Mike Jenkins - Welsh Poet & Author
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IT'S  APPNIN, GOJ!

6/23/2014

1 Comment

 
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   A remarkable couple of weeks for many different reasons!
   Beginning with the viewing of the rough cuts of a documentary 'After Coal'. Directed by Tom Hansell and produced by Patricia Beaver of Appalachian State University, it goes back and fore between the coalfields of south Wales and Appalachian Mountains showing the parallels and divergences and focusing on vital cultural exchanges.
   Also, it draws attention to the ways in which those two communities are coping with the aftermath of coal-mining.
   It's an ambitious project and is still a way from being finished. I'm personally delighted that the music of Huw Pudner and Chris Hastings is included, after Tom attended one of our Open Mic nights in Merthyr and heard them there.
   After the showing there was some constructive criticism and an interesting point from one of the students there, who knew little about the strike in Wales and was fascinated to find out.
   I argued the case that the title is a misnomer, because we are very much living with the effects of coal today, in terms of vast opencast mines and private companies who ignore the wishes of many communities.
   Tom agreed and told us that strip-mining (the American term) was an equally contentious issue
in that area, but was far more divisive with more people seeing it as a job-provider.
  It was fitting that a week later I went to the 'Death of the valley' demo outside the Senedd in Cardiff, organised by the anti-opencast group United Valleys Action.
   Here a sombre and suitably attired procession, complete with coffin,fake vicar, bearers and Grim Reaper (da iawn Tog!) 
proclaimed the death of the Valleys, murdered by opencast.
   A petition was handed  to the Petitions Committee and it seemed like almost everyone did a speech or poem. The corpse was most eloquent!
   Bethan Jenkins AM (I declare an interest here) called for an all-Wales group to fight the scourge of opencasting and this seems essential.
   One man began the call for our local AM , shouting 'We want Huw! We want Huw!'........but no show, as always.
   He's probably doing an impersonation of our past MP Ted Rowlands, who always managed to keep a foot on both sides of the fence : against it on the west, in favour on the eastern slopes!
  
   Back to Merthyr and following the film we all went down High Street to the New Crown Inn for a jazz evening.
  There was a real mixture of ages, gender and nationalities ; music being the force of togetherness.
   Nobody can pretend that the town is always like this: there can be undoubted tensions and UKIP are on the rise in terms of votes. People still find it easier to blame their recently-arrived neighbours than address the true causes of banks,business and bullying politicians.
   Yet, for an evening, you could believe.
   A young band - made up from Merthyr pop group Moonbirds - took the stage and, though the drummer struggled with jazz, keyboard player and bassist were lively and sometimes adventurous.
   They also backed female vocalists Olga and Delyth McClean, who performed enchanting solo slots.
   I was just a bit disorientated. This was the very Crown where we used to hold benefits for CND and Anti-Apartheid in the 80s and 90s and also poetry readings. The voices of Ifor Thomas and Ian McMillan came at me from the walls like they were retro speakers of a verse juke-box.
   Walls had disappeared since then, just as they did that night between such diverse people. The Crown's a  genuine muso pub and it's definitely 'appnin Goj!'
   A momentous event for me ( apart from undergoing a gastroscopy) was giving a talk in Welsh
  to an enthusiastic bunch of advanced learners who are called Cymdeithas Soar.
   Previous guests had included the likes of Beti George and Hywel Gwynfryn
, so I was 'nerfus iawn iawn'.
   Well, I think I managed okay, interspersed with too many 'so's' and 'y'knows', though I especially enjoyed reading a few of my poems in Welsh to them and they were kind and receptive. It was certainly preferable to the medical test anyway!
   Here were like-minded people, devoted to our language and culture.....I shall certainly be joining them in future.

CYMYSG O BOBL 

 

Dim byd yn y ‘Western Mail’,

dim byd ar y radio neu teledu,

achos ‘sdim ffrae  yna

‘sdim angen i alw’r heddlu.

 

 

Dyn y bar o Bortiwgal

mae  Chicken Gizzards  ar y bwydlen,

cwpl o gariad o Wlad Pwyl

yn yfed seidr o beren.

 

 

Merch ddel iawn o’r Wcrain

ei lais yn dansio’r bossa nova,

bachgen sy’n canu’r gitar

fel adar lleuad ym Merthyr.

 

 

Dim son yn y papur lleol

ond rhannu dros facebook, twitter hefyd :

jazz yng Nghymraeg, cerddoriaeth Americanaidd,

cymysg o bobl yn y Goron Newydd.               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           A MIX  OF PEOPLE

 

 

Not a word in the ‘Western Mail’

or on radio or the television,

because there’s no fighting here

no need to call the policemen.

 

The barman comes from Portugal

there’s ‘Chicken Gizzards’ on the menu ,

a couple of lovers from Poland

drinking their pear cider brew.

 

A really pretty girl from Ukraine

whose voice is dancing the bossa nova,

the boy playing guitar with her

is one of the moon-birds from Merthyr.

 

Not a mention in the local press

yet shared on facebook and twitter,

jazz sung in Welsh and American music

in  the New Crown’s people-mixture.



1 Comment

WELSH MUSIC'S AMAZING,BUT IS ANYONE LISTENING?

6/16/2014

1 Comment

 
PictureJamie Bevan, live at The Imp in Merthyr
















   I've said it before, but this time I'll claim it without trepidation : Welsh music is happening!
   I've watched every programme in the last series of Jools Holland and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite the proliferation of very ordinary acts. Imelda May from Ireland may have been retro but was always thrilling and I enjoyed the dark but vibrant country of Hurray For The Riff Raff (a band which unintentionally plugs one of Loach's best films!).
  However, not one Welsh act featured, not even regulars the Stereophonics.
   Some may say - 'Well, there's not a lot out there, is there?'
   Except......there's a plethora of talent!
   Like literature and art (everything but world class footie players, in fact) Cymru just doesn't come into it.
   But maybe it's time to stop moaning about the London-based media and simply celebrate.
   In terms of bands we have three of the very best - like the era of Gorkys, Manics and Supper Furries - these being The Joy Formidable, Future of the Left and Paper Aeroplanes.
Like the days of Cwl Cymru, these represent north, south and west of the country.
   While average groups on the London scene such as Vampire Weekend and London Grammar gain all the plaudits, these three offer so much diversity and originality.
   While 'Wolf's Law', The Formidables second album doesn't quite match the spark of their first , there is still enough to excite. It opens powerfully with 'This Ladder Is Ours', but I was most impressed with the songs which stepped outside their characteristic driving rock. 'Silent Treatment' showed why they chose to cover Roy Orbison's 'It's Over' on a previous e.p. and 'Forest Serenade', 'The Turnaround' and the well-hidden title track, all prove there's so much more to the band, with poignant melodies and ever-intriguing lyrics.
   They hail from Y Wyddgrug/Mold and are due to release a series of e.p.'s in Welsh. The cover of one ,' Tynnu Sylw', is to be created by Merthyr artist Gus Payne.......I'm really looking forward to these.
   Cardiff's Future of the Left also branched out in their latest offering 'How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident'. While they maintain the bass-powered , raw sound and often surreal humour, there are interesting departures.
   The half-spoken, half-sung 'French Lessons' is actually a gentle song and 'Why Aren't I Going To Hell?' packs the spirit of Beefheart.....the most iconoclastic band since Datblygu.
   They're unique and very funny and would probably make Jools swallow his immaculate suit and spit it out.
   Milford Haven's Paper Aeroplanes reflect the west coast sound, with words about coast and sea just like Gorkys. Based around the harmonies and song-writing ability of Sarah Howells and Richard Llewellyn their latest album 'Little Letters
' is full of melancholy and songs about relationships, often failed ones. The exception is 'When The Windows Shook' an environmental song about their home town which manages to understand both sides of the story.
   Theirs is a folk-rock to rival the wonderful Thea Gilmore, with mood and tempo varied so subtly and words which are never sentimental.
   The Welsh language scene matches the one in English and, as with literature (writers like Jon Gower, Gwyneth Lewis and Graham Davies) some of the acts record bi-lingually.
   9Bach have just released their first album on Peter Gabriel's Real World label......Welsh language music becoming 'world', and why not?
   Once a straightforward folk band, they now explore an area of trip-folk which really suits the vocals of Lisa Jen. I love their combination of the traditional with echoes of Portishead and Massive Attack.
  They have given a re-birth to the harp , as has Aberystwyth's Georgia Ruth
. She moves freely from English to Welsh on 'Week of Pines' with traditional and country influences and the imagery of Aber prevalent.
   Merthyr alone boasts three Welsh language singer-songwriters , all of whom also sing in English at times.  They are very distinctive performers, with Jamie Bevan singing about the town and its characters, Kizzy Crawford (still only 18!) moving more into jazzy interpretations and Delyth McLean with a  voice which can soar to mountain top then drop to valley bottom :her new e.p. 'Lost in Sound' promises to show off this wide range.
   All this and I haven't even mentioned the astonishing Gruff Rhys with his concept of 'American Interiors' (album, film and book) which shouldn't work, but absolutely does : it's so funny, quirky and moving.
   Amazing times for Welsh music........but is anyone listening?


                                    WE  CAN  SING


All the Big People walk past us
ignoring us on their way somewhere else.

We're on the margins,
busking, selling magazines or juggling.

We can sing or recite a verse
and they might turn heads to listen.

We're glad of a few coins
dropped into our cloth caps.

At night we sleep under bridges,
in empty car-parks, hidden doorways.

We wrap ourselves in the flag,
but it's no woollen blanket.


The Big People meet to discuss
what to do with us :

need us there as a warning;
our questions disturb their success.





1 Comment

Dress-up Dave Is Back Agen

6/7/2014

0 Comments

 
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Bloody ell I seen im!
I seen im down town agen,
Dress-up Dave bin away frages
an ee wuz wearin a crown.


In-a Works lookin at cheapo books;
not jest any ol crown
but a proper We Three Kings one,
though ee ad is sewt on.


Almos sif ee wuz gettin back
to is ol ways afta time
underground or in Outer Space,
or  per'aps  an institution.


Not even a placard sayin
'Balthazar Dave' angin,
b
ut with all the glam an glitz
on is fancy ead-gear.


I seen im, Dress-up Dave,
ordinree up to is fore'ead
an then, a nest o jewels.
All ail King o the Presink!




0 Comments

Education  in Wales : a manifesto

6/3/2014

3 Comments

 
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    The Welsh education system is going through a  serious crisis.....and I'm not talking about dropping down international league tables or declining results at GCSE and A Levels.
   Focusing on schools , the damaging and aimless system  is a direct result of Labour misrule from Cardiff.
   Yet what have the opposition offered? Plaid Cymru have responded with a paucity of policies ranging from laptops for every teacher (we only ever got the cases for them!) and cutting summer holidays ; very unpopular with teaching unions and not necessarily beneficial to anyone.
Tories are predictably reactionary , while even the Lib Dems did advocate smaller class sizes.
   Former Education Minister Jane Davidson's prize policy of the Foundation Phase , which deploys many teaching assistants and involves a great deal of learning through play, is having disastrous consequences on early years literacy and numeracy.
   I can foresee its impending demise, because many teachers feel it has swung too far the other way and neglected the basics, meaning that many more pupils are struggling with reading, writing and maths.
   Pupils must now make the rapid and traumatic change from this to a tortuous testing regime.
   In the last month pupils from Years 1-9 have undergone tests imposed by the Welsh Assembly Government and therefore one of the main policies of Huw Le
wis, absentee AM for Merthyr and present Education Minister.
   These have been carried out to report back to parents, to check on schools and , above all, to prepare pupils for the international PISA tests. Wales has been slipping down the league, so these are very much 'testing for tests'.
   Ironically, this is at the very time when these tests have been criticised by numerous leading academics. Even in Shangai, which boasts the best results, they are questioning their validity.
   For once a Head is talking sense
  and Robin Hughes (Sec. of their union , ASCL Cymru) has questioned whether they are genuine reflections of intelligence, because they 'squeeze out innovation, creativity and resilience.'
   The experience of teachers in Wales reinforces this.
   The recent WAG tests (modeled on PISA ones) showed no attempt at differentiation in terms of ability, yet any teacher practicing this in class would be castigated .
   6 and 7 year olds are forced to do timed tests and are branded as failures from an early age. Even bright pupils have struggled with the reading matter and alien problem-solving (literally, in one case, with numerical problems involving aliens!).
   The language test for this age group contained material about sea shanties! Even the dreaded SATs were more child-friendly.
   Inevitably teachers are pressurised more and more into teaching towards these tests, thus wasting school time.
   No opposition parties have raised concerns about a system which is becoming frighteningly Govian.
   In the past I have put forward many proposals , often revolutionary. However, I believe the ten points of this manifesto are achievable and even a reformist party could adopt the majority of them.

1. Reduce all class sizes to 20. This is an absolute necessity and would lead to a dramatic improvement. Any teacher will tell you that more pupils can be given individual attention and behavioural problems are much easier to deal with.
2. All schools to be run as democracies, rather than dictatorships by Heads. Pupils and teachers to have the greater say in their running. Boards of Governors to consist of parents, teachers, pupils and locally elected representatives.
3 Introduction of choice in school clothing. Give pupils the right not to wear uniform if they want. For the sake of comfort, needless disciplinary time-wasting and expense, the abandonment of militaristic uniform makes sense, in line with most of Europe.
4. No Pass and Fail in exams, only degrees of achievement (originally the GCSE was intended to do this). Gradual return to the ascendency of coursework, with all of it done in school to avoid plagiarism (research done at home). This would give all pupils an incentive: at present far too many are failed at GCSE.

5. A Welsh national curriculum, but with the rest balanced between the global and local. To use literature as an example, the focus would be on Welsh writers in both languages, but there would be opportunities to study the likes of Brecht or Angelou and to research local writers.
6. Teachers rewarded for remaining in the classroom
; the opposite of the present situation , whereby progress is seen as leaving the classroom and becoming a 'manager'. With schools becoming democracies rather than being modeled on businesses, there would be less time in the classroom and more opportunities for staff to contribute to executive decision-making.
But the actual teaching would be paramount.
7. All inspections to be done internally or - in cases of concern - carried out by advisers. These advisers would be experienced teachers given sabbaticals to help any teachers through their problems, probation etc, produce resources, run useful courses and give exemplar lessons. Finance saved by the abolition of inspections could go towards the reduction of class sizes.
 8 The Foundation Phase replaced by a combination of learning through play and determined focus on literacy and numeracy. Those who continue who need the latter should receive help in both until they can access the rest of the curriculum. In other words, there's no point in a broad curriculum without being able to read, write and cope with the maths.
9. Creation of a fully comprehensive system by abolishing private schools. Education is a right not privilege and nobody should be able to buy their way into the upper echelons of society. This could be done by withdrawing charitable status from these institutions and stopping the Armed Forces from subsidising them ( when members are abroad they can send their children to them).
10. Investment in new technology a priority. The finance could come from a more balanced pay structure, with Heads etc virtually superfluous. Tablets for all pupils should be the aim and some schools do already deploy this system. Education does seem to lag behind the changes in society and this would make schools more appealing to young people.

   Giving 16 year olds the right to vote might well alter the priorities of our political parties, but I also think that politics should be studied in school , perhaps as part of PSE. Young people need to be aware of the various political philosophies on offer and make their own choices.
   Comparisons with Gove's iniquitous regime in England mustn't lull us into complacency. By stealth, we are in danger of heading the same way.


                            TESTING  FOR   TESTS


We're being tested again
so we can all do better
at the other, bigger tests.

These are the Welsh ones,
but they want us to do well
in something called PIZZA.

I can't wait for that :
mine's a pepperoni and sweetcorn
with thick crust and double cheese on top.

We're learning all the right tricks,
past papers and I'm only ten :
I'll pass them with garlic bread!

My Bamps says he did the 11 plus
and they were like performing seals ;
I imagine him flapping for sums.

My mam says - ' Don't take no notice!
It's on'y coz ee failed!'
But I think he talks sense.

Maybe they're offering us pizzas
because they want us to perform,
to leap through the hoops.

Sitting and sweating in the classroom,
letters and numbers like fleeing fish :
wish I could honk, wish I could swim.

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