Friday Night in Llanfair­pwllgwyn­gyllgo­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llanty­silio­gogo­goch

Well it's Welsh night and despite the howls of protest from the haters, herewith the incomparable Sir Tom Jones.  No throwing of knickers at the screen please ladies.

When Tom became a star in the UK he was referred to as "Jones the voice" and this is how I still think of him.  It was common in rural Wales, where eight out of ten people have the surname Jones, to identify them (menfolk in particular) by their vocation.  Thus we have Jones the blacksmith, Jones the butcher, Jones the pitman.

And now, Jones the voice:



I don't remember ever not knowing who Dame Shirley Bassey was, she was there throughout my childhood. An exotic, mysterious, and somewhat scandalous star who hailed from one of the most depraved areas of Wales, Tiger Bay. She wasn't scandalous because of her behaviour but because of her birth. She was referred to as a "half-caste" having a white mother, who appeared to have a number of children "out of wedlock" and a black merchant seaman father. The illegitimate, dark skinned singer also had a moniker, "The Girl from Tiger Bay"



Moving away from the dinosaurs, a couple of contemporary Welsh artists. Fflur Dafydd is an author, songwriter and singer. The words to this song are based on St. Paul's First letter to the Corinthians and the music is composed by Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse written for his song "I Don't Want To Talk About It". I think it's stunningly beautiful. Faith, Hope, Love.



And to round out the night a passionate and rousing version of Welsh patriotism as expressed in the song Yma O Hyd which I've seen variously translated as "Here For Ever", "Still Here" and "Here Still". Sung by Ryhdian, a young man who finished second in the 2007 British X Factor show. But don't let that colour your judgement, he's fabulous.