‘It’s 100% cool Cymru 2.0’: pumping it out on Welsh language music day

Gwion Ap Iago, half of the duo Roughion – sometimes billed as Wales’s answer to the Chemical Brothers – is in no doubt that this is “a moment” for Welsh language music.

“A lot of people are learning Welsh, a lot of people are really wanting to support the Welsh language music scene and they’re realising what is pumping out there is really, really good,” he said. “We had that thing in the 90s – cool Cymru, Catatonia and all that. We are 100% living in a cool Cymru 2.0.”

Across the nation on Friday, venues, workplaces, schools were celebrating Dydd Miwsig Cymru (Welsh language music day), celebrating music from folk to rock, from indie to Roughion’s speciality: electronica.

“We might automatically look at America, Germany and the Netherlands as countries producing the most recognised electronic music but the quality we have here shows that Wales is doing it too. Female artists like Gwenno and Kelly Lee Owens are leading the way.”

Roughion’s songs include an atmospheric piece of electronica called Newport Road inspired by early hours returns to Cardiff after gigs, while their remix of a tune by the north Wales group Band Pres Llareggub (Llareggub Brass Band) has been played by DJs around the world.

The seventh iteration of Welsh language music day was being seen as a particularly special, important and joyful one, with the Covid lockdowns having been both a challenge and an opportunity for the scene.

Challenging because the Welsh government’s cautious approach to re-opening has led to long breaks for clubs and music venues. But the hiatus has also given musicians a chance to refine and develop their sound – and provided the time for more people to begin to learn Welsh. According to the language app Duolingo, Welsh is the most popular language to learn in the UK.

The number of Welsh language pieces of music released via the Welsh label and distributor PYST increased from 357 in 2020 to 485 in 2021. It is now commonplace to hear Welsh language music on mainstream UK stations including BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music.

The country’s reopening and the buildup to festival season is causing excitement. “People have got a lot of great songs ready to go, club ready,” said Ap Iago, who also runs a label, Afanc, named after a lake monster from Welsh mythology.

A string of free gigs from Newport in the south-east to Caernarfon in the north-west were being held on Friday to mark Dydd Miwsig Cymru.

Elan Evans, Welsh music promoter at the renowned Cardiff venue Clwb Ifor Bach, said there was an air of excitement. She said she loved seeing new artists “taking ownership” of the language. “Not just for home and school but to socialise in, live in, you can do whatever you want with it. It’s our language.”

Huw Stephens, the BBC DJ and Dydd Miwsig Cymru ambassador, said: “There is a definite, carefree, creative moment in Welsh language music.”

Stephens said following the lockdowns this spring and summer were going to be “critically important” for Welsh language music as people got out and about together.

“What’s great is that it really is a year-round thing; it’s a live culture, a real culture, not a manufactured culture, it’s a very organic and natural scene.”

Dydd Miwsig Cymru is part of the Welsh government’s long-term vision Cymraeg 2050 to see a million people speaking and using Welsh daily by the middle of the century.

The minister for Welsh language and education, Jeremy Miles, said: “Mae’r iaith yn perthyn i ni gyd – the language belongs to us all. Gwenno and Gruff Rhys have shown that music in Welsh can travel the world and you don’t need to speak the language to enjoy Ani Glass and her electropop sound, or Candelas, who are formidable live. Dydd Miwsig Cymru celebrates all forms of Welsh language music, diverse scenes which are thriving and it’s about welcoming more people to dive in and discover what we have.”