by Mick Tems The fiddles-and-cello chamber-folk trio VRï and veteran singer, songwriter and Welsh language campaigner Dafydd Iwan shared two accolades at the prestigious Wales Folk Awards, held at the Hoddinott Hall in the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay on Thursday, April 20. Dafydd wrote the most remarkable ‘sleeper’ song in the galaxy. He composed…
It’s a national yearly celebration; Gŵyl Dydd Dewi Sant, Wednesday, March 1, and impressive Aberystwyth trio Three Legg’d Mare absolutely delighted and amazed the Llantrisant Folk Club audience with their no-punches-pulled winning show. The band consists of powerful-voiced singer Kate Saunders, who plays Appalachian mountain dulcimer, guitar and Shruti, Rhondda-born singer Jon Davies (concertina, bouzouki,…
Fiddler and step-dancer Jocelyn is from the Canadian West Coast and ‘cellist Ellen is based in Washington DC on the American East Coast; those awe-inspiring logistics and the thousands of miles seem to have conspired to keep these two musicians apart. More to the point, Ellen has even moved to Glasgow and is currently pursuing…
Musician and Welsh music visionary Ceri Rhys Matthews lives with his golden-voiced wife Julie Murphy many miles away in the West Wales village of Pencader, Carmarthenshire (writes Mick Tems.) Nowadays, he is preoccupied with his music tutoring, his Yscolan workshops in Pembrokeshire and The Gallery arts centre in High Street, Swansea, and both he and…
The Spooky Men’s Chorale, The Welsh Folk Prom, St David’s Hall, Cardiff: July 25, 2019 Dave Chamberlain & Siân Northey reviewed: Wales has a long and proud tradition of male choral singing, the Morriston Orpheus and the Treorchy Male Voice choirs being perhaps the best known internationally – but it was an Anglo-Antipodean ensemble taking…
Ireland’s internationally-acclaimed music festival television series, Other Voices, is coming to Cardigan this autumn. The much-loved programme makes its way from Dingle on the west coast of Ireland to Cardigan on the west coast of Wales, for a phenomenal weekend of music which celebrates the longstanding cultural and musical ties between these Celtic regions. Over…
Welsh Folk scored a fantastic triumph as Calan, The Trials Of Cato, Martyn Joseph, Alaw, VRï, Gwilym Bowen Rhys and other exciting and inspiring artists were crowned trophy winners of the inaugural Wales Folk Awards 2019 – but the highest accolade went to Roy Saer, who was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his…
ALAW, MORFA, MANSANT: Tredegar House Folk Festival Benefit Night, Newport Folk Club, Fugitives Sports Club, Rogerstone Newport Folk Club played welcoming hosts to a jam-packed, memorable and celebratory night, just bubbling and brimming over with feel-good, joyous and utterly ingenious music from Wales and further beyond. The evening proudly advertised Tredegar House Folk Festival, which…
“There’s a thriving music scene in Wales at the moment, and we want to bring that energy onto the Pavilion stage this year” – these are the words of Angharad Jenkins, member of award-winning folk band, Calan, and one of those involved in creating Pendevig, a brand-new 15-musician-strong juggernaut starring some of Wales’s leading players.…