Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Gareth Gwynn's Little Book Of Welsh Rock

If I've set this up correctly then this post should appear online just after Gareth Gwynn's Little Book Of Welsh Rock has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. 

If you missed it, don't worry - It is now available on the BBC Radio 4 website.

The show is a sort-of sequel to last year's Celtic Media Award Nominated Gareth Gwynn's Little Book Of Welsh Independence (also online, if you haven't heard it), and was an absolute joy to make.

Having said that, the programme has left a permanent mark on my record collection and could be the only radio show where the entirety of the presenter's fee ended up being ploughed back into records (That's proper records. Not downloads. My Welsh is very poor so I really need the lyric booklets). 

It was such a huge topic to cover, and our contributors all so helpful, the show could easily have been an hour - Hours, even. That's why I wanted to write this post, which acts as a cross between "References" and "Further reading".

First of all, I want you to stop what you are doing right now and enjoy Gareth Potter's fantastic S4C documentary "Gadael yr 20fed Ganrif". It's on YouTube and subtitled so you have no excuse.


As it is both about music and subtitled it looks like it was built to be broadcast on BBC Four on a Friday night - Like a cross between their usual Friday night music docs and The Killing. A ratings winner if ever I saw one.

Also, do seek out our impartial American, Sarah Hill's book " Blerwytirhwng? - ... " and if you want to hear a Mancunian take on all this, check out  Andy Vottel and James Hale's BBC Radio 4 documentary from a few years ago Free Wales Harmony.

And finally, a little sample of the sort of thing I'll undoubtedly now be trying to creep onto my BBC Radio Wales shows...