Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
hyrwyddo a dathlu cerddoriaeth Cymru
promoting and celebrating the music of Wales
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10. Case studies — an artist's eye view
Catrin Finch & Seckou Keita
One of the most talked about showcases of WOMEX in Cardiff, and the one that is often cited as an example of just how impactful a successful showcase can be on a band’s career, is that of Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita who showcased as part of the Horizons programme.
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The duo had only released their debut album, Clychau Dibon, weeks before and at that point, performed only a handful of gigs together. As Finch says: “It was quite an exciting time for me and for that duo… it was very much still a time of not really knowing what people thought of the collaboration, whether it was going to be good; it was very much in its infancy.”
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As anyone who saw the showcase will remember, there was a huge level of excitement and anticipation around it. So much so, that the 250-capacity Weston Studio in the Millennium Centre where they were performing was completely jam-packed, with delegates queueing down the stairs trying to get in. I was among the many who tried in vain to see them, but only managed to catch a glimpse of the tops of their harp and kora from the very back of the room.     
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“You could feel that there was a bit of a buzz about the gig,” Finch recalls with her characteristic understated modesty. “It was all quite exciting… nuts, wasn’t it?”
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Theatr Mwldan’s Dilwyn Davies who was involved in setting up the collaboration along with Astar Artes Recordings, was equally surprised by the reaction. “We figured we might as well go for this, you know, because that’s what you're supposed to do so we bought a dedicated stand, which was just about Catrin and Seckou.” 
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Despite the sense of anticipation about the performance, he confesses there were nerves just before the start. “We were standing in there 20 minutes before it started and there was nobody there. And we were like, oh dear, this isn’t gonna go very well and then suddenly it all filled up. And then nobody left so it was rammed and they were getting a fantastic reception.” 
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The proof of its impact transpired the next day when the Mwldan team were completely mobbed on their stand. “We just got slapped all day by people that were coming up wanting to book it. And it made a massive impact on the international and UK commercial.” The popularity of the showcase resulted in a substantial number of bookings, including the Cambridge Folk Festival, Ocarina Festival in Slovenia and the Chicago World Music Festival. “It was brilliant. And bizarre,” smiles Davies. “It definitely generated a degree of business and momentum for the project that would have taken a lot longer to achieve.” 
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Finch’s response echoes that of Davies’: “The response was brilliant… nothing we could have ever imagined really. And then the proof of that came for a few days afterwards when literally the diary filled up… all those concerts that came out of that one little showcase. It was a massive catalyst moment for Seckou and I that WOMEX night. I’d never experienced anything like that before.”
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The pair went on to have a remarkable journey, releasing three albums, winning an array of awards and touring across the world. Finch is pragmatic about the duo with Keita now coming to an end, remarking “it’s been ten years since we first played together and that’s its lifespan and, you know, who could have asked for more really!” Keita has recently released African Rhapsodies, a piece for kora and orchestra and Finch is embarking on a new musical partnership with the Irish fiddler Aoife Ní Bhriain. They first collaborated at the digital edition of Other Voices festival in 2021 and will be showcasing their debut album Double You at Other Voices in Cardigan this autumn. “Some things are serendipitous, aren’t they?” she smiles, reflecting on that first encounter with Ní Bhriain. “They happen at the right time for a reason.”
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9Bach
9Bach were formed back in 2007 by singer-songwriter Lisa Jên Brown and her partner and guitarist Martin Hoyland. They’re something of a WOMEX rarity in that they’ve showcased twice – the first time in Copenhagen in 2010 when they did an offWOMEX showcase as part of the Welsh pre-bid campaign. Brown remembers it very clearly as she had a two-month-old baby at the time. However as she and Hoyland admit, the timing of the showcase couldn’t have been better, coming as it did just a year after they’d released their debut album. 
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“Everything came after that, because Paula [Henderson from WOMAD] and Amanda [Jones from Real World] were in the audience,” recalls Hoyland. “So we got WOMAD UK off the back of WOMEX. Then from doing WOMAD, Amanda came and introduced herself and just said, ‘oh, if you’re ever looking for a label, please do get in touch’ and then you know what happened next. You’ve got a laugh really, to go all the way to Copenhagen to make links with people in the UK!”
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Jones from Real World remembers her first encounter with the band: “I was so intrigued by the name when I saw it in the programme and, obviously, the wonderful Welsh language focus which felt kind of militant at the time! I then saw the video they had made for the track ‘Bwthyn Fy Nain’ (from their first album) – the band scattered around the landscape of Snowdonia looking like an indie shoegaze band! I loved it and really wanted to try and work with them.”
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At WOMEX in Cardiff, 9Bach showcased again, this time as one of the three Welsh acts to perform as part of the Horizons programme. The band had just announced that they had signed to Real World Records, which certainly generated an added buzz and interest. “We were in a good place as a band,” recalls Brown. “Everything seemed to launch at the same time during that week at WOMEX. It felt like we were a part of a movement… we’d been together for a good few years so the foundations were strong and we were confident in what we were doing and confident in our sound and where we were.”
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Hoyland adds: “It helped as well from an industry point of view having us performing in Cardiff as I think lots of bookers were like, well, we better go and check out the Welsh bands because we’re in Wales! And the amount of opportunities we got from that, it still seems to go on really. It’s amazing!”
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Since then 9Bach have had an impressive international career, something they’re frequently asked about. “One of the key questions that we get asked as a band is ‘how do you get onto a festival in Czech Republic? Or how come you’re playing in Vietnam, how do you do that?’ I think some musicians just have no awareness about showcasing – you’re not going to get a festival in Vietnam if they’ve never seen you,” says Brown.
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One of the band’s most rewarding collaborations was one they did with the Australian group, Black Arm Band. A British Council supported project called Mamiaith – Mother Tongue, it explored indigenous languages, cultures and the importance of place and identity. The groups first met in Australia in 2011, then performed together as part of the Cultural Olympiad, prior to the London 2012 Olympics.
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“Someone at the British Council was looking for a Welsh band singing in Welsh,” says Hoyland. “Who knows how she heard of us, maybe WOMEX helped, I don’t know.” It’s a partnership that has had a lasting impact on 9Bach, as Brown says: “The legacy of Black Arm Band and 9Bach is so strong, successful and powerful. Lou [Bennett] and Shellie [Morris] have been on every album we’ve done ever since. The love and the will to work together is still there, 12 years later.” 
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Some time afterwards the band appointed the late Alan James as their manager. They had first met in Copenhagen, and James who went on to become the chair of the Welsh Music Foundation, played a crucial role in getting WOMEX to Cardiff. AJ, as he was affectionately known, is still clearly sorely missed by the band. 
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Things have been rather quiet for 9Bach of late but they reveal that they are currently working on a new album with the drummer Andy Gangadeen who first toured with them back in 2019. He’s now acting as musical director, says Brown. “It’s been a different approach this time round where I guess the legacy of AJ has helped.”
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As they reflect on the 9Bach journey so far, they both concede that they don’t really fit into the ‘Welsh traditional music’ pigeon hole, something that has served them very well. “I think our success is because we don’t sound very Celtic. We never set out to be a Welsh language band, that’s just how I express myself and we never set out to travel the world, we just do what we love doing and that seems to resonate with audiences. It comes from the heart, it’s organic and it’s real.”
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Angharad Jenkins & Patrick Rimes
Two musicians who have been at the forefront of contemporary Welsh traditional music for over 15 years are Angharad Jenkins and Patrick Rimes, both founding members of the group Calan.
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Calan, who formed in 2006, were one of three bands chosen to be part of Wales’s offWOMEX showcase in Copenhagen in 2010 – a key strategy to generate international interest in the country’s music prior to putting in their bid to host WOMEX.
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“We were so young, we did not have a clue what this was,” recalls Jenkins about that Copenhagen experience. “And I don’t think we were fully ready to benefit and take advantage of the opportunities,” she adds.
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At that point, Rimes had just started university, so was even younger than Jenkins but concedes he felt the same: “I had absolutely no idea what WOMEX was. I don’t think I really still grasped it even after we’d been, it was quite a whirlwind.” Those sentiments were by no means unique to Rimes and Jenkins, but they confirm the feeling of being underprepared for the opportunities WOMEX could offer.
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“We probably felt like it might have been a slightly missed opportunity at the time, but realistically we weren’t in a position to be able to fully grasp that opportunity when it came along,” says Rimes. “But the legacy of it is that people have really pulled their socks up and the proof is that when you’re looking at Wales’ musical output now, it’s much bigger and much more diverse than it was at the time. And I think it’s fair to say that hosting WOMEX probably had a quite big impact on that.”
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Indeed when WOMEX eventually came to Cardiff, the pair felt much better prepared for what to expect, even if for various personal reasons, they weren’t necessarily able to fully maximise on the occasion. “In terms of seeing the absolute best of the world for inspiration, it was a real wake-up call to realising that there was an interest in our music, and it could go beyond the borders of our country. I’d never seen that before,” says Jenkins. At that time, besides being a musician, Jenkins was also working as a project officer for the development organisation Trac, whose mission was to get people in Wales to make and engage with Welsh traditional music and to take it seriously. “I think there was this idea that it’s old fashioned,” Jenkins muses. “I suppose you don’t really appreciate what you’ve got on your own doorstep until other people start showing an interest. And I think that’s probably the big thing that WOMEX brought, there was all this other interest from outside of Wales in our music.”
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Rimes concurs: “It was a massive wake-up call when it rocked up in Cardiff and suddenly you’re surrounded by these bands who are all really slick in their attitude to the business side, their representation and the PR etc.”
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Both recognise that there’s been a definite change in attitude and general confidence in all things Welsh, not necessarily just as a result of WOMEX. “In every aspect of Welsh life, I think confidence is improving,” Jenkins says. “I think people are realising that Wales has got something to offer that people are interested in.” Artists are slowly realising that given the size of Wales, you have to look overseas in order to have a sustainable career. “You have to attend these events and be present whether you’re showcasing or not, and chip at it – as they all say, it’s a long game isn’t it?”
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The effects of WOMEX are, as Rimes concedes, multilayered and not always tangible: “I suppose it’s lucky that it’s coincided with a general rise of interest in national identity and people doing a bit of soul searching about what it actually means to be Welsh. There are all sorts of factors involved in that, having a great big lockdown gives you an opportunity to take stock of things and have a good hard think.”
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On a personal note, Rimes says he felt inspired on observing other artists “really doing the trade fair and working the room. I always felt a little bit backwards in coming forwards and self-effacing when it came to discussing my music with other people, so there were a lot of lessons learned in terms of how to market yourself a bit more efficiently and to be able to talk with confidence about your music.”
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As mentioned previously, Rimes played a key part in Cerys Matthews’s Land of Song house band for the opening concert in Cardiff. In 2014 he formed VRï, along with Jordan Williams and Aneirin Jones – a trio who have gone from strength to strength and who are now touring internationally. Another exciting development is that Rimes is now teaching in the string department at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.   
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Jenkins also performed as part of the 2013 opening concert, along with her mother Delyth in their duo called DnA. Sadly a family bereavement shortly after the event meant that they weren’t able to fully capitalise on the opportunity. However Jenkins says she is now coming back to life “after COVID and children, I’ve had four years of lockdown!” Now that she has a young family, she’s decided to take a step back from Calan because she can no longer commit to lengthy tours. But this August she released a duo album with Rimes called amrwd (Welsh for ‘Raw’) on TÅ· Cerdd Records. “Doing duo stuff is simpler, it’s more back to the roots,” she says. Even though the pieces on the album might be well known in Wales, Jenkins acknowledges they’re not yet necessarily known outside of Wales, so that’s why they decided to release them and she hopes they’ll tour together next year. The album is a testament of their 15-plus years of playing together and proof the pair are still very much at the top of their game.
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â–¶ rwcmd.ac.uk/staff/patrick-rimes
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