‘I didn't think I'd be able to sing in Welsh': artists' pride on show for music day
When it was launched a decade ago, Dydd Miwsig Cymru – Welsh-language music day – tended to be dominated by artists for whom Welsh (Cymraeg) was their first language.
But the 10th birthday celebrations this week highlight how many Welsh learners are now using Cymraeg in their work.
Aleighcia Scott, a reggae artist from Cardiff, has only been learning Welsh for three years but performs Bob Marley and Dawn Penn covers in Welsh and is about to release the first song of her own in the language – Dod O'r Galon, From the Heart.
'I worry I might maybe miss a couple of words but I'm also really proud while I'm singing in Welsh,' Scott told the Guardian. 'I've always been interested in the Welsh language and wanted to speak it, but I didn't think that I'd be able to. And then I had some not very nice comments: people told me that I was too black to be Welsh; I wasn't allowed to be Welsh.
'I realised there was obviously a gap in representation in the Welsh language for people of colour like myself. I started learning Welsh and found out a lot more about Wales and Welshness. I'm just really proud to be Welsh.'
Scott is about to be a coach on the Welsh-language television channel S4C's version of the show The Voice, (Y Llais). 'I'm excited to be part of what seems like to me a new wave of Welsh language music, which is really cool,' she said.
The soul singer Dionne Bennett, who sings the theme song for Y Lais, started learning Cymraeg in a virtual classroom.
She said: 'Welsh is a beautiful language and the cadence and rhythm of it reminds me of Jamaica, putting my mouth into different shapes and bringing out a different texture in my voice. As a black Welsh woman I wasn't sure how I'd be accepted, but I've been embraced.'
Over the past decade, the reach and influence of the Welsh language music scene has grown with artists and acts racking up millions of listens on streaming platforms and playing festivals across the world, becoming a gateway to the language.
Adwaith, from Carmarthenshire in south-west Wales, who were due to release a double album, Solas, on Friday, are emblematic of a new breed of young Welsh artists proud to perform in their language.
This year, Dydd Miwsig Cymru includes bands such as the Aberystwyth group Mellt heading to The Old Blue Last pub at Shoreditch, east London, for a gig while the Welsh record label, Sain Records, is releasing albums from its golden era of the 1970s and 80s on the day as part of the label's digitisation drive. An interactive gig map, Awni (we will go), has been launched.
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The Welsh government's cabinet secretary with responsibility for the Welsh language, Mark Drakeford, said: 'It's great to hear about the artists who have learned Welsh and are now creating music in the language. It's an inspiration to us all.'
The rapper Dom James, the first generation of his family to speak Welsh, said the rise of the learners was positive. 'We've had a lot of people come up to us who are not fluent Welsh speakers, who are learning, and they've said that listening to our music has made them feel like there's a place for them.
'I feel like in a lot of the history of the Welsh language there has been elitism. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being prideful, but it also feels like it's been hard to feel included sometimes. We want people to be able to feel like no matter what level they are, they are involved in the Welsh-speaking community. That's what we strive for.'
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