Dydd Miwsig Cymru Hapus!
08/02/2019
It’s Dydd Miwsig Cymru today (Friday 8 Feb, 2019) which is all about celebrating songs in the Welsh language. Firstly, I must confess and much to my sin, I am not a Welsh speaker. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy listening to and appreciating Welsh language music.
So, I’m going to talk about my current 3 favourite Welsh language artists.
Alffa
This band is proof that you don’t have to speak Welsh to appreciate its beautiful sounds! I first discovered these whilst listening to ‘Rock This’ playlist on Spotify about a year ago. A blues rock duo from Llanrug, North Wales who spit out big riffs over clunky heavy drum beats. Start with ‘Gwenwyn’, buy the ticket and take the ride. They became the first band with a Welsh Language song to hit over 1 million streams on Spotify, and since then have gone on to hit over 2 million streams. If you love Royal Blood, The Black Keys or blues rock then give this a whirl.
Breichiau Hir
A 6 piece Cardiff post-rock band that combine urgent aggression with melody, sitting somewhere between emo and punk. Huw Stephens said that Breichiau Hir “will leave you wanting to cry and learn welsh” and we aren’t disagreeing with him. The band released a double a side ‘Mewn Darnau’ and ‘Halen’ on the uber cool Libertino records last year, and we’ve watched them light up the Cardiff scene in 2018. Missed out on our show with IDLES then get your ears around these!
9bach
Winners of ‘Best Album’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2015, 9bach are critically adored amongst folk circles all over the UK, including BBC Radio 2. Their Welsh folk music has transformed over the years into a distinctive and distinguishing style encompassing bits of world music, indie rock, jazz and experimental pop to become a progressive experimental folk-rock sextet. Perfect listening for you if you want to relax or get your teeth stuck into something deep and meaningful.
Want to listen to these and more? Then get your ears around this
Or, pop along to many of the gigs happening over the weekend across the country. There’s never been a better time to be part of the welsh language music scene.
