Cerys Hafana

Last updated
Cerys Hafana
Origin Machynlleth, Powys, UK
Instrument(s) Triple harp
Years active2019–present
Website ceryshafana.com

Cerys Hafana is a Welsh musician.

Biography

Hafana is based in Machynlleth, Powys. [1] She was a member of AVANC (Ensemble Gwerin Ieuenctid Cymru (English: The Youth Folk Ensemble of Wales)). [2] [3]

Contents

In 2022, she released the album Edyf, based on songs found in the National Library of Wales. [4] The album was shortlisted for the 2022-23 Welsh Music Prize [5] and the Welsh-language album of the year. [6] The Guardian named it one of the top ten folk albums of 2022. [7]

She contributed an essay to the 2022 anthology Welsh (Plural). [8] The essay was met with a controversial reception. [9]

Reception

Paul Carr and Robert Smith of the University of South Wales have described Hafana as "one of the most original voices in contemporary Welsh folk music." [10] Jude Rogers of The Guardian has described her as "a master of the Welsh triple harp" who "explores resonances from the past that connect with the modern day." [11]

Discography

Studio albums

Studio EPs

Singles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gruff Rhys</span> Welsh musician and filmmaker born in 1970

Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize. He won the 2011 Welsh Music Prize for his album Hotel Shampoo, which was followed up by American Interior in 2014, accompanied by a film, a book and a mobile app. His most recent album, Sadness Sets Me Free, was released in 2024. He is considered a figurehead of the era known as Cool Cymru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Wales</span> Music associated with Wales

The Music of Wales, particularly singing, is a significant part of Welsh national identity, and the country is traditionally referred to as "the land of song".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huw Edwards</span> Welsh journalist (born 1961)

Huw Edwards is a Welsh journalist, presenter and newsreader. He was the lead presenter of BBC News at Ten, the late evening news programme of the BBC, from 2003 to 2023.

Nansi Richards Jones was a Welsh harpist, sometimes known as the "Queen of the Harp" or by her bardic name "Telynores Maldwyn".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerys Matthews</span> Welsh singer-songwriter (born 1969)

Cerys Matthews is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the "Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Williams</span> Welsh composer (1906–1977)

Grace Mary Williams was a Welsh composer, generally regarded as Wales's most notable female composer, and the first British woman to score a feature film.

Huw Meredydd Stephens is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.

<i>International Velvet</i> (album) 1998 studio album by Catatonia

International Velvet is the second album by Welsh band Catatonia. It was the band's breakthrough, reaching number 1 in the UK Albums Chart, spawning two Top 10 singles, "Mulder and Scully" and "Road Rage", three other Top 40 singles, "I Am the Mob", "Game On" and "Strange Glue", and catapulted the band and lead singer Cerys Matthews into the spotlight. Album sales reached 900,000, as it became one of the biggest selling albums of 1998 in the United Kingdom. The album was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catrin Finch</span> Welsh harpist

Catrin Ana Finch is a Welsh harpist, arranger and composer. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000 to 2004 and is visiting professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Finch has given recitals at venues throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwenno Saunders</span> Welsh singer

Gwenno Mererid Saunders is a Welsh-Cornish musician, known mononymously as Gwenno. She has released three critically acclaimed albums as a solo artist: Welsh Music Prize winner Y Dydd Olaf (2014); Le Kov (2018), her first album in Cornish; and Tresor (2022), which was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National symbols of Wales</span>

The national symbols of Wales include various official and unofficial images and other symbols.

Jude Rogers is a Welsh journalist, lecturer, arts critic and broadcaster. She is a music critic for The Guardian and also regularly writes features and articles for The Observer, New Statesman and women's magazines such as Red. Her articles have also been published by The Times and by BBC Music and she broadcasts on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 and BBC 6 Music. She is a senior lecturer in journalism at London Metropolitan University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kizzy Crawford</span> Musical artist

Kizzy Crawford, known as Kizzy, is a singer songwriter of Bajan heritage who sings in both English and Welsh, using traditional and modern sources. She began writing songs at the age of thirteen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Ruth</span> Musical artist

Georgia Ruth Williams is a Welsh singer-songwriter and harpist. She sings in both English and Welsh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9Bach</span> Welsh alternative folk band

9Bach is an alternative folk group formed by Welsh singer-songwriter and pianist Lisa Jên and guitarist Martin Hoyland, a veteran of 1990s alt-rock band Pusherman. The group now includes Dan Swain, Esyllt Glyn Jones, Mirain Roberts (vocals) and Andy Gangadeen (drums). The sextet's name puns on "nain", the word for "grandmother" in north Wales; "bach" means "small" in Welsh.

The Gentle Good is the stage name of Gareth Bonello, a singer-songwriter and folk musician from Cardiff who performs in English and Welsh. The stage name is inspired by Bonello's, with "Gareth" traditionally meaning "Gentle" in Welsh. In addition to his own material, Bonello has had a longstanding partnership with musician Richard James and has also collaborated with other artists as a session musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cool Cymru</span> Culture, music and arts era

Cool Cymru was a Welsh cultural movement in music and independent film in the 1990s and 2000s, led by the popularity of bands such as Catatonia, Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horizons Gorwelion</span> Welsh music scheme

Horizons is an arts scheme and music festival launched jointly in 2014 by BBC Cymru Wales and the Arts Council of Wales to develop new independent contemporary music artists. It is curated by BBC presenter Bethan Elfyn.

Phyllis Kinney is an American-born singer, collector and historian who is a leading authority on Welsh folk music. She studied at the Juilliard School and was a soprano with the Carl Rosa Opera Company during the 1940s. After meeting her husband Meredydd Evans, Kinney immersed herself in the culture of Wales. Through her writing, research and performances, Kinney helped to preserve and promote traditional music of Wales. The archives of Kinney and Evans are now part of the Welsh Music Archive at the National Library of Wales.

Welsh (Plural): Essays on the Future of Wales is a 2022 Welsh non-fiction book. Edited by Darren Chetty, Hanan Issa, Grug Muse, and Iestyn Tyne, the book gathers an anthology of essays about Welsh identity and its future.

References

  1. "'It's learning to make sense of the mess of lines in front of you': Cerys Hafana on playing the Welsh triple harp". BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  2. "Ateb y Galw: Y delynores Cerys Hafana" [Answering the Demand: The harpist Cerys Hafana]. BBC Cymru (in Welsh). 25 October 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  3. "The Youth Folk Ensemble of Wales". Trac Cymru: Music Traditions Wales. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  4. Way, Emma (25 August 2023). "'There're so many stereotypes about harp music – people are surprised by mine' – one to watch: Cerys Hafana". Buzz Magazine. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  5. "Welsh Music Prize 2023 finalists revealed". Nation.Cymru. 10 September 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  6. "Listen to the music: Welsh language album of the year shortlist announced". Nation.Cymru. 22 July 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  7. "Cerys Hafana". Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. 23 September 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  8. Raymond, Gary (28 January 2023). "Cerys Hafana in Conversation". Wales Arts Review. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  9. "'Do'n i byth yn ffitio mewn i'r bocs traddodiadol'" ['I never fit into the traditional box']. BBC Cymru (in Welsh). 28 July 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  10. Carr, Paul (17 April 2024). "Four rising Welsh music acts to pep up your playlist". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  11. Rogers, Jude (23 September 2022). "Cerys Hafana: Edyf review – using the Welsh triple harp to connect past and present". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 May 2024.