August 22/23/24
Music by Gruff Rhys, Das Koolies, Group Listening, Bill Ryder-Jones, Strawberry Guy, Fflaps and Ectogram, Pat Morgan and Alan Holmes + more
A tribute to Emyr Glyn Williams.
Emyr Glyn Williams, who founded Ankst Records with Alun Llwyd and Gruff Jones was a great supporter of Ara Deg and used to set up an Ankst Musik stall at the record fair.
His nurturing presence in music and film in Wales can not be over stated so with his untimely passing this year it seemed fitting to invite Pat Morgan from Datblygu, Alan Holmes and Ann Matthews from the bands FFlaps and Ectogram, and Dewi Evans of Rheinallt H Rowlands, whose music Emyr released, to play sonic and celluloid tribute to Emyr throughout the Saturday.
We’ll finish the night with a rendition of Y Teimlad with Pat Morgan and Gruff Rhys and The Sadness Sets Me Free band. Emyr was instrumental in securing the legacy of Datblygu through a series of reissues. Emyr was also a campaigner against sentimentality so we’ll try and keep that in mind.
WEEKEND & Day TICKETS
-AUGUST 22/23/24-
FFORDD BANGOR, BETHESDA GWYNEDD, LL57 3AN
THURSDAY
Neuadd Ogwen
DAS KOOLIES
GROUP LISTENING
7:00pm – Door
SATURDAY
Neuadd Ogwen
10:00 – Record fair, books, clothes and brunch
11:00 – PANDORA’S BOX film with live soundtrack by PAT MORGAN & ALAN HOLMES
Y FIC
5:00 – DJ DON LEISURE
Capel Jerusalem
3:00 – 7:00 STRAWBERRY GUY + support
NEUADD OGWEN
7:00 – GRUFF RHYS
FFLAPOGRAM
MERCHED LLOERIG
DJ DON LEISURE
DJ ANDY VOTEL
THURSDAY
22ND AUGUST
NEUADD OGWEN
Das Koolies
Super Furry originators Bunf, Cian, Guto & Daf bring their sensational live show that melds Techno, live instrumentation and cut-up video to Neuadd Ogwen – this will be a powerful, loud and unforgettable night for the senses.
To quote body-building Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, even with their decades of record making and performance – this incarnation is the “best mind fuck yet”
7pm
Group Listening
Musical collaborators for the past decade, Ambient warriors Paul Jones and Stephen Black are together known as the woodwind-and-key-wielding, sculptural-papier-mâché-hat-wearing Group Listening.
New album Walks is their first album of completely original compositions, set to be released 10th May on PRAH Recordings. And brings forth new synthetic surprises that builds on their origins as the World’s first ambient music covers band.
FRIDAY
23RD AUGUST
NEUADD OGWEN
Bill Ryder-Jones
Now on his 5th album, Bill Ryder-Jones returns to Ara Deg with his band for the latest installment with Iechyd Da! Whose title is surely a nod to one of his key influences, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Bill played the first Ara Deg in 2019 and returns to headline.
7pm
SATURDAY
24TH AUGUST
Tribute day to Emyr Glyn Williams
Records Fair
Ara Deg’s records fair returns to the Neuadd Ogwen foyer from 10am, where you’ll have the opportunity to snatch up some great finds!
Film
Pandora's Box (1929)
With live soundtrack by
Merched Lloerig
Pat Morgan and Alan Holmes have been friends for decades, but this is the first time they have performed together. Alan first got turned on to Welsh language music when he heard the two compilations on Recordiau Anhrefn in the mid 80s. He was particularly taken by Datblygu, who subsequently recorded five sessions for John Peel’s BBC radio show.
Pat from Datblygu got in touch with Alan recently to suggest recording a Radio Cymru session, which of course he agreed to. Both people having a history of collaborations, they then suggested working on a film soundtrack in tribute to Emyr, who would often have a live soundtrack to the silent films he put on at Pontio in Bangor. Pat suggested P W Pabst’s 1929 classic “Pandora’s Box”, starring Louise Brooks, which happened to also be one of Alan’s favourite films. The duo will soundtrack the film in the afternoon, and play a few songs in the evening (as Merched Lloerig).
Though we can’t claim that the spirit of the late David R Edwards will be in attendance – ghosts do get free admission.
11am approx.
DJ
Don Leisure
Welsh/Indian hip-hop beatmaker Don Leisure has a globalist approach to his music; by crate-digging whenever he can, he’s able to collate records from around the world and lift samples as he sees fit. Years of collecting snippets paid off for the release of his debut full-length, 2017’s Shaboo, which displayed dynamism and eclecticism in dedication to his late uncle Nassar “Shaboo” Bharwani.
Don Leisure had been producing records for several years before adopting the pseudonym — originally as drum and bass producer Jamal — before teaming up with Earl Jeffers to become Darkhouse Family. Deciding he wanted to make purist instrumental hip hop, he concocted Don Leisure, using the alias to create a record in memory of his uncle, the man who inspired Leisure to make music by telling him that it was in his blood. Moved by his uncle’s passion and belief, Leisure obtained early music production software and started making beats. Years later, he released Shaboo and dedicated it to Bharwani, inspired by his journey from Kenya to London, his roles in Bollywood cinema, and the personal impact he had on the music.
Don has also collaborated with Gruff Rhys via a remix of ‘Loan your Lonliness’ and by having Gruff sing on the track ‘Hotel Shaboo’ on the Shaboo Strikes Back album. That album was included in Huw Stephens’s recent book ‘100 Welsh Albums’.
Don is currently finishing up a record for Sain Records utilising the vast back catalogue and sampling old Welsh tracks.
Don will be presenting an unique set at the Fic and will collaborate with Andy Votel to close out Saturday night.
SATURDAY Afternoon
NEUADD OGWEN
Capel Jerusalem
Strawberry Guy
& Support
When Alex Stephens (A.K.A. Strawberry Guy) self-released his debut single in 2018, he was merely doing it out of a love for song writing. What he wasn’t expecting was millions of streams and an avid worldwide fanbase.
A one-man impressionist, painting majestic soundscapes, Strawberry Guy blends truthful lyrics with lush arrangements to conjure new emotive worlds. Imitating nature’s effect on emotion, like 70s songwriters, or the fantastical soundtracks accompanying vibrant scenes in the Japanese animated Studio Ghibli films and video games, landscape is brought to the fore. It’s unusual to have a local artist finding such success worldwide and it’s a treat to provide him with a stage closer to home for this intimate solo set.
3pm – 7pm at Capel Jerusalem
Please note this performance requires either the Saturday afternoon ticket or all-day Saturday ticket.
SATURDAY Night
NEUADD OGWEN
Gruff Rhys
Gruff Rhys (with Kliph Scurlock, Osian Gwynedd, Huw V Williams & Gruff Ab Arwel) will play a set including material from his latest album Sadness Sets Me Free.
Emyr was instrumental in releasing and nurturing music by Gruff’s first band Ffa Coffi Pawb and the early Super Furry Animals releases on Ankst records.
7pm
Fflapogram
(Fflaps & Ectogram)
Fflapogram are a trio featuring Ann Matthews (vocals and guitar), Alan Holmes (guitar) and Dewi Evans (keyboards). They perform material from their previous groups Fflaps, Ectogram and Rheinallt H Rowlands, albeit in a very different form, due largely to their lack of drummer.
The trio go back 43 years, all having met on the same day in 1981 in the fertile creative environment of Bangor Art College, when all three were sent to a room in the tower of the building and told to draw what they saw there. The three discovered that they shared a love of music and got together to record some of Dewi’s songs under his ‘Casio Kid’ alias. Ann and Alan then went on to form Fflaps and later Ectogram, both groups that Dewi would occasionally guest with, himself going on to record and perform with the late Owain ‘Oz’ Wright as Rheinallt H Rowlands.
All three have always remained close friends. The recent death of Emyr Glyn Williams, who was a great help and inspiration to everyone on the Welsh scene, has got them back together to perform many of the songs that he released on his record labels Ankst, Atol and Ankstmusik… not in an ‘authentic’ way, as he would have hated that, but to recreate them with the ghosts of Jonny Evans, Maeyc Hewitt and Oz Wright.
DJ
Andy Votel
Andy has been coming to Bethesda for 20 years now as a DJ and researcher of Welsh records. His expertise on old discs spans the non-Anglicized World, including Cymru with his Welsh Rare Beat compilations, and he has spearheaded the reappraisal of many a discarded artefact and upturned criminally conceived cultural phobias.
This all sounds a bit dry until Andy unleashes his peerless beat harnessing DJ skills to create high energy dance mayhem on unsuspecting music fans Worldwide. Melding unimaginable combinations of Turkish, Thai, Tamil, Soviet, Cymraeg, Breton etc concoctions, nobody is safe from his head banging spell and sparks often fly from the decks as he pushes grooves to their limits.
He brings his B Music night formula to Neuadd Ogwen on Saturday Night to close Ara Deg 24 with audio fireworks.
Accomodation & Travel
Neuadd Ogwen, High St, Bethesda, Bangor LL57 3AN
Taxis
Taxi Twix 01248 730123
Taxi Pasty (+44) 07964 162248
A1 Cars 01248 602111
Camping
Dinas Farm Site
Pen Isa’r Allt Halfway Bridge, Bangor LL57 4NB
