(2005-Current)
I have been collecting 45 rpm vinyl records for many years, the criteria for my collection is that each individual record is culturally specific to Wales.
This is an archive of kitsch imagery and popular song, democratic and inclusive of all musical styles.
These packaged artifacts are cultural relics, archaeological markers of cultural history. Iorwerth Peate founder of St Fagans would approve of their redefined status as vernacular folk art. They are preserved time capsules, unselfconscious folk art that reveal an era of yearning to express cultural identity and to celebrate Welshness. Nostalgia, the naïve, innocence, the idiosyncratic, passion and celebration of amateur values are all here. The records are full of living history with personal and group biography, stories, dreams, hopes and anxieties. They become triggers for memory and emotion.
This grouping becomes an historical archive delineating a cultural period between Jac a Will (circa 1958) until the late 70’s. The musical themes and lyrics express the cultural values of the nation. A cultural shift takes place from conformist values; the nostalgic and sentimental - celebration of nation, land, family, community and bible, to a bold and confident political, individualistic, self expressive and psychedelic themes as sung by Huw Jones, Dafydd Iwan, Heather Jones, Tebot Piws and Meic Stevens. Music in Wales as evidenced here is expansive in style, form and expression. It is a plural and multicultural activity with Paul Robeson, Iris Williams and Shirley Bassey contributing to the Welsh musical tradition. This defines modernism in a specific cultural and marginal context. Telepops Y Cymro is about Wales becoming modern and expressive. Here are the vinyl bones of a nation singing for its survival and with open voice singing itself into existence and self-awareness.
> Film
The Groove, DJ Night at Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Carmarthen, 2011> Installations
READ - Renee Sparks’ Story
‘Chillout’, Photograph of Ivor Roberts Jones’ bronze of
Kyffin Williams head 1959. Archival Digital Print 46 x 34 cm, 2009
Installation of The Groove at Sight and Sound Exhibition, National Galleries and Museums Wales, 2009.
Mixing ‘The
Groove’ Soundtrack for web broadcast, 21st April 2019 as part of my
contribution for the Diffusion 2019, ‘Sound and Vision’ Festival.
Yr
Gwanwyn, Hogiau’r Wyddfa (The Snowdon Boys), record buried on Snowdon Mountain,
Wales, Performance activity, 2015
Installation
of ‘The Groove’, Brought to Light exhibition, juxtaposition of Welsh language
records with Ivor Roberts Jones’ bronze of Kyffin Williams head. Oriel Mostyn
Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, 2005
Western
Mail art review, Eisteddfod 2005, Peter Finnemore winning gold medal in Fine Art,
digital collage
(2005-Current)
I have been collecting 45 rpm vinyl records for many years, the criteria for my collection is that each individual record is culturally specific to Wales.
This is an archive of kitsch imagery and popular song, democratic and inclusive of all musical styles.
These packaged artifacts are cultural relics, archaeological markers of cultural history. Iorwerth Peate founder of St Fagans would approve of their redefined status as vernacular folk art. They are preserved time capsules, unselfconscious folk art that reveal an era of yearning to express cultural identity and to celebrate Welshness. Nostalgia, the naïve, innocence, the idiosyncratic, passion and celebration of amateur values are all here. The records are full of living history with personal and group biography, stories, dreams, hopes and anxieties. They become triggers for memory and emotion.
This grouping becomes an historical archive delineating a cultural period between Jac a Will (circa 1958) until the late 70’s. The musical themes and lyrics express the cultural values of the nation. A cultural shift takes place from conformist values; the nostalgic and sentimental - celebration of nation, land, family, community and bible, to a bold and confident political, individualistic, self expressive and psychedelic themes as sung by Huw Jones, Dafydd Iwan, Heather Jones, Tebot Piws and Meic Stevens. Music in Wales as evidenced here is expansive in style, form and expression. It is a plural and multicultural activity with Paul Robeson, Iris Williams and Shirley Bassey contributing to the Welsh musical tradition. This defines modernism in a specific cultural and marginal context. Telepops Y Cymro is about Wales becoming modern and expressive. Here are the vinyl bones of a nation singing for its survival and with open voice singing itself into existence and self-awareness.
> Film
The Groove, DJ Night at Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Carmarthen, 2011> Installations
READ - Renee Sparks’ Story
‘Chillout’, Photograph of Ivor Roberts Jones’ bronze of
Kyffin Williams head 1959. Archival Digital Print 46 x 34 cm, 2009
Installation of The Groove at Sight and Sound Exhibition, National Galleries and Museums Wales, 2009.
Mixing ‘The
Groove’ Soundtrack for web broadcast, 21st April 2019 as part of my
contribution for the Diffusion 2019, ‘Sound and Vision’ Festival.
Yr
Gwanwyn, Hogiau’r Wyddfa (The Snowdon Boys), record buried on Snowdon Mountain,
Wales, Performance activity, 2015
Installation
of ‘The Groove’, Brought to Light exhibition, juxtaposition of Welsh language
records with Ivor Roberts Jones’ bronze of Kyffin Williams head. Oriel Mostyn
Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, 2005
Western
Mail art review, Eisteddfod 2005, Peter Finnemore winning gold medal in Fine Art,
digital collage