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…
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…
“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.…
GRETCHEN PETERS: Roots Unearthed, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, June 12, 2018 Gretchen Peters is glad to be touring Wales and other parts of the UK, far away from the gloomy administration-led unpredictability, uneasy violence and irrational madness that has damaged her country’s reputation and honour so much. As she and her three-man band finally closed…
ALLAN YN Y FAN: Blackwood Miner’s Institute, March 28, 2018 Widely regarded as one of Wales’ foremost traditional bands, since their formation in 1996, Allan Yn Y Fan have taken Welsh traditional music all over the world (writes Dave Chamberlain). This Wednesday, however, saw the band performing closer to home with a gig at one of their favourite…
MARTYN JOSEPH: Roots Unearthed, L3 Lounge, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, January 16, 2018 There’s an old and well-loved newspaper headline proclaiming: “Local Boy Makes Good” – and Roots Unearthed concert seats were sold out two weeks ago for this local boy. In fact, the seats could have been sold out twice over, and the L3…
VRÏ: Llantrisant Folk Club, Pontyclun Athletic Social Club, January 10, 2018 Patrick Rimes, Jordan Price Williams and Aneirin Jones have only been together a short time, but their impressive reputation has preceded them; and Llantrisant Folk Club was packed out to the gills with eager punters just waiting to hear their set. The air of…
