To this day Welsh is spoken in many areas of Patagonia . The duo is exploring the musical heritage of both countries and performs works from the folk traditions as well as pieces by living composers from Wales and Argentina. New Album Voyage To Patagonia out now! Tour Dates 14 July: Emmannuel United Reform Church, Trumpington st. Cambridge 1pm. 15 July: Ewenni Priory,Nr Bridgend, Wales , 7.30 pm 16 July: All Saints, Weston-Super Mare, 7:45 pm 17 July: Swansea latin american society. 7.30pm 22 July: THE KING OF HEARTS, FYE BRIDGE ST, NORWICH, 7. 30 pm. TEL.01603766129 23 July: Salem Chapel Arts Centre, Hay on Wye, 7.30 pm 24 July: Y Tabernacal Arts Centre, Machynlleth, Wales 7.30pm 27 July: Burnetts Hill Chapel, lawrenney, Pembrokeshire. 7.30pm 29 July: Galeri, Caernafon, North Wales, 2pm 30 July: Ystradgynlais Miners Welfare Hall, Upper Swansea Valley, 7.30pm 1 August: Libresso (Köln-Germany) 6 August: National Eisteddfod Show Ground, Ebbw Vale, Main Stage at 11am & 4 pm (Wales) Find more music like this on Americymru

Llangollen Eisteddfod President Terry Waite Delivers A Personal Invitation To The People Of Patagonia

“There is a word that allows for poverty to become extinct, for war to be eradicated and famine to cease to be. There is a beautiful, brilliant word for this – it is PEACE”. Alex Pasley (16), Llangollen Peace Message Winner, 2009.

Terry Waite is a well-travelled man but few journeys have meant as much to him in recent years as his recent visit to Gaiman, Patagonia. This small village (population 6000) in the Argentinian heartland was founded in 1865 when 150 Welsh immigrants arrived here on their ship the Mimosa and now, in the twenty first century, the community has retained much of it’s inherent Welshness.

‘It’s incredible when you walk the streets and hear this wondrous mixture of Spanish and Welsh’, says Terry. ‘I’m convinced that Gaiman is a unique place in terms of its linguistic and cultural make-up and, I must admit that I was completely entranced and enchanted by it’.

Being a predominantly Welsh village of course, music was very much in the air and Terry Waite soon encountered the sweeping tones of a local choir.

‘What a sound! Those voices were absolutely amazing! And the peculiar thing is- if you closed your eyes, and tried your best to ignore the heat, you would have sworn that you’d just been transported back into the Dee valley!’

There was an important reason for Terry Waite’s pilgrimage to Gaiman because Terry is the President of theLlangollen International Musical Eisteddfod and he took with him a message from the Festival- a message of goodwill, peace and (appropriately enough) harmony.

‘I think people sometimes forget that Llangollen was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize back in 2004’, says Terry. ‘The Llangollen peace message has become an integral part of the festival and I thought it would be marvellous to deliver a message of my own, from Llangollen- in the heart of the homeland- to other side of the world. My words would hopefully echo the noble sentiments of the famous Llangollen peace message’.

The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod takes place between July 5^th and 11th and, this year, the festival expects to attract competitors from Patagonia. In addition to the competitive events and the pageantry and colour a series of Gala Concerts this year will feature such luminaries as Nigel Kennedy, Only Men Aloud, Karl Jenkins and Bond.

10 Questions with Karen Ann of 'Trelew'

Welsh singer Karen Ann grew up in the South Wales valleys and started performing in eisteddfodau (traditional music competitions) at school. She left Wales at eighteen and fell in love with Latin America after going AWOL in Mexico at 21. She’s played in jazz duos in Costa Rica and rock bands in Argentina and sung tango in English in the USA. Finally putting down roots in one of South America’s smallest countries she felt the tug of her own and returned to singing Welsh and Celtic traditional music, forming a duo with the guitarist Jorge Galemire in 2005 which evolved into Trelew in 2007. Q1 – What part of Wales are you from? The South Wales Valleys – a small village called Maes-y-cwmmer in the Rhymney Valley. My parents still live there. I was born in Newport, Gwent. Q2 – When did you emigrate to Uruguay and why? I'd been fascinated with South America, particularly Argentina, since I was a child. I can still recall a primary school geography lesson about the gauchos. I ended up marrying an Argentinian and we lived in Costa Rica, Liverpool, Buenos Aires and Washington before moving here in 2000. Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay where we live, is across the River Plate from Buenos Aires. It's a small city, quaint, right on the water and it has a great quality of life. I'm a Valleys girl and Buenos Aires is just too huge for me. Q3 – You are the founder of a Welsh band called "Trelew' in Uruguay, how did this come about? We chose the name Trelew because of its Welsh and South American roots. It's the name of a town in Patagonia, founded by Welsh immigrants in the 1880s. We're not exactly a “Welsh band” - though we definitely draws on Welsh traditional songs and our own lyrics have Welsh themes – like the Welsh emigration to Patagonia. We wrote the songs after reading the diaries of some of the early colonists – incredible epic stuff. Another of our songs is about my grandmother's life growing up on charity in Aberdare after her father suffered an accident down the pit. So Welsh issues are important to our music but we're based in South America and all of the musicians except me come from Latin musical traditions. Q4 – How would you describe your music? Traditional British folk meets Buenos Aires melancholy meets Pampas zamba (a type of South American folk rhythm). People have told me our new album could be used a film soundtrack, it evokes sweeping South American landscapes, journeys across the sea. Galemire, the guitarist is amazing. He has created these walls of acoustic guitars that are just incredible. Then there's the bandoneon which is such a haunting instrument – completely associated with tango - though South Americans who know the bandoneon will find that it sounds completely original in this album. There's definitely something about the “old country” and something definitely South American about it, and the fusion has its own life. Q5 – Do you have any plans to tour in the America's or elsewhere overseas? We'd really love to play the States – it's amazing how many festivals there are going on... Right now we're putting together a tour of South Brazil. And of course, we really want to play in Trelew, Patagonia – we're working on that one ;) Q6 – What do you miss most about Wales? Bacon butties and my nan. Q7 – Do you think you will ever move back to Wales? It's not really on the cards right now. Though I go back there all the time -all my family are there. Q8 - What are your dreams and ambitions for the future? We'd like to complete our “Welsh-Patagonian trilogy” which still has only two songs! Q9 –What do you think is the best way for Wales to go about raising its profile overseas? Publicise the countryside, the people are so friendly and the fact that it is a lot cheaper than London so worth going and spending at least a week. People who know who have been from this part of the world -IF they go at all- go for a day on the train to Cardiff. It's just not enough. My mum works in Caerphilly Tourist Information Centre next to the castle – so if anyone reads this and goes there, drop in and say hello :) Q10 - Do you have any messages for our AmeriCymru readers? We'd love to get greetings from the North of the continent. You can find us on Facebook and MySpace. Trelew's first album named Trelew was released in September. It's available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/Trelew and shortly on Amazon, Itunes and all other good internet stockists. Interview by Dave Parry