Euro 2016 inspired James to learn Welsh and start Welsh music podcast

James Cuff is from Ely in Cardiff. James couldn’t speak Welsh and didn’t know much about Welsh music until he travelled to the Euros in 2016 to support the Welsh team.

In the midst of the excitement of the competition, he began to feel a little ashamed and sad that he could not speak Welsh – and he decided that he would like to learn the language.

In a few years, it was time to choose a school for his eldest child, Amelie. He and his wife decided they would like her to go to a Welsh-medium school. And that’s when James started learning Welsh.

Around the same time, James came across new Welsh groups such as Los Blancos, Alffa and Adwaith through the Elis James and John Robins programme on BBC Radio 5 Live. It was an eye opener for him.

He said, “After hearing some of the new Welsh bands, my friend and I started a podcast to celebrate Welsh music – I wanted to share old and new music with other people, especially Welsh-language music.

“Through the podcast, I’ve been able to interview some of the stalwarts of the Welsh music scene such as Yws Gwynedd, Pat Datblygu, Rhys Mwyn and the guys from the Super Furries. Everyone has been so supportive – Yws in particular. He opened several doors for me to chat with different people within the music scene in Wales.

“I also write articles about Welsh music for football fanzine, Alternative Wales. When Emyr ‘Ankst’, founder of the Ankst record label, died, I wanted to write an article in English about him as there were plenty of people writing about him in Welsh – and I had conversations with Gruff Rhys, Lisa Gwilym, Mark Roberts, Efa Supertramp, Alun Llwyd and Geraint Jarman, reminiscing about him.

“Now, I can’t imagine what life was like before I was introduced to Welsh music.”

James feels that Welsh music has helped him during his journey learning Welsh. He said, “Music has been the best thing for me to understand how people speak Welsh on the street.

“Because of that, my Welsh is very mixed and includes words I’ve learned from bands from all over Wales! I also have a few words from Cwm Gwendraeth that I’ve learned from watching Pobol y Cwm!”

As well as Welsh music, James loves being in the midst of Welsh culture and enjoys learning about the history of Wales.

He added: “I love speaking Welsh and I feel like I missed out at school because I didn’t learn anything about Welsh history, only ‘British’ history.

“I now know much more about the history of Wales, including the drowning of Capel Celyn, the Cymdeithas yr Iaith Welsh Language Society protests on the Trefechan Bridge and the people who have fought for the language – people like playwright Saunders Lewis.

“I have so much respect for these people – and it’s hard to think that when I was young, I didn’t know anything about them.”

As well as the podcast and articles about Welsh music, James has various other projects in progress. He’s designing an app that would be able to read your listening history on Spotify and recommend Welsh language songs, and a website encouraging and helping parents who have chosen Welsh education for their children to speak a little Welsh at home.