PROFILE – Swn magazine
[by Huw Prestatyn]
Swn (Sound) was a Welsh language rock/pop newspaper that published a number of issues in 1972 and possibly into 1973.
Swn was a Welsh tabloid size music magazine / newspaper, 16 pages, printed in two colours. It had some of the home-made psychedelic graphics style typical of many of the posters and covers of the Welsh language protest movement of the late 60s and early 70s. The magazine’s articles not only reflect the radical politics of the period but also the shift in Welsh language music at that time – away from acoustic folk protest songs to electric rock and pop.
The healthy number of adverts, from shops, record companies and even Plaid Cymru, must have gone a long way towards covering Swn’s printing costs. The cover first two issues have a cartoon of a hairy hippy dude with a Cymdeithas Yr Iaith badge (The Welsh Language Society).