National Eisteddfod 'too elitist' and needs to modernise says columnist

Read my chapter in 'Culture: raise 'high, rethink 'low' (ed. Emma Buchanan 2020) for a similar view. Came out of an excellently curated and presented Bangor Uni. Conference. Chapter entitled 'The national Eisteddfod of Wales: A permanent feature in a changing landscape?'

I found Buck House Garden parties a bit elitist for me. I kept tripping over would be "Welsh" OBEs.

Two hundred events and activities seems pretty "fast lane" to me.

I am totally in favour of adding to the experience of the Eisteddfod and I accept all the positive suggestions Huw has made here. I feel that his messaging about cynghanedd, poetry and chairing ceremony is a little drastic. It can all exist in perfect harmony but do we really need invasive surgery and amputation at the National? There is a tradition here and it needs to be preserved and maybe augmented. Elitist? To me discos are elitist because, if you can’t dance well, you can’t get the girl! I wouldn’t want to get rid of them though. Lets have a discussion but let’s not be polemic about it. We all have too much to lose.

Oh gods of Cymru! Everything the “gut feeling” brigade hate has to be “elitist” now. There may well be an argument for bringing the Eisteddfod up to date. It’s still incredibly popular, so that might be a challenge. But infantile language won’t help

I don't see it as elitist at all, it is a great festival of Welsh culture 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

The first step to bring down the Eistedfodd is to change it. Why not just add some music to please the young?

The cynghanedd are at the distinctive core of Welsh culture. They are an incredibly intricate and delicate form of poem which requires disciplined composition of every syllable. They date back 1,500 years, long before any English literature existed. Such a tradition needs to be celebrated with pride. When I went to an Eisteddfod Genedlaethol I felt that pride, I loved the Heddwch! ceremony. A relatively modern construction by Iolo it's still deeply moving. But cynghanedd and Heddwch! were embedded in a wonderfully diverse event of so many Welsh cultures for all ages. Above all people were KIND and not Cymru snobbish about the language. By all means let's include modern stuff. Outdoor screens displaying the ceremonies for all to see would be great. A gaming centre would reflect how exciting Welsh gaming is. Awards and ceremony for those who do great things for our communities. But let us hold to the venerable strands of ancestral we have. People have fought for centuries to keep them alive against the forces of colonialism. I don't want a 'Welsh Glasto' as Chris so neatly puts it. I want an evolving Eisteddfod Genedlaethol  which honours past, present and future.

The Eisteddfod stages being like an “illegal rave”, sounds interesting!

It depends on what we mean by ‘elitist’. When I was a student at Cardiff High School for Girls in the’50s, the grandfather of a friend was a coal miner in the Rhondda who was highly respected because he had won the competition to write a hundred-line poem whose first line rhymes with the 100 th and so forth

This is a very perculiar perspective. The aim should be to add, not to detract. Add activities that broaden the appeal. Not to disparage the core components of poetry and music. Personally, I should like to see more of a "fringe" (Edinburgh style) growing around the Eisteddfod.

Needs to differentiate between niche and elitist. I find the Eisteddfod very niche but that's tough on me. I can't expect those who enjoy it to change just to cater for me or any number of others who are like me. If this niche doesn't appeal go away and set up something else. You can rest assured that it too will become niche, even elitist, in the fullness of time. Alternatively you could go away and read a book or trek through our countryside.

Mae'r syniad bod y gynghanedd yn elitaidd ac amhoblogaidd yn lol botas. Mae ornestau Ymryson y Beirdd yn llenwi'r Babell Lên pob dydd, gyda nifer o bobl yn cael gwrthod mynediad oherwydd diffyg lle yn y babell. Mae Talwrn y Beirdd yn parhau i fod yn un o raglenni mwyaf poblogaidd Radio Cymru ac mae llyfrau barddoniaeth Cymraeg yn gwerthu yn well, trwy Brydain, na llyfrau barddoniaeth Saesneg.

I'm not sure whether the term 'elitist' really carries much currency in the context of yr iaith Gymraeg, and it's a term overused, often by those who have some kind of grudge against the language: maybe some Cymry di-Gymraeg who have conflicting internal complexes about their own identity and lack of the language. My own feelings about the Royal Welsh for humans tend to fluctuate in sympathy with and between the sentiments expressed about the festival by fellow Cardis David R Edwards and Caradoc Evans. :D

Fe welais gyfraniadau Huw Onllwyn ar 'Am Dro!' S4C pa noson; i'm tyb i roedd ei agwedd at deithiau cerdded ei gyd-gyfranwyr yn tueddu at y negyddol y tro hwnnw hefyd, gan ymddangos ei fod yn gosod y 'modern' (Eingl-Americanaidd) fel y meincnod i'w efelychu o hyd. Fel 'dysgwr bondigrybwyll' (tebyg i f'athrawon Tedi Millward a'r diweddar Athro Bobi Jones) dwi'n ymfalchïo nad oes gennyf edefyn o frethyn 'elît' yn fy magwraeth na'm cynefin - ond y gwir yw mai'r Mabinogi a'r Hen Ganu (a'r frwydr dros y Gymraeg) a'm denodd at y Gymraeg. Roedd mynychu'r Eisteddfod yn rhan annatod o'r siwrne a'm diléit blynyddol yw crwydro Cymru yn ei dilyn ers hynny. Ry'n ni wedi gweld sylwadau o'r fath hyn ers y frwydr i sefydlu S4C a hyd yn oed cyn hynny - a sawl enwad sydd wedi gwagio eu haddoldai gyda chynlluniau newydd bob tymor i ddenu'r ifainc gyda'r dull 'modern'? (Heblaw am rai fel yr achosion efengylaidd 'bôring' o draddodiadol, sy'n llawn o bobl ifainc?). Dyma'r un syniadaeth sydd y tu ôl i alwadau cyson rhai gwleidyddion di-gymraeg am droi'r Eisteddfod, neu rannau ohoni, yn 'ddwyieithog' er mwyn 'lledu'r hapêl'. Y gwir yw, mae'r Eisteddfod yn moderneiddio o hyd - fel y gwŷr y rhai sydd wedi ei mynychu dros y degawdau (fel dysgwr y des i gyntaf oll yn y 70'au). Salwch corfforaethol yw ad-drefnu dall - mae angen arbrofi ond mae hybu, hyrwyddo ac esblygu'n llwyddo'n well na chwalu. Meddwl diog yw disodli'r 'hen' am beth bynnag sy'n ymddangos ei fod yn plesio'r ifanc achos mae'r rhai 'hŷn' ym mwynhau'r newydd hefyd, ac o blith mynychwyr 'Maes B' mae'r beirdd fydd yn sefyll ar eu traed i ganiad yr utgyrn! Mae'n fwy adnewyddol a mentrus i fuddsoddi ym mhotensial oesol y 'traddodiadol' i ddenu ac adfywio o genhedlaeth i genhedlaeth yn nwylo y rhai sy'n parchu ac yn caru'r etifeddiaeth honno. Os dirmygwn ein hetifeddiaeth ein hunain, cofiwch does neb yn gofyn am ragor o sorod.