In honor of Ladies’s Historical past Month, Atwood Journal has invited artists to take part in a collection of essays reflecting on id, music, tradition, inclusion, and extra.
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In the present day, Welsh rising star Mali Hâf shares how her newest single reimagines the Welsh Nationwide Anthem, flipping the angle to honor and have fun the contributions of girls, in a particular essay for Atwood Journal’s Ladies’s Historical past Month Sequence!
Hailing from Cardiff, Wales, Celtic Soul singer/songwriter Mali Hâf isn’t just right here to entertain, however to problem and reshape how the world perceives Welsh tradition. She is intent on breaking stereotypes and exhibiting the wealthy range of her homeland by way of daring, trendy sounds. Launched March seventh, her newest single “H.W.F.M” is a daring feminist reimagining of the Welsh Nationwide Anthem, “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau” (Outdated Land of My Fathers). The track flips the angle to have fun and honor the contributions of girls, reframing Wales because the ‘Outdated Land of My Moms.’
Playful and cheeky in its homage to the unique anthem, the track goes deeper, expressing a heartfelt eager for Wales (and all lands) to be locations of true equality secure havens for girls and nurturing areas for everybody. It challenges listeners to assume past conventional gender roles and stereotypes, calling for empathy, care, and compassion because the defining values of a nation.
Hearken to “H.W.F.M” wherever you stream music, and prepared Mali Hâf’s Ladies’s Historical past Month essay beneath!
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A Track for Ladies in Wales & In every single place
by Mali Hâf
“Hen Wlad Fy Mamau” is the hook and title of my newest single. It’s a twist on the Welsh nationwide anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau – which interprets as “Land of My Fathers.”
However in my track, it’s modified to “Land of My Moms.”
If you happen to’ve ever met a Welsh particular person you‘ll know quickly sufficient that they’re not English! Our pleasure can run deep. We also have a phrase, in Cymraeg, “hiraeth, ” to explain the longing we really feel for our homeland. It’s a sense solely a fellow Welshy can actually perceive.
However Wales isn’t only a land of track and poetry; it’s additionally the poorest of the 4 UK nations. That exploitation and hardship has formed us. (Btw I don’t purchase the garbage of blaming the Welsh authorities of the final 25 years- it’s the results of 200 years of exploiting our assets and social neglect!!) I’d prefer to assume it’s made us a rustic that values assist for the weakest and social equity. That’s why, after I sing in Welsh, I really feel these highly effective values come by way of in my music.
But, as a lot as I like my nation, I’ve needed to ask myself: If I’m so pleased with Wales, is Wales pleased with me? Is it a secure and equal place for Ladies and anybody who’s weak?
Actuality for a Welsh Girl:
I want I might let you know that being a girl in Wales is like one thing out of Tolkien’s world: wandering by way of magical hilly landscapes like elves with flowers in your hair! revered for being great and powerful moms. And generally, caught up in my very own actuality, it may possibly really feel that means. However principally, it actually doesn’t and hasn’t.
I used to be born and raised in Cardiff. Generally to impress my Mamgu (Grandma) I placed on a West Wales accent to impress her and make her proud. However it’s southeast Wales that formed me, and my experiences as a Girl right here have been removed from enchanting.
There was nothing secure about rising up on this metropolis. I’ve been chased down alleys, needed to disguise in parks, skilled revenge porn, sexual assault, and I’m sorry to say the horrors of organized rape. My teenage years and early Womanhood…like these of so many ladies I do know …weren’t one thing to have fun.
Even in my early twenties, when working in childcare, I noticed moms drop their kids off at nursery with black eyes and bruises on their faces. Extra instances than I care to depend.
I don’t enable myself to really feel anger simply. I suppress it. I’ve at all times been recognized for my chilled, away with the fairies, happy-go-lucky angle, and I suppose I don’t wish to lose others’ admiration for that. However after I write songs, after I step onto a stage and carry out…that’s after I can let it out.!! Safely. Purposefully. Creatively.
Wales and Ladies’s Rights: The place Are We Now?
This track was born out of frustration, reflection, and hope. As a result of as a lot as I like my nation, I can’t ignore the contradictions. We have fun Welsh id, however can we actually be proud if we flip a blind eye to inequality, continued excessive ranges of home violence, ineffective societal responses and tolerance of sexually aggressive teenage behaviour. What I’ve described above is one thing to be ashamed of/ one thing that must be addressed with a way of urgency.
However right here’s the place the hope is available in. Why can’t Wales with our nonetheless comparatively new Senedd (parliament) cleared the path? What if we could possibly be a nation that actually champions Ladies’s rights? What if we could possibly be the change we wish to see?
This track is my means of holding up a mirror to the nation I truly love. Asking: Can we do higher? Are we actually the land of track, of poetry, of expertise and social justice? If that’s the case, don’t we have to hear all our voices, together with the weak, for that to be true? Doesn’t creativity and tradition thrive in an environment of security, assist and love? We want reminders repeatedly and once more… – Mali Hâf
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