Five stunning virtuoso musicians are guaranteed to ignite the audience’s hearts and minds when they appear in the 29th Tredegar House Folk Festival, which runs from May 11 to 13, and where the guest list promises a weekend of entertainment and thrills, with music and dancing galore.

New Glasgow-based supergroup Ímar boasts a line-up featuring current and former members of stellar Scottish,Welsh and Isle of Man bands Mànran, RURA, Talisk, Barrule, Cara, Jamie Smith’s Mabon and The Lowground, whose collectively crammed trophy-cabinet includes a BBC Young Folk Award and several All-Britain/All-Ireland titles.

The band was created out of Glasgow’s celebrated session scene. All five of them – also including fiddler Tomás Callister and bouzouki ace Adam Rhodes (Barrule/Mabon), both from the Isle of Man, plus Glasgow native Mohsen Amini (Talisk) on concertina – originally met as teenagers through Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the Irish traditional music network
that tutors budding players throughout the British Isles and beyond.

Spectacularly-costumed Dutch dancers Ralda, who are based in Raalte in the eastern Netherlands, will be coming to the festival and will be bringing international and Dutch folklore to the stage, providing folk dance and live folk music.

Beside Dutch dances, their repertoire consists of foreign dances from countries like Hungary, Armenia, Serbia, Israel,Mexico, Russia and China.
Their busy schedule has taken them to South America, and this year they will be travelling abroad several times.

This year, the festival will be celebrating a wealth of local music. On Friday night, Newport Folk Club will be sponsoring the brilliant rynmawr-born songwriter Huw Williams.

He is champion Eisteddfod clog-dancer, adventurous guitarist, bizarre storyteller, Welsh bagpiper, and manager of Cool Cymru ambassadors Calan. He is also the erstwhile half of a duo with TonyWilliams, who conquered the folk clubs and concerts of Britain before they called it a day.

Huw was a vital member of the Welsh super-group Crasdant for many years, and he maintained his prominent profile by tutoring and teaching clog-dancing at national workshops.

Huw is supported by Newport-born songwriter PhilMillichip, who outlined the bleak and dangerous SouthWales coal industry in his song If I Had A Son, championed and recorded by the famous and well-loved Vin Garbutt.

Young South Wales musicians Morfa, featuring 16-year-old multi-instrumentalist Meg Eliza Cox, fiddler and champion step-dancer Osian Gruffudd and guitarist Rhys Morris will be appearing, and so will be wonderful banjoist and guitarist Chris Moreton and his double bassist wife Wendy.


National daily journalist and songwriter Paul Lloyd Nicholas and his band will also be in concert.

Bristol-based Sam Kelly will be appearing with his trio, and the Daria Kulesh Quartet celebrate Daria’s Russian and Ingush heritage, with leading acoustic guitarist Tristan Seume, Belarusian pianistMarina Osman and expert hammered dulcimer player Kate Rouse.

Singer songwriter Charlie Dore and her guitarist Julian Littman (of Steeleye Span) will be the icing on the cake, and local ceilidh band Juice, with their legendary caller Dave Parsons, will be whipping up the dancing crowd.

Several Welsh, Cornish and English dance teams will also give free afternoon displays, and Gwent CAMRA will hold a real ale, cider and perry exhibition.

Tredegar House Folk Festival
Tredegar House & Country Park, Newport NP10 8YW

01633 246241

tredegarhousefestival.org.uk