ABSTRACT
The roots of Welsh popular music lie very close to the surface of Wales' recent cultural history. Each phase in the process of Welsh popular music represents a particular trend in style and self-identification. The roots of Welsh popular music are therefore at once political and social. It is this relationship between language activism. Welsh media, and the production and reproduction of popular music which frames the outline of the development of Welsh popular music, for it has been central to the creation of Welsh popular culture as it exists today. Apart from the linguistic significance of the slowly-developing Welsh media, there were considerable social implications. A number of groups emerged in Wales during the 1950s without the benefit of an established network of concert halls, or regular media support. The Broadcasting Council for Wales was established in 1953, and throughout the following decade there was inevitable tension between Welsh speakers and non-Welsh speakers.
