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| Meredydd Evans | |
|---|---|
| Name | Meredydd Evans |
| Birth date | 22 January 1919 |
| Death date | 3 March 2015 |
| Birth place | Llanegryn, Gwynedd, Wales |
| Occupation | Singer, folklorist, broadcaster, academic, activist |
| Known for | Welsh folk revival, BBC broadcasting, archive work |
Meredydd Evans was a Welsh singer, folklorist, broadcaster, academic and cultural activist prominent in the 20th century Welsh folk revival. He combined fieldwork, performance, broadcasting and scholarship to document and promote Welsh traditional song, shaping institutions and public debate in Wales and beyond. His career connected local communities with national media and international academic networks, influencing folk music, Welsh language policy and cultural campaigning.
Born in Llanegryn, Gwynedd, Evans grew up in rural Wales during the interwar period and was immersed in local traditions such as eisteddfod culture and chapel singing. He attended local schools before studying at the University of Wales, Bangor where he encountered scholars linked to the Welsh Manuscripts Society, National Library of Wales, and the folklorists associated with the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. Later academic associations included contacts with researchers at Oxford University, Cambridge University, and the School of Scottish Studies during exchanges and conferences.
Evans performed extensively as a solo singer and with ensembles, contributing to the mid-century Welsh folk revival alongside contemporaries such as Dafydd Iwan, Geraint Jarman, Cerys Matthews, and members of groups that emerged from the same milieu. His repertoire drew on collected material from sources like the Roud Folk Song Index and parallels found in collections by Francis James Child, Ewan MacColl, and Hamish Henderson. He recorded for labels associated with folk and documentary music, appearing on compilations alongside artists linked to Topic Records, Folkways Records, Decca Records, and regional producers connected to the BBC and the Welsh Folk Museum.
A prominent figure in broadcasting, Evans worked with the BBC in Wales and contributed to programmes on Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, and television productions that brought Welsh song to national audiences. He collaborated with producers and presenters tied to institutions like S4C, ITV Wales, Channel 4, and independent documentary makers with connections to the British Film Institute. His broadcasting work intersected with policy debates in bodies such as the Welsh Office and the Arts Council of Wales, and he engaged with media researchers from Cardiff University, Bangor University, and Aberystwyth University.
As a scholar and collector, Evans built archives that interfaced with the National Library of Wales, the Celtic Studies community, and international repositories including the Library of Congress and the Folklore Society. His field recordings, transcriptions and analyses were used in university courses on Welsh language, Celtic studies, and ethnomusicology at institutions such as the University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, Queen's University Belfast, and Trinity College Dublin. He participated in conferences organized by the International Council for Traditional Music, the European Society for Ethnomusicology, and the British Academy, and his methodological approaches drew on archival practices championed by scholars at the Folklore Archive and the School of Scottish Studies Archives.
Evans was active in campaigns for the Welsh language and cultural institutions, aligning with movements and organizations such as Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Language Society (Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg), and pressure groups that influenced legislation like the Welsh Language Act 1967 and subsequent language policy debates tied to the Welsh Language Act 1993. He engaged with civic bodies including the National Eisteddfod of Wales, the Welsh Arts Council, and community organisations across Gwynedd and Dyfed. His activism connected him with trade unionists, politicians and cultural leaders who convened in forums at the Senedd Cymru and regional assemblies, and with international advocates for minority languages linked to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Evans married and maintained close ties with communities across North Wales where he influenced singers, scholars and broadcasters. His legacy is preserved in collections at the National Library of Wales, the Welsh Music Archive, university special collections at Bangor University and Aberystwyth University, and in broadcasts retained by the BBC Archives and the British Library Sound Archive. Posthumous recognition came from bodies such as the Gorsedd of Bards, the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, and academic societies across the Celtic Studies community. His influence is evident in contemporary performers, folklorists and policy advocates working within institutions like S4C, BBC Radio Cymru, Cardiff University and cultural organisations across Wales and the wider Celtic nations.
Category:Welsh singers Category:Welsh folklorists Category:1919 births Category:2015 deaths