ABSTRACT
What is the nature of Welsh-language popular music heritage? Since the late 1990s, this question has been of particular moment in Wales, for the simple reason that from that time onward, the well-being of the musical scene that had arisen from the principle of singing pop music in Welsh over 30 years previously has been in doubt. This is due in the first instance to the flight from Welsh of bands wishing to emulate the success of Welsh bands such as Catatonia and the Super Furry Animals. The single abiding characteristic of Welsh-language popular music—the fact that it is sung, or otherwise presented, through the medium of Welsh—was, and remains, the primary method of identification as participant and adherent; but if that characteristic is contested, the ways of viewing the heritage on which new bands and artists must be contested also.
