When I read reviews of CDs and concerts in the English papers I am increasingly baffled by the remarkable battery of " descriptions" of the music ... the Radio Times is bad enough, with "future beats" and "grime and grooves" but there's whole universes of new vocabulary out there. You want some examples ?
Of course you do ... here we go then ... these are all real extracts from recent mainstream daily papers ...
" Punk smarts"
"Flushes of bliss-pop and groovy uplift"
" Swerves into blissed-out dream-pop terrain"
" roots/electronic styles"
" baroque-pop daring"
"lit-pop lovelies"
"hardocre" I suspect this is a misprint for "hardcore"
"righteous riffs"
" (her) one-off status is unassailable"
" guitar-strangler"
"revivalist boogie-rock disco"
"regressive schtick"
"electro-doom soul"
"full-on space-rock"
"indy-funk math-rocker"
" beefier strains of big-rock"
"size-first pitch and angsty portent"
What I'm wondering is, how do you do this in Welsh ?
There's a few possibilities ..
[a] you don't bother describing music at all. [!]
[b] you just use the English terms, like the ones up there...plus "poptastic."
[c] you translate the English versions into Welsh ( interesting! )
[d] you conjure up your own poptastic vocabulary ... I sincerely hope so.
[e] most likely, a combination of all four... brilliant !
In terms of translating this sort of stuff into another language, even basic terms such " dub-step" and "groovy" would present considerable problems.
So, how do I find out? The only Welsh publication that I have copies of and might do reviews like that is Golwg ( about which, more later) but I can't find any of my four copies right now.I might have a look online and see if I can find any Welsh-language music reviews ... maybe on Rhys Mwyn's blog, or Dyl Mae's.
But my challenge for you is ....
[a] Have a go at describing the music of any bands you like in Welsh. Go on!
[b] Try actually translating some of that stuff up there into Welsh.... you might have a few problems ... Boogie ? Smarts ? It'll be Terrific For Your Welsh.
[c] Maybe you have some Welsh mags/fanzines that have music reviews.... you could tell us what they do. You could use the comment thingy.You might need to be a bit inventive.
[d] You could have a go at describing/reviewing this lovely Ectogram song in Welsh.... you can do it at any level really... ranging from one word, to a string of adjectives up to the full monty. You could even use some of your creations you did in [c] and [d] up there! That really would be Terrific For Your Welsh. Pob Lwc i pawb ....
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