Since the advent of the papurau bro (community newspaper) movement in Wales in the 1970s, hundreds of articles on rock music have appeared in their pages, giving publicity to local rock bands, gigs, new releases, and so forth. However, these have received no scholarly attention. The present article explores the nature and influence of this little-known collection of sources, positing that this material throws light on the workings of the music scene at a regional and local level, and also that the register of these writings reveals something of the agenda of the contributors: an emphasis on justifying not the existence but the cultural worth of Welsh-language rock music to the older generation influenced young writers and champions of the pop world.
Early community newspapers in north Wales and Welsh-language rock music
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