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Avant Cymru
Half a century after the block party big bang that created hip-hop music, its shockwaves are still being felt around the world, Wales very much included. This country’s specific history with the genre goes deeper than you may think, and is being told with the help of community theatre company Avant Cymru, as Emma Way discovers.
The seeds of hip-hop were allegedly sown during a single event that took place on 11 August 1973. Teenage New York DJ Clive ‘Kool Herc’ Campbell mixed instrumental beats from funk and soul tracks together to debut the Merry-Go-Round technique, isolating a series of breakbeats and repeating them. This event – held in the recreation room of Herc and his sister Cindy’s apartment block on 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, now renamed Hip Hop Boulevard in tribute – has itself since been immortal- ised as the Kool Herc Party. The date, too, has become one of the official anniversaries of the birth of hip-hop.
Fifty years after the fact, the event will be celebrated worldwide in 2023. New York is soon to open the Hip Hop Museum to mark the occasion. Meanwhile, Avant Cymru, a freelance collective and theatre company here in Wales specialising in a range of different artforms, are deter- mined to showcase Wales’ contribution to the global hip-hop movement through an ongoing event, Cymru Hip Hop Wales. Their celebrations will mainly be focused on the discipline of breakdancing or breakin’, which is the company’s forte, but there will be opportunities to showcase other pillars of hip-hop culture.
Avant Cymru feature theatre, dance, graffiti boards, and film in their work, and maintain a focus on community engagement and promoting creative expression. Rachel Pedley founded the collective in September 2015 with a desire to provide opportunities for young people interested in hip-hop, regardless of their age or level of experience. Rachel, who is neurodiverse and has epilepsy, dealt with anxiety and low confidence with the help of dance classes, and specifically the teachers of those classes.
At the core of Avant Cymru’s ethos is a commitment to co-creation, and to work with communities to develop new works that reflect the ex-
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periences of those around them within Wales. Avant works with others through workshops, classes and performances, creating spaces that are free from discrimination – and encourages expression through art, be that dance (including breakin’), drama, film, visual art or music. Through a variety of mediums, they look to remain relevant and accessible.
To start the ongoing celebrations of hip-hop through summer 2023, Cymru Hip Hop Wales will feature in the Urdd Urban Games on Sat 17 and Sun 18 June in Cardiff Bay’s Oval Basin: the perfect backdrop for a breakin’ event, where younger generation breakers can compete. There will also be showcases from Welsh street dance groups, MCs, and sets from DJ Jaffa, one of the foundational members of Cardiff hip-hop.
Thereafter, Avant Cymru will be hosting a hip-hop exhibition which will feature stories, images, and items contributed by members of the hip-hop community. Avant has been working with a range of different hip-hop companies across Wales – including Larynx Entertainment in Wrexham, Oner Signs in Cardiff and Swansea, Urban Circle in Newport and crews in Carmarthen, along with members of the Hip Hop Cymru Wales Podcast, which is based in Cwmbran, and gone-but-not-forgotten venue Martha’s Vineyard in Swansea. These celebrations will culminate in the exhibition event, on Fri 11 Aug.
The celebration of this cultural phenomenon in Wales, one supported by the Heritage Lottery and GWR Community Fund, is planned to be a national touring event that showcases the best of Wales’ hip-hop com- munity. And with exhibitions and events to competitions and showcases, there will be something for everyone to celebrate 50 years of a genre in full bloom.
Info:
avant.cymru/hip-hop
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