Dylan Live performers Ed Holden, Huw Williams and Zaru Jonson at Cardiff Airport
Travellers were treated to music and words from some of Wales’ top emerging talent as Literature Wales teamed up with Cardiff Airport to launch its Dylan Live project with a preview performance.
Dylan Live is a 60 minute bilingual performance which traces the origins of hip hop back to Dylan Thomas’s trip to New York in 1952. The performance incorporates vinyl, jazz, beat poetry, hip hop and spoken word to explore whether Dylan Thomas recording his poetry onto vinyl during this trip can be seen as a precursor to the music genre.
The production is led by professor and jazz musician, Daniel Williams, against the breath-taking visuals of an exclusive film from Ewan Morris Jones. Performers include poets, Martin Daws, Aneirin Karadog and Zaru Jonson, jazz musician Huw V Williams and hip hop artist Ed Holden, all of whom have been influenced by Dylan in some way or another.
The launch of Dylan Live took place at Cardiff Airport, where a collection of multimedia exhibitions have been installed to give visitors and residents a taste of the range of activities, attractions and heritage available to them in Wales.
The What’s On area is designed to showcase the nation’s exciting and packed calendar of cultural and sporting events. A festival marquee provides the backdrop for performances while a large screen shows rolling footage from recent events to take place across the country. Organisations that have used the area to promote their events include WOMEX, the World Stage Design festival and Sing and Inspire’s Llamau charity choir.
Other exhibitions at Cardiff Airport include an interactive Welcome Wall featuring illustrations and videos of people welcoming travellers to Wales, designed by Welsh artist Pete Fowler; a 30ft recreation of the Wales Coastal Path using projection, sound and floor vinyl; a two-storey replica of a Medieval castle housed in a stairwell; and a lift that has been transformed into a mining shaft.
Jon Horne, chief executive at Cardiff Airport, said: “Dylan Live explores the significance of one particular journey for Welsh culture, so our national airport was the perfect venue for its launch.
“Wales is a country so rich in cultural heritage and we’ve got some fantastic events taking place in 2014. We’re looking forward to working with many more organisations to help them promote their work to the world.”
Lleucu Siencyn, chief executive of Literature Wales, said: “Launching Dylan Live at Cardiff airport is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate Dylan’s journeys from Wales to America. His words are as popular outside of Wales as they are here. Dylan Live is a show that celebrates contemporary interpretations of Dylan’s work. Their journey has now begun.”
Dylan Live is one of the components for Developing Dylan, the education programme which is part of the official Dylan Thomas 100 Festival celebrations and supported by the Welsh Government. The performance will be touring Welsh universities from February 26th to March 27th and locations include Bangor, Lampeter, Swansea, Carmarthen, Wrexham, Aberystwyth, Cardiff and Newport. For further information on dates and venues please visit www.developingdylan.com
