Dafydd Iwan
Encyclopedia
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
(2003-2010).
Dafydd Iwan Jones was born in Brynaman
Brynamman
Brynamman is a village sitting on the south facing side of the Black Mountain, part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The village is split in two into Upper Brynamman and Lower Brynamman by the River Amman which also acts as the boundary between the counties of Carmarthenshire and Neath Port...
in Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
, Wales, and is the elder brother of politician Alun Ffred Jones
Alun Ffred Jones
Alun Ffred Jones is a Welsh politician and member of Plaid Cymru. Jones was the National Assembly for Wales Member for Caernarfon 2003–07 and for the newly created Arfon constituency since the National Assembly for Wales election, 2007....
. He spent most of his youth in Bala
Bala, Gwynedd
Bala is a market town and community in Gwynedd, Wales, and formerly an urban district of the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies at the north end of Bala Lake , 17 miles north-east of Dolgellau, with a population of 1,980...
in Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
before attending the University of Wales, Cardiff
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...
where he studied architecture. He rose to fame as a singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, writing and playing folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
in the Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
.
Musical career
Dafydd Iwan's earliest material was Welsh translations of tunes by American folk / protest singers: Woody GuthrieWoody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. Soon enough, Dafydd Iwan commanded the initiative to write his first ballads. The most prominent of these were political. His most famous satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
song, "Carlo" ("Charlie"), was written on the occasion of the investiture
Investiture
Investiture, from the Latin is a rather general term for the formal installation of an incumbent...
of the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
in 1969.
It should be noted, however, that Dafydd Iwan was equally at home writing love ballads and variations on traditional Welsh folk tunes.
By the late 1960s he was receiving television coverage both for his music and for his political activities, including being imprisoned in 1970 as part of the fight for Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
rights, an event commemorated in his song Pam fod eira'n wyn? ("Why is snow white?")
During the 1970s, Dafydd Iwan's political interests (and songs) took in such themes as Pinochet's Chile
Chile under Pinochet
Chile was ruled by a military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet from 1973 when Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup d'etat until 1990 when the Chilean transition to democracy began. The authoritarian military government was characterized by systematic suppression of political parties and...
; Welsh Devolution; the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and the Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
. His inherent internationalism continued in following decades, as his songs mention events such as the Tiananmen Square massacre
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
(1989), the Gulf War (1990) and opencast mining in the south Wales valleys (1995). His biggest hit to date, "Yma O Hyd
Yma o Hyd
Yma o Hyd is a patriotic song in the Welsh language released by Dafydd Iwan in 1981. The historian and politician Dr. Gwynfor Evans is said to have given him the idea for the song....
" ("Still Here"), released in 1981, has become a favourite of most Welsh folk music fans
In 1982 and 1983, Dafydd Iwan embarked on two momentous tours (and accompanying records) with the folk group Ar Log
Ar Log
Ar Log are a well-established folk band in Wales who have performed since the 1970s. They perform both instrumental music and songs in Welsh. Their name in Welsh means For Hire....
. The standard of Ar Log's musicianship raised Dafydd Iwan's own performance to new heights. Indeed, it was the success of Ar Log which persuaded Dafydd Iwan to continue in a musical capacity, entertaining small venues (clubs, village halls, Eisteddfod events, Plaid Cymru nights etc.) throughout Wales.
Around the turn of the millennium, Dafydd Iwan signalled an end to regular performances, although he remains an occasional performer on an ad hoc basis. It was fitting by many fans that the end of his career should coincide roughly with the establishment of an elected National Assembly for Wales
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
and the beginning of a new generation in Welsh politics.
Public life
Dafydd Iwan was one of the founders of Recordiau SainSain
Sain , in full – Recordiau Sain Cyf is a Welsh record label, which was in the Welsh folk revival....
Cyf (Sain Records Ltd), one of the main Welsh music labels, a business he still manages today.
Formerly a Plaid Cymru councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
in Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
he lost his seat in the May 2008 local elections
United Kingdom local elections, 2008
The 2008 United Kingdom local elections were held on 1 May 2008. These elections took place in 137 English Local Authorities and all Welsh Councils....
. He blamed his defeat on a dirty tricks campaign by his opponents.
Iwan's long service to the Welsh language led to his being made an honorary member of the Gorsedd
Gorsedd
A gorsedd plural gorseddau, is a community or coming together of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is occasionally spelled gorsedh , or goursez in Brittany....
of Bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
s at the National Eisteddfod at Bangor
Bangor, Wales
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...
in 1971.
Iwan escaped a driving ban (for speeding offences) in October 2003 on the basis that he needed to drive for his musical and political duties. This incident led the satirical Private Eye magazine to question "Is Plaid Cymru a political party or a racing team?"
Iwan became President of Plaid Cymru in 2003. He is regarded as a unifying force within the party in the context of several damaging internal splits in recent years.
As part of his campaign seeking re-election as President of Plaid Cymru, Iwan launched a campaign blog 'Dafydd 4 President' in July 2008.
On 22nd October 2011, Dafydd and his wife Bethan came to watch the Welsh derby, Wrexham FC vs Newport County AFC. Dafydd sang his hit song ' Yma O Hyd ' infront of a crowd of 4,000 before the teams came out. He was invited to sing by the new Wrexham FC Supporters Group named ' Yma O Hyd ' named after his great song.
Albums (in rough chronological order)
- Yma Mae 'Nghân (1972)
- Mae'r Darnau yn Disgyn i'w Lle (1976)
- Carlo a Chaneuon Eraill (1977)
- 20 o Ganeuon Gorau
- I'r Gad (1977)
- Bod yn Rhydd (1979)
- Ar Dan (Live) (1981)
- Rhwng Hwyl a Thaith (with Ar Log) (1982)
- Yma o Hyd (With Ar Log) (1983)
- Gwinllan a Roddwyd (1986)
- Dal I Gredu (1991)
- Caneuon Gwerin (1994)
- Cân Celt (1995)
- Y Caneuon Cynnar (Early recordings) (1998)
- Yn Fyw Cyfrol 1 (Live album) (2001)
- Yn Fyw Cyfrol 2 (Live Album) (2002)
- Goreuon Dafydd Iwan (2006)
- Man Gwyn (Songs about the early Welsh emigration to Patagonia and North America) (2007)
- Dos I ganu (2009)
Further references
- E. Wyn James, 'Painting the World Green: Dafydd Iwan and the Welsh Protest Ballad', Folk Music Journal, 8:5 (2005), pp. 594–618.http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/insrv/libraries/scolar/digital/welshballads/painting.html
- C. Fowler, 'Representations of nationalism in the music of Dafydd Iwan', 'Folklore and Identity' Celtic Folk Studies Conference, Cardiff University School of Welsh, 22 July 2005.
- Llion Iwan (ed.), 'Dafydd Iwan : bywyd mewn lluniau : a life in pictures'. Llandysul, Ceredigion, Cymru : Gomer Press, 2005. ISBN 1-84323-488-2. (Welsh and English)