Posts Categorized: Llangollen Online

World-famous Llangollen Eisteddfod strikes new note for 2021

International music and dance festival returns with specially commissioned new online cultural programme plus transformation of bridge into giant artwork

Online programme – Friday 9 – Sunday 11 July

Bridge artwork – Friday 9 – Wednesday 4 August

Image captions:

 Patchwork panels of ‘Bridges, Not Walls’ Llangollen Bridge artwork by artist Luke Jerram; Catrin Finch, harpist and composer (credit Jennie Caldwell); Rapper Magugu, recording track for Curiad Calon / Heartbeat with Horizons; Recording track for Curiad Calon / Heartbeat with Horizons: L to R: Lily Beau, Rachel K Collier, Rhys Grail (camera), Magugu

The world-famous Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod is returning this year with a diverse new cultural programme specially commissioned to celebrate the message of international peace and friendship on which it was founded over 70 years ago.

Held in Llangollen, a beautiful small town in north Wales every summer since 1947 – with the exception of 2020 when it was postponed due to the Covid pandemic – this year, the Eisteddfod will be largely held online, with the main programme presented free of charge over the weekend of the 9 – 11 July.

With funding support from Welsh Government, this year’s Eisteddfod will celebrate the broadest possible range of genres from classical, choral, hip hop, dance and world music, as well as Luke Jerram’s Llangollen bridge artwork, to connect with existing and new audiences in preparation for its physical return in 2022.

The 2021 Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod programme comprises:

A brand-new art installation by the world-renowned artist Luke Jerram, who is covering the grade 1 listed Llangollen bridge with a patchwork of fabrics representing Wales and countries that usually attend the Eisteddfod. Known for public art installations around the world including Museum of the Moon, Play Me, I’m Yours street pianos and Glass Microbiology sculptures depicting the coronavirus and its vaccine, this is his first commission in Wales. The artwork will remain in place until 5 August.

 

  • Tangnefedd by Paul Mealor and Mererid Hopwood

World-premiere of a new choral piece by Paul Mealor, one of the world’s most performed living composers and Mererid Hopwood, renowned Welsh poet and the first woman to win the National Eisteddfod Chair. The performance will feature choirs from around the world that have successfully competed at the Eisteddfod, from the UK, US and Africa. In the Welsh language, Tangnefedd means the result of bringing together two elements in peace and harmony.

 

  • Curiad Calon/Heartbeat with Horizons (BBC/ACW), Rachel K Collier, Magugu and Lily Beau

A new dance track commissioned for Llangollen Eisteddfod by up-and-coming electronic producer and performer Rachel K Collier, Nigerian-born, avant-garde rapper Magugu and talented young Welsh singer-songwriter and actress Lily Beau. The track is designed to inspire the Eisteddfod international music and dance community and wider public to respond with their own moves on social media. It’s also a world first of combining the English, Welsh and Nigerian Pidgin Rap languages!

 

  • Catrin Finch and Guests

A new musical composition exploring the peace message with internationally renowned harpist and composer Catrin Finch, pioneering beatboxer and rapper Mr Phormula (Ed Holden), British Asian musician and tabla player Kuljit Bhamra, Eliza Marshall and Nick Ellis on Bansuri, Lee House, electronics and RAV drum and the refugee and asylum seeker Oasis One World Choir, from Cardiff.

 

  • Beth Yw Heddwch?/What is Peace? schools project

Project exploring children’s thoughts about peace through the written word, dance, movement and drama sessions involving 1,000 pupils from three schools from Rhyl, Llanberis and Llangollen. A creative video will be produced and an exhibition of postcards expressing children’s views about peace will be displayed throughout the town.

 

  • Peace Pavilion Programme

A thought-provoking programme of talks and activities with Academi Heddwch Cymru exploring peace and peacebuilding. The programme includes ‘The Peace Lecture’ given by Begoña Lasagabaster, UN Women Chief of Leadership and Governance Section; ‘The Art of Peacebuilding’; ‘Peace Poems’ and much more. For young people, this series includes virtual cultural exchange and the Young Peacemakers Awards ceremony. [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/academi-heddwch-cymru-33667861775]

 

This year’s digital Llangollen Eisteddfod will feature videos of the world premiere performances, many filmed in the town itself. On Saturday night, there will be a performance of Tangnefedd by a mass choir, some appearing digitally from across the world and others on stage in the pavilion where the Eisteddfod is usually staged, just outside the town. People living locally, in Wales and around the world are invited to explore the programme, free of charge, at https://international-eisteddfod.co.uk/.

Betsan Moses, interim chief executive of the Llangollen Eisteddfod for 2021 is leading the creation of a fresh, diverse, world-class cultural programme to connect with both new and existing audiences, after last year’s event was postponed.

She says: “The Llangollen Eisteddfod was founded on the idea of bringing peace and this year’s cultural programme expresses what it stands for; peace, creativity and togetherness. We’re looking forward to sharing a varied and inspiring programme of events online this year, with an array of world-class performers across musical and artistic genres and exciting new commissions to delight both existing and new audiences across the globe.

“The beautiful town of Llangollen, which normally sees up to 35,000 visitors during the Eisteddfod, will also play host to the visitors that come to see the transformation of Llangollen Bridge into a giant artwork by Luke Jerram, clothed in a patchwork of fabrics from around the world.”

Archive FlipBook

This compilation of posters shown in the Eisteddfod Archive Tent between 2016 and 2019 gives a very short factual history of the festival. It’s based only on verified records. This year we’ve turned them into a flip book which can be viewed for free HERE or downloaded as a booklet from AMAZON.

You’ll find a timeline reporting the main changes which the Llangollen International Eisteddfod has gone through, and why: from the first glimmerings of the concept through to the very different world of the 21st century. It tells you about a few of the topics for which the Eisteddfod is famous, like its floral displays. It includes a bit of what other people have written about the festival, particularly in the early years. You can understand the transformation of the Eisteddfod finances during the inflation and depression of the 1970s. And it’s packed with wonderful photographs.

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The First International Eisteddfod 1947: Movietone Newsreel

The eight minutes and twenty seconds of this film are a unique audiovisual record of the first festival in 1947. You’ll see and hear the winning choirs. You’ll share the excitement with the audience packed into the marquee, made from war surplus canvas with 6000 seats borrowed from schoolrooms, chapels and elsewhere round the area. The first President, Mr W. Clayton Russon, articulates the Eisteddfod’s concept of how an international musical competition can help promote better understanding and friendly relations between people of different nations. The stage presenters, borrowed in 1947 from the Welsh National Eisteddfod, are busy and down-to-earth, just as they are now.
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Oscar-winning director makes a film about the Llangollen Eisteddfod

“The World Still Sings” is a documentary film of the 1964 International Eisteddfod, directed by Jack Howells and produced jointly by Howells’ own company and the Esso Petroleum Company, Ltd. In 1962, Howells won an Academy Award for his documentary of Dylan Thomas, and at the time of the Eisteddfod film he was working for ITV on a film about Aneurin Bevan. By opting to film the Llangollen Eisteddfod he placed the festival firmly in the pantheon of Welsh icons.

The title responds to lines from Dylan Thomas’s 1953 radio broadcast about the Llangollen festival:

“Are you surprised that people still can dance and sing in a world on its head? The only surprising thing about miracles, however small, is that they sometimes happen.”

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The Audio Archive

There have been audio recordings since the first Llangollen Eisteddfod in 1947. In the part of our Archive currently held in the LIME Pavilion, we have a recording of the Coedpoeth Youth Choir singing ‘Robin Ddiog’ (or ‘Lazy Robin’) during the 1947 Eisteddfod. The sound quality is not brilliant, but for just over a minute, we go back in time, and listen to this young group entertaining their audience, which erupts in applause at the end. (more…)

Archiving the Past

We were looking forward to meeting you all at this year’s Eisteddfod and sharing our vision for the Archiving the Past project. As this is sadly not possible, we have put together a number of blogs to create a virtual Archive Tent this year to tell you more about it.

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Llangollen Online presents special message from HRH The Prince of Wales plus online premiere of Global Peace Message as part of ‘Eisteddfod Week’ programme

Last month, we launched ‘Llangollen Online’ #connectingtheworld, a digital offering to bring together our global community following the postponement of this year’s festival. Next week, in what would have been ‘Eisteddfod Week’, we have a programme of online activity to give a flavour of the International Eisteddfod to the many participants and visitors who usually descend on our picturesque Denbighshire town each July.

Prince Charles at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod dancing with Sheerer Punjabi Dancers

On Tuesday 7 July, to open the week, there will be a special message from LIME’s patron, HRH The Prince of Wales. It continues a long relationship between The Prince of Wales and the International Eisteddfod, which he has visited three times. During the most recent visit in 2015, The Prince was famously coaxed into dancing with members of a Punjabi bhangra group from Nottingham, the Sheerer Punjabi Dancers, as he waved off the traditional Parade of Nations.

On Thursday 9 July, as part of the festival’s traditional ‘Peace Day’, online audiences will be treated to the premiere of a Global Peace Message. The main feature will be a relayed spoken word performance of a specially commissioned poem, Harmoni a Heddwch, written by Mererid Hopwood. Those taking part in the message include LIME President Terry Waite plus children from Ysgol Rhostyllen, St Giles School Wrexham and Ysgol Dinas Bran. The online premiere will also present the first performance of a new piece of music, sung by Wrexham soprano, Elan Catrin Parry, with words by Hopwood and music by Edward-Rhys Harry.

Edward-Rhys Harry, Artistic Director of LIME, says “We are delighted to open the week on Tuesday with a message from HRH The Prince of Wales. With Tuesday traditionally being our Children’s Day, we will also have the online premiere of our Children’s Day Message of Peace, elements of which will be included in our Global Peace Message on Thursday.

This is the first time we have ever done anything like this and we are all so excited to be able to share it online with our international community. It has been amazing to have Mererid Hopwood create a new poem for us that has captured the essence of our festival, and we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of others who have given their time to help us create Llangollen Online. We feel very humbled and grateful and hope people enjoy the ‘flavour of Llangollen’ this year.”

Mererid Hopwood is a Welsh poet, who in 2001 became the first woman ever to win the bardic Chair at the National Eisteddfod, the Crown in 2003 and the Prose Medal in 2008. She was the Bardd Plant (Children’s Poet) in 2005. Nes Draw, her first collection of poetry won the 2016 Wales Book of the Year Welsh Poetry category and was selected to the Wales Literature Exchange 2016 Bookcase. She is currently Professor of Languages and the Welsh Curriculum at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

Over the past 4 weeks, people have been voting via Llangollen.TV for their favourite performances and moments from the last 25 years, from footage showcasing performers from 57 different countries and well over 10,000 competitors. Tens of thousands of people have voted in five categories and the winners will be announced live on S4C’s daily show Prynhawn Da as well as on Llangollen.TV every day during what would have been Llangollen 2020’s ‘Eisteddfod Week’ from Tuesday 7 to Saturday 11 July.

The week will also include the Young Peacemakers Awards, in association with the Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA), an online premiere of the Children’s Day Message by Chris Dukes with local school children from Ysgol Bryn Collen, Llangollen and St Joseph’s Catholic & Anglican High School, Wrexham, and competitor messages from across the globe.

‘Eisteddfod Week’ will culminate in a 90 minute documentary on S4C on Sunday 12 July at 7.30pm, featuring some of the most memorable moments from the past 25 years.

Audiences can relive Llangollen 2019 with a special broadcast of last year’s highlights programme to be shown on BBC TWO Wales on Sunday 12 July at 6.30pm.

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Key Moments for the Week
Online Premiere: Children’s Day Message – Tuesday 7 July at 11am on YouTube/Website
Young Peacemakers Awards: Thursday 9 July on Website
Online Premiere: Global Peace Message – Thursday 9 July at 11am on YouTube/Website
Online Vote Winners: S4C’s Prynhawn Da, Tue-Fri, 2pm, Llangollen.TV Tue-Sat , 2pm
2019 Highlights – BBC TWO Wales, Sunday 12 July 2020, 6.30pm
Special Documentary – on S4C , Sunday 12 July 2020 at 7.30pm

Free to view across the follow digital platforms

Llangollen.net
Llangollen.TV
YouTube/Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod
S4C/ S4C Click

International Eisteddfod announces Llangollen Online

#ConnectingtheWorld
1 June – 11 July 2020

The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (LIME) is delighted to announce Llangollen Online #connectingtheworld, which will be free to view and runs from today until 11 July, to ensure we are staying home together but continue to promote a connected international community during the current difficult times.

In March, the International Eisteddfod announced the postponement of 2020’s festival due to the global pandemic of COVID-19. Determined to give an International Eisteddfod experience, it was clear that there needed to be some way for our international community of participants, performers, visitors and volunteers to stay connected and come together through these hard times.

LIME Artistic Director, Edward-Rhys Harry said: “It felt vital to bring our global community together to share music and dance and of course, continue a message of peace and harmony. Normally at this time of year, our staff, volunteers and local community are working full speed to deliver the festival, and we have also had lots of messages from overseas participants telling us how much they are missing us and the experience. So in some way we wanted to be able to connect and share on a different platform this year as best we can.”

From today (1 June) working in collaboration with media partners, Rondo Media, audiences will be able to watch competitions and vote online for their favourite moment via the Llangollen.TV platform. The archive footage will be presented in five categories: Mixed, Chamber and Youth Choirs; Single Voice and Barbershop Choirs; Children’s Choirs; Folk Groups and Choirs; and Adult and Youth Dance. Vote winners in each category will be announced daily during Eisteddfod week (7-11 July).

Gareth Williams, Rondo Media said “Over the past few weeks, we’ve been going through the Eisteddfod archive which includes 25 years of footage showcasing performers from 57 different countries and well over 10,000 competitors. In 2019, leading up to Eisteddfod week, we held an online voting competition to find the Choir of the World Champions. It proved to be hugely popular and so we knew there was appetite amongst our core International Eisteddfod audiences for something similar. We have also been working with S4C for many years to share the International Eisteddfod with audiences beyond Llangollen and across the whole of Wales. Combining online competitions with the documentary felt like a good way to give a Llangollen Eisteddfod experience with a difference during these difficult times globally.”

During Eisteddfod week, audiences can look forward to new content to complement the archive footage. This includes Heddwch a Harmoni: Byd gwâr yw ein byd o gân, lines by renowned Welsh poet, Mererid Hopwood, which focus on the Eisteddfod’s founding principles, namely the aim of bringing international communities together in peace and harmony.

Edward-Rhys Harry said, “There is a whole host of activity surrounding this, on Tuesday, the Peace Message will be children and youth-centric, so will, in effect, replace the Children’s Day message this year. The Thursday message will be centred around several major events: a message from our President Terry Waite, the new commission by Mererid Hopwood, who will help narrate this, along with a number of our volunteers, children and other participants, and a song of peace and hope.”

Voting opens today on Llangollen.TV and closes on 30 June 2020. More details of the programme and events will be released over the coming weeks.

 

Llangollen Online  – presented in partnership with Rondo Media 

Llangollen.TV 2020 is sponsored by Linguassist