Allan Yn Y Fan? A funny name, that. When I first got to hear of this bunch of five musicians causing mayhem at dances around the Gwent valleys, I always translated it as “Out In The Van” – which was quite appropriate for a busy little combo. That was harking back to 1996, and Allan…
EWAN MCLENNAN: Llantrisant Folk Club Ewan McLennan is very special; in five short years he graduated from a young floor act attending Scottish folk clubs to a significant force to be reckoned with, a compelling singer who uses his commanding voice to shape and enhance his tradition and to draw enthusiasts in and move them…
– or IS it the last? After more than 30 years of inspiring organising, warm memories, musical highlights, fabulous local beers from the pub micro-brewery and sheer artistic brilliance, the Halfpenny Folk Club closed its doors with a final flourish, delivered by the wonderful Bill Caddick and the stentorian voices of Swansea-based shantymen Baggyrinkle. The…
Applause and cheers for Harpeth Rising Harpeth Rising – three young women musicians from all over the North American Continent – brought the house down at Llantrisant Folk Club with a stunning array of cracking songs, intelligent humour, breathtaking arrangements and harmonies to die for. Violinist Jordana Greenberg really stood out with her sweet…
Dave Haslam’s Roots Unearthed series continues on Tuesday October 13 at Lefel 3 in St David’s Hall, Cardiff with outstanding guitarist Martin Simpson and Don Flemons, banjo player with the award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops. The concert starts at 8pm. The Roots Unearthed programme promises a mouth-watering winter list, with Cylchcanu2/ Songchain2 bringing together Kate Ronconi, Beth Williams Jones, Stacey Blythe, Christine Cooper,…
Calan manager Huw Williams has filed a report to the Musicians’ Union over the treatment handed out by US immigration authorities when two musicians of the award-winning band were refused entry over a passport breakdown at the US embassy in London, were jailed for one night and deported. The passports belonging to piper, pibgorn player…
Harmonica tutor Aidan Sheehan is running six Christmas Harmonica workshops which will take place at Whitchurch Rugby Sports and Social Club in Cardiff. Designed as a fun, user-friendly course for intermediate players, Aidan will teach the students how to perform traditional festive favourites on a ten-holed diatonic harmonica – which is not supplied. The hour-long…
The Glasbury, Powys-based Village Quire and actor Phil Smith bring their new show Back To The Garden to The Valley Folk Club at The Ivy Bush Hotel, Pontardawe on Friday October 16 (8pm), telling the story of life and hope in the trenches of battle-ravaged France during the Great War from the letters of Corporal William Bevan,…
Following the success of SongChain in 2014, Cylchcanu2/SongChain2 brings together some of the finest talent in the Welsh scene: Kate Ronconi, Beth Williams Jones, Stacey Blythe, Christine Cooper, Ceri Owen-Jones, Gareth Bonello, Jamie Smith and Patrick Rimes for an exciting evening of new collaborations and unique arrangements of both traditional and contemporary Welsh tunes and…
MARTIN CARTHY & DAVE SWARBRICK Roots Unearthed, Lefel 3 Lounge, St David’s Hall, Cardiff: September 1, 2015 The Prince Of Folk and The Demon Fiddler utterly mesmerised a delighted Roots Unearthed audience with a banquet of jaw-dropping airs, tunes, wonderful ballads and hypnotic songs which seemed to jump out and seize the packed rows by…