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 Everything you need to know about Wales ( Travel Tips, History etc ) and the Welsh contribution to the building of America can be found right here! |
Gruff Rhys
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 YR ATAL | MWNG | CANDYLION | HEY VENUS |
Gruff Rhys and Lisa Jen at the Doug Fir Lounge, Portland OR
Lisa Jen's voice is amazing: clear and pure and strong, singing with Rhys or alone, acappella, in a beautiful ballad in Welsh. Rhys seemed so very comfortable and at home on stage, his every movement and statement smooth and fitting. Jen left the stage for a portion of the show, leaving Rhys to perform alone and banter comfortably with the crowd, taking requests. He declined a request to do a Super Furry Animals song, saying that he couldn't do it without his "brothers," but then said he would be back to Portland with the band in February.
Gruff Rhys & Lisa Jen "Candylion", 3/14/07 (YouTubeVideo)
Rhys
and Jen performed in English, Welsh and Spanish, mostly dreamy and
wonderfully surreal, instrumental songs from Rhys' "Candylion",
including "The Court of
King Arthur," "Cycle of Violence," "Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru" (which
Rhys
said means
"driving, driving, driving" for those of us not fortunate enough to
speak Welsh), "Lonesome Words" and "Skylon," a
great and demented
ballad for which they each wore flotation vests and Jen gave a great
impression of an airline flight safety lecture. At one point,
Rhys
created a kind of harmonic round with himself, laying
down a track of his own breathing in rhythmic pants and following that
with track after track of vocalizations and instrumental sounds created
with the objects on the table (including a plastic hose swung through
the air like a didgereedoo). The final result was an
absolutely
amazing, overwhelming hurricane of sound that first stunned and then
incited the crowd into furious applause.
In
an introduction to one song, Rhys promised we would be transported to
the rain forest and we were, complete with bird and insect song, all
for only $12.00. He promised we'd be back for work the next
day and,
sadly, we were.
LINKS
BBC Wales Reviews, quotes, biography....and much more BBC goodness.
9Bach The website of Lisa Jen's band 9Bach....hear all 4 tracks from their recent single "Pontypridd".
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Does Wales Need a .CYM? The campaign for a Welsh TLD. Disney Does St. Davids Day Disneyland Paris
will
stage a Welsh St. Davids Festival next year between
Feb 29th and March
2nd. An appreciation of the Google 'My Library' feature. Great Welsh sporting achievement! Bryn Seion 72nd annual Gymanfu Ganu. A Welsh literary resource page. | |
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Listed on Links Page and here:-One of the best Welsh American and ex-pat sites on the web A mixture of celtic eclecticism and humor. Highly recommended. An excellent site featuring a DVD movie recording of a tour around Wales in 2006. Merilang Excellent Welsh tuition site. French Russian and Spanish too! | |
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From the World Wide Web Cats That Look Like Hitler Bread Is Dangerous Welsh Toast Arranging Suicide Jumper Bottle Blade Mozart |