DB, I imagine it will be a couple of years yet before the book comes out, but it will be worth waiting for. You might keep an eye out in Antiquarian Book shops for "Welsh National Music and Dance" by WS Gwynn Williams (first published 1933 by J Curwen & Sons, and subsequent editions by Gwynn Publishing). It's the only English language history of the subject to date; there's been a lot of change in thinking about some topics since 1933 but it's still worth having if you're interested in the academic side of things.

You're right that Welsh music doesn't have the profile of Scottish/Irish/English and I think there are a number of reasons for that. In part, the British Media seem to me to be amazinginly anti-Welsh ... and I say that as a Canadian listener/viewer/reader.

Splotty, the only point upon I would take issue with you (as you know I love you dearly) is the 'home' market. I despair of Welsh performance venues: so few of them have any interest in traditional music! Apart from the clubs which are largely in the south east, the only venues that make a real effort are the Muni in Pontypridd and Queens Hall in Narberth. The Arts Council for Wales has a special fund for Touring (music, theatre, dance) beyond Cardiff which venues can bid for. I've just found out that a cluster of theatres are bidding for a grant for touring rock/pop/jazz. When I asked why Trad wasn't in there, the organizer told me that there was no interest!

Surreysinger, just for info, there were collections of airs and tunes in the 18th century but the first collection which actually printed words along with tunes wasn't published until the 19th. IIRC, there were 2 reasons for this. 1, that the Welsh liked to 'mix and match'; they took a tune and tried to fit as varied a selection of verses to that tune as possible so printing any one set of words with any given tune wouldn't have made sense to them. 2, there was an assumption on the part of those collectors that some tunes which DID have specific words were so well known that they didn't need to bother printing the words.   And then there were the even earlier collections (i.e. Robert ap Huw, early 1600s) but they were in manuscript form, not printed.

Sign up for the free trac magazine. The inside back pages carry articles on some aspect of traditional music in Wales. For info on artists, you'll want the magazine, Taplas. You should also listen to Celtic Heartbeat on Radio Wales ('Listen Again' on the website). Frank Hennessy plays some really good new talent; his show introduced me to a very good young singer from mid Wales, Jack Harris. I've also heard good things about another mid Wales singer, Ian Rowlands. (Both singer-songwriters) It's good to know that there are some 'up-and-comings' too!

sian