The annual weekend festival/workshop BEAM – The Big Experiment / Yr Arbrawf Mawr – is back in Carmarthen from September 1 – 3. Organised by trac, (the folk development organisation for Wales, the event offers a fantastic weekend for young and old, and everyone from beginners to advanced musicians. BEAM 2017 offers a grand weekend packed with music, dance and song, this year featuring…
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Stunning music, beautiful lyrics and a strong celtic gesture: that’s Mary Ann’s language
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Mary Ann Kennedy is a Scottish Gaelic musician, singer, choral director, composer, radio and television presenter and music producer; she also trains and conducts Còisir Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis, the Inverness Gaelic Choir, and she used to be a founder member with the Gaelic ‘super-group’ Cliar. Both she and her musician husband Nick Turner produced her solo…
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Martyn celebrates with spectacular songs for the coming home
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MARTYN JOSEPH: Roots Unearthed, Lefel 3, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, November 29, 2016 It was a brilliant, celebratory homecoming for Martyn Joseph. The Penarth-based guitarist, wonderful singer and unique songwriter was just into his Winter Tour, with shows and concerts all over the depth and breadth of the UK, with America and Europe beckoning on…
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Martyn nominated in AIM Indie Music Awards
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Penarth singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph, acclaimed as “one of acoustic music’s most original voices”, had the honour of being nominated at the AIM Independent Music Awards at The Brewery in London in the closely contested category of Hardest Working Band or Artist. Known for his astute songs of compassion and as one of the finest live…
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Allan Yn Y Fan go out on tour to show off their latest album
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ALLAN YN Y FAN Llantrisant Folk Club, Pontyclun Institute Athletic Club, August 31, 2016 The six members comprising Allan Yn Y Fan kicked off the mammoth promotional tour showcasing their lastest offering, the new CD Newid, at Llantrisant – and judging by the roars of appreciation and calls for an encore that went up, it…
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LB and Jenn: The Scottish Situation is bubbling nicely, thank you
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LAURA-BETH SALTER & JENN BUTTERWORTH Llantrisant Folk Club, Pontyclun Institute Athletic Club, August 17, 2016 It promised to be an ecstatic, brilliant night; Llantrisant Folk Club quickly filled up, the starter session was cooking along nicely with the two Scotland-based guests joining in, Nanu Bouthillier from Ploërmel, Brittany played her fiddle and sang her Gallo…
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Sweet Liberties: Cameron may not like it, but it’s a chorus of democracy
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SWEET LIBERTIES: Roots Unearthed, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, November 27, 2015 Six musicians, including the charismatic and mesmerising Martyn Joseph and BBC Folk Singer Of The Year Nancy Kerr, staged this fascinating show, celebrating 800 years of democracy since the signing of Magna Carta and 750 years since the Simon de Montfort parliament. The English…
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Hywel and Catrin line up a glittering May programme
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The village of Pentyrch, which lies north of Cardiff, has earned a reputation as the music and folk-roots hot-spot – thanks to husband and wife Hywel Wigley and harp virtuoso Catrin Finch, who bought the ancient Capel Horeb and converted it as the concert base for their Acapela Studio. The month of May is looking…
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Spring’s in the air! Musicians and dancers head for Tredegar House Folk Festival
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Spectacular musicians and dancers from all over Wales and Europe will be heading for the breathtaking Welsh surroundings of the historic Tredegar House in The City Of Newport, for the 27th Tredegar House Folk Festival, which opens on the evening of Friday, May 6, 2016, and runs until Sunday, May 8 for a packed weekend…
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Mari Lwyd: Make no bones about it, the tradition is just galloping away
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It’s the festive season and the turn of the year, and time for the Mari Lwyd to be calling at houses and pubs and wishing them good luck. The Mari Lwyd – a horse’s skull carried by one of the party, disguised by a white sheet – used to be a purely a local custom, bounded…