Evening star., 1924-10-04
MUSICAL OLYMP|AD
IS HELD IN WALES
Annual Festival of Music
Held Since 1919 Feature
of National Life.

with the Prlnce OF Wales as honor
guest, the Welsh have been holding
their national Eisteddfod, described
i'll press reports as the greatest song
and poetry festival in Great Britain. !"
What these "Olympic games of mu-
sic are is told in a communication to
the National Geographic Society from
Ralph A. Graves
The Eisteddfodau are among the
most distinctive and inspiring insti-
tutions. preserved for 1900 years by
the Welsh" he writes. They are the
famous FESTIVALS OF song, music and
poetry where the Welsh bards par
ticipate in contests comparable only
to those of the ancient Greeks, ex-
cept that here the competition is ex-
cluSively intellectual and artistic
with no place for athletics on the
program.
Held Since 1919.
"The national Eisteddfod has been
held annually since 1919, in Northern
Wales and Southern Wales alter
nately.
"A pretty story has survived con.
cerning an Eisteddfod held in the
sixth century, on the banks of the
Conway, when a prince of Northern
Wales, in order to prove the supe riority
of vocal music over instrumental, Of
!tl GU Il III iEc " the who
would swim across the river and
then compete. Those bards who had
harps found their strings wet when
they reached the scene of the com
petition, but the vocalists were in
perfect form and won easily.
"One of the spectacular feats at the
EisteddfOd is the 'pennillon' singing.
in which the poets compose their
songs after the harpist has begun his
melody. Zach poet in turn sings his
verse, beginning two measures behind
the harpist. but ending on the same
measure. The contestant who is able
to improvise worthy verses longest
wins one of the most cherished hon
ors of the festival
A Nation Of Singers.
Such contests have made the
welsh nation of singers. and the
rivalry between the various sections
is such that even underground the
coal miners are said to rehearse their
choruses for the coming Eisteddfod
And DR.. Daniel Brotheroe of Chicago
(born in Ystradgynlais), the Welsh
composer and conductor, is author
ity for the statement that immedi-
ately after the armistice, when the
allies were celebrating the end Of the
war, the Welsh soldiers decided
almost spontaneously upon a festival
of song, which was held on every bat
tie field where there was a Welsh
contingent in the line.
ILLUSTRATIVE of the Importance
which music plays in the life OF the
Welshman, there was r-time
ancedote which told of eight Britons
who were found in d dugout after a
12-hour bombardment. The two Irish
men were still fighting, the two
Scotchmen were holding a debate, the
EnGlishmen had not yet been intro
duced, but the two Welshmen were
busy organizing an oratorio society
Helps Perpetunte Language.
AT recent Eisteddfod held in the
village of Ammanford, South Wales,
there were more than $4,000 specta-
tors. including Welshmen who had
returned for the occasion from the
four corners of the world-from the
United States. from Canada, from
Australia and New Zealand from
India, Patas onia and even the Fiji
Islands.
The choruses, solos and contests
in poetry. history and criticism last
Tor several days and continue from
early morning until late at night.
The object of these grea. gather
lngS ls to perpetuate the Welsh
language, popularize Welsh litera-
ture. and afford the people the cui-
tural advantages of good music. How
effective they have been in maintain
ing the ancient language may be
judged from the fact that Cymric is
in every day use on all railway time
tables, in shops, in churches and other
public places: for although the pr1n-
cipality was peacefully absorbed into
the realm of the Tudor sovereigns
four centuries
people of Wales and Monmouthshfre
speak Only Welsh. while nearly a
third of the inhabitants speak botn
Welsh and English"