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Welsh Arts News
Category: Music
After a headline appearance at Somerset’s first Frome Folk Festival (Feb 18th) , award-winning all-male Welsh band Jamie Smith’s Mabon (JSM) will be taking their high energy InterCeltic music to arts centres and village and town halls across England and Wales when they embark on a spring tour (March 6th to 24th).
The prodigiously talented JSM are fast making their unique and vibrant mark on the roots scene, led by tunesmeister and accordionist extraordinaire Jamie Smith. Last year Mabon scooped the coveted Best Instrumental Album at the Spiral Awards (run by top music website Spiral Earth) for their Porthcawl-recorded Live at the Grand Pavilion - an album that captures all the energy and pizzazz of their acclaimed live show and includes a free bonus DVD.
The spring tour sets the scene for 2012 - a year that will see several UK and European festival appearances and the release of a new album including the band’s first recorded songs.
The tour opens at The Stables, Milton Keynes and takes in other English dates in Reading, Bridgwater, Winchester, Bristol, Norwich and Cockermouth and Welsh shows (all part of the Night Out community touring scheme run by the Arts Council of Wales) in Powys, Caerleon and Solva in Pembrokeshire.
2011 was a significant and successful year for JSM. Highlights included a triumphant debut at the world’s largest winter music festival – Celtic Connections – as well as their WOMAD debut on the BBC Radio 3 stage, and many memorable performances including Fylde Festival, Priddy Festival, Llangollen International Eisteddfod, Carmarthenshire’s Small Nations Festival, Cardiff’s St David’s Hall and Bristol’s Colston Hall for the returning Bristol Folk Festival and the Schumacher Festival’s Small World concert. See the band in action at Priddy Festival on YouTube (click here).
New band member Adam Rhodes joined at the start of the year, bringing bouzouki to the band’s soundscape for the first time and joining stand-out in-demand fiddler Oli Wilson-Dickson, Bristol’s Matt “The Hat” Downer on bass and the irrepressible Iolo Whelan on drums and percussion.
A new diversion for the previously all-instrumental band is the weaving of songs, penned by Smith, into the set - including the aptly named Yes We Sing Now (!) as well as some exciting shifts in style and sound. But it is Smith’s inspired eclectic tunes that continue to dominate the material that delves into every Celtic corner – from their native Wales to Brittany, Scotland, Ireland, Galicia and beyond. His prolific and imaginative compositions take audiences on a magical whistle-stop Euro tour with jigs and reels jostling for space alongside Breton an dro, French mazurka, Galician muinera and even shades of klezmer in an exuberant, feel-good show.
Festival appearances later in the year will include headlining Fishguard Folk Festival (June 2nd) and Cornwall’s Lowender Peran Celtic Festival (Oct 18th) as well as Priddy Folk Festival (July 8th), Towersey (August 23rd to 27th) and Derby Festival (October 5th) with the much anticipated new studio album scheduled for autumn release.
JSM are also looking forward to 2013 when the WOMEX World Music Trade Fair comes to Cardiff. A collaboration comprising Welsh Music Foundation, Wales Arts International, Wales Arts Council and others have been working towards this goal, and the 2010 WOMEX convention in Copenhagen culminated in a 'Wales Showcase' featuring a host of Welsh talent including Catrin Finch, Calan, 9Bach and Mabon.
Says Jamie: “We're really pleased to have contributed to this success, and glad that the team effort came good. We're looking forward to seeing the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay buzzing in 2013 with thousands of visitors, artists and music industry professionals from every part of the globe.”
JSM’s website - in Welsh, English and French - can be found at www.jamiesmithsmabon.com where all concerts are listed.
Jamie Smith's Mabon - 2012 Spring Tour
MARCH
Tuesday 6th - The Stables, Wavendon, Milton Keynes 01908 280800
Thursday 8th - South Street Arts Centre, Reading 0118 960 6060
Friday 9th - Llanbedr Village Hall, Powys www.llanbedrvillagehall.co.uk
Saturday 10th - Solva Memorial Hall, Pembrokeshire www.solvamemorialhall.co.uk
Friday 16th - Bridgwater Arts Centre 01278 422700
Saturday 17th - Discovery Centre, Winchester 01962 873603
Sunday 18th - The Thunderbolt, Bristol www.ashkeysmusic.com
Wednesday 21st - Norwich Arts Centre 01603 660352
Friday 23rd - Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth 01900 826448
Saturday 24th - Town Hall, Caerleon 01633 422656
The prodigiously talented JSM are fast making their unique and vibrant mark on the roots scene, led by tunesmeister and accordionist extraordinaire Jamie Smith. Last year Mabon scooped the coveted Best Instrumental Album at the Spiral Awards (run by top music website Spiral Earth) for their Porthcawl-recorded Live at the Grand Pavilion - an album that captures all the energy and pizzazz of their acclaimed live show and includes a free bonus DVD.
The spring tour sets the scene for 2012 - a year that will see several UK and European festival appearances and the release of a new album including the band’s first recorded songs.
The tour opens at The Stables, Milton Keynes and takes in other English dates in Reading, Bridgwater, Winchester, Bristol, Norwich and Cockermouth and Welsh shows (all part of the Night Out community touring scheme run by the Arts Council of Wales) in Powys, Caerleon and Solva in Pembrokeshire.
2011 was a significant and successful year for JSM. Highlights included a triumphant debut at the world’s largest winter music festival – Celtic Connections – as well as their WOMAD debut on the BBC Radio 3 stage, and many memorable performances including Fylde Festival, Priddy Festival, Llangollen International Eisteddfod, Carmarthenshire’s Small Nations Festival, Cardiff’s St David’s Hall and Bristol’s Colston Hall for the returning Bristol Folk Festival and the Schumacher Festival’s Small World concert. See the band in action at Priddy Festival on YouTube (click here).
New band member Adam Rhodes joined at the start of the year, bringing bouzouki to the band’s soundscape for the first time and joining stand-out in-demand fiddler Oli Wilson-Dickson, Bristol’s Matt “The Hat” Downer on bass and the irrepressible Iolo Whelan on drums and percussion.
A new diversion for the previously all-instrumental band is the weaving of songs, penned by Smith, into the set - including the aptly named Yes We Sing Now (!) as well as some exciting shifts in style and sound. But it is Smith’s inspired eclectic tunes that continue to dominate the material that delves into every Celtic corner – from their native Wales to Brittany, Scotland, Ireland, Galicia and beyond. His prolific and imaginative compositions take audiences on a magical whistle-stop Euro tour with jigs and reels jostling for space alongside Breton an dro, French mazurka, Galician muinera and even shades of klezmer in an exuberant, feel-good show.
Festival appearances later in the year will include headlining Fishguard Folk Festival (June 2nd) and Cornwall’s Lowender Peran Celtic Festival (Oct 18th) as well as Priddy Folk Festival (July 8th), Towersey (August 23rd to 27th) and Derby Festival (October 5th) with the much anticipated new studio album scheduled for autumn release.
JSM are also looking forward to 2013 when the WOMEX World Music Trade Fair comes to Cardiff. A collaboration comprising Welsh Music Foundation, Wales Arts International, Wales Arts Council and others have been working towards this goal, and the 2010 WOMEX convention in Copenhagen culminated in a 'Wales Showcase' featuring a host of Welsh talent including Catrin Finch, Calan, 9Bach and Mabon.
Says Jamie: “We're really pleased to have contributed to this success, and glad that the team effort came good. We're looking forward to seeing the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay buzzing in 2013 with thousands of visitors, artists and music industry professionals from every part of the globe.”
JSM’s website - in Welsh, English and French - can be found at www.jamiesmithsmabon.com where all concerts are listed.
Jamie Smith's Mabon - 2012 Spring Tour
MARCH
Tuesday 6th - The Stables, Wavendon, Milton Keynes 01908 280800
Thursday 8th - South Street Arts Centre, Reading 0118 960 6060
Friday 9th - Llanbedr Village Hall, Powys www.llanbedrvillagehall.co.uk
Saturday 10th - Solva Memorial Hall, Pembrokeshire www.solvamemorialhall.co.uk
Friday 16th - Bridgwater Arts Centre 01278 422700
Saturday 17th - Discovery Centre, Winchester 01962 873603
Sunday 18th - The Thunderbolt, Bristol www.ashkeysmusic.com
Wednesday 21st - Norwich Arts Centre 01603 660352
Friday 23rd - Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth 01900 826448
Saturday 24th - Town Hall, Caerleon 01633 422656
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