MetaFilter posts tagged with Cymraeg

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (In Patagonia)

Len — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:08:46 -0800

A few years ago, Gruff Rhys, lead singer of fabulous Welsh pop oddballs Super Furry Animals (Cymraeg/English) set out to make a film about the search for his uncle, a 1970s Argentinian pop star called René Griffiths. The result is Separado!: part travelogue, part music film, and part history of how a small band of idealists set out to establish a Welsh colony in the Argentinian part of Patagonia. The settlement was the idea of Welsh Congregationalist minister Michael D Jones (pic of his fabulous beard here), and the first settlers left Liverpool, bound for Patagonia, on a rickety tea clipper called the Mimosa in May of 1865. 153 passengers were aboard – including the Rev. Abraham Matthews, whose family travelled on this ticket. The Mimosa landed at Puerto Madryn and over the subsequent decades, its passengers and their descendants established a thriving Welsh community in the Chubut River valley. The settlers had been promised that Patagonia was much like lowland Wales, but they soon found it a harsh and unforgiving environment. Despite this, the colonists built both churches and what may have been Argentina's first system of artificial irrigation, as well as towns like Trelew and Gaiman, many of whose Welsh shops and tea houses survive to this day. (Small gallery of contemporary Gaiman and surroundings here.) Glaniad – a joint Welsh/Patagonian project – has original documents relating to Welsh emigration to Patagonia, including printed material extolling the virtues of the settlements, the culture of the settlements, and the everyday working lives of the colonists.

Keeping Celtic languages alive on TV and the Web

joeclark — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:21:14 -0800

Since 1980, the Celtic Media Festival has brought together people who broadcast, and now Webcast, in Celtic languages. Videoblog Gwagenn.TV provides a report (with autoplaying video) from the 2009 festival whose clips and interviews are spoken and subtitled variously in Breton, French, English, Welsh, Scots Gaelic and Irish, Catalan, and Basque, not all of which are actually Celtic. Special feature: Man-on-man kiss during Catalan soap opera. (Poke around at Gwagenn.TV and you’ll find such amusements as a rocket launch carried out entirely in Breton with Beastie Boys soundtrack, an interview with an Occitan-language reggae band subtitled in Breton [Flickr snippet], and a report from a Manx-language workshop.)

Keeper of the heart's relics

Abiezer — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:21:43 -0800

Lyfrau o'r Gorffennol or Books from the Past is a growing online collection of books of Welsh cultural interest which have long been out of print. Some are in Welsh, some in English, all are available to download in a variety of formats or to read online. Found as the collection includes a book on the Adventures and Vagaries of Twm Siôn Cati, the famed bard, genealogist and bandit trickster supreme from Tregaron. It's one of a host of well-presented digital archives built using the multilingual open source Greenstone software suite.

Gift to the noble ladies of Christendom

Abiezer — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:57:44 -0800

The poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym A project at Swansea University puts the works of one of mediaeval (14th century) Europe's literary giants on line in full, including a full concordance, digitalised manuscripts, English translations and recorded readings. Dafydd was a great poet of love, lust and nature and a master of strict form. His work was also hilariously funny.

Helo, dyma Radio Un

ceiriog — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 05:18:05 -0800

Subtitles on the radio. Last night Radio 1, the BBC's flagship youth station, broadcast an hour of Welsh language music and chat. The webcast includes subtitles.