ABSTRACT
As with Anglo-American popular music, the political roots of Welsh pop were planted firmly in the 1960s. Musically, there was both a continuation of the established popular music trajectory and a need to join in the spirit of radical international social change. The aesthetic of folk music is one of simplicity of musical construction and directness of message. The simplicity of the message, and of the messages of the rest of Woody Guthrie's songbook, led to the creation of a folk culture in the United States of which Guthrie, Burl Ives, and Pete Seeger played central roles. The primary instigator of international youth movement in Wales was Dafydd Iwan, whose lyrics provide the first articulations of a contemporary, politicized Welsh identity. Dafydd Iwan's vocal style is clearly rooted in the Welsh chapel-singing tradition, and not the contemporary Anglo-American folk tradition.
