Welsh Journals

'Yn y Fro': Mudiad Adfer and Welsh Popular Song during the 1970s PWYLL AP SION Un o'r pethau pwysicaf ynglyn ag Adfer yw ei fod yn mynd i ryddhau egni creadigol y bobl Gymreig. [One of the most important things about Adfer is that it's going to release the creative energy of the Welsh people.] Dychwel, dychwel, fy mrawd, i wladychu/ o nos y brifddinas2 [Return, return, my brother, to recolonize/ from the night of the capital city] Tyrd i chwilio am y golau hyfryd/ Yn y Gorllewin3 [Come and look for the wonderful light/ In the West] My aim in this article is to provide a context for the development of Welsh rock music during the 1970s through identifying some of the textual and musical themes of certain songs. In order to do this I will assess the influence of nationalist movements on popular culture, fo- cusing in particular on Mudiad Adfer ('The Restoration Movement'). Adfer emerged at the beginning of the seventies at a particularly important and changeable moment in Welsh social history. But the events of the seventies were defined through and by means of the 1960s. It is with this decade, then, that I shall begin. During the 1960s a keen spirit and resolve to stand up for the rights of the Welsh language and its values was reawakened among a new generation of young activists. This revival resulted in many fundamental and far-reaching political, legal and social reforms for Wales. The activities and protests of movements such as Cymdeithas yr Iaith ('The Welsh Language Society') and later on, Mudiad Adfer, contributed to these changes, and at the same time their impact had a direct effect on some wider aspects of Welsh culture. One medium that became imbued with an increased power and potency of expres- sion during this time was Welsh popular song. The manner in which