Cymru!!

Today Ken and I went to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and, of course, focused on the Wales/Cymru section.

It was as awesome as I'd hoped. We rushed to get there in time for the Welsh male choir (can't have any kind of a Welsh cultural festival without a male choir!) This particular group, Only Men Aloud, takes the tradition and updates it with contemporary arrangements and a bit of choreography. The intent is to get younger people (both singers and audiences) interested in the tradition and to keep it going. And, of course, to make phenomenal music! We got there halfway through their first song, a traditional hymn. What a range of music they did! Hymns, traditional Welsh folk songs, "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?," "Goldfinger," and more! They finished with "Don't Rain on My Parade"

We also heard two wonderful Welsh harpists playing on the traditional harp, which has three rows of strings. As one of the musicians said, "fiendishly difficult and complex, just like me." I leaned toward Ken and said, "like all Welshmen." So beautiful. The woman--Sian, I think her first name was, had a lovely soprano voice and sang some traditional folk songs as she played. Mostly about being unlucky in love (probably The Most Common Traditional-Song Theme) but there was a fun one about counting goats.

For lunch we each had a delicious bowl of cawl--lamb and vegetable stew that included leeks, the Welsh national vegetable. Ken also had the fantastic Welsh beer (he can't remember the name, how sad!)

Then we browsed the Welsh traditions tents: language, pottery, textiles (some beautifully woven wool blankets and lovely quilts), stonework (we watched a man chisel calligraphy-style letters in slate) and other crafts. Ken talked with a genealogist about his Grandpa Chandler, and we found his birth record and his ship manifest for his emigration to Canada online.

We bought ourselves good wool socks--made by Corgi, "by royal appointment to the Prince of Wales." Princes William and Edward wear their colorful socks (I got taupe ones with teal-green polka dots; Ken got black with teal heel, toe and top-trim)

A wonderful, wonderful day, and a great time to enjoy an ethnic heritage we share, thanks to Dad Jenkins and Mom Chandler!