Photographer and performer Mark Robson has been documenting the life of local circus institution, NoFitState, for the past thirteen years. Now he’s running a Kickstarter to put the book together – and he needs your help to get them printed! Here he is, to explain his project.
I first got involved with Nofit State Circus in 1995 when I blew up 2 cars for the finale of their show Autogeddon. I joined their board in 2002 and started taking photos of the shows shortly after that. I stayed on the board until 2015 and was involved in a variety of ways, including touring with some of the shows. Throughout all that time, and since, I have been taking photos of Nofit State. For several years I had been dreaming of publishing these photos as a book.
In 2015 Ali Williams (one of the founders of Nofit State) announced she was going to move on to new exciting things and leave Nofit State. I decided to make a book for her as a leaving present using my photos; capturing as many of the shows, communities, and people involved as possible – think of it as a Nofit State Circus family photo album. Although I realised this was going to be a serious amount of work, I still massively under estimated the amount of work it would take. I finished the book and called it ‘Let’s Do It Again’, it was great, but I realised that it was not the book I had been dreaming of.
This project is about that book; a coffee table book full of the wonder, passion and beauty of circus, suitable for all. A book that still covers all the shows but whose focus is the photography whilst still capturing the feel of those shows.
I have taken ‘Let’s do it Again’ as a prototype, edited it down significantly, increased the photo size and quality, added some new photos, changed the structure, included a little more text and looked at better print methods. The work on the book is mostly done.
To make this book a physical reality the next step is printing it. This kickstarter is to enable that to happen by taking pre-orders to cover the printing, design and delivery costs.
The Book
The book is called ‘In nofitstate’ and is for anyone who likes Nofit State, circus or photography. If you like all three then perfect.
‘In nofitstate’ will be
256 pages,
9.5” square,
litho printed,
hard back,
section sewn binding
It contains over 230 photos dating from 2004 to 2017 and has sections covering community, the shows from immortal to block, backstage shots, and people.
Looking for something a bit different to listen to? We recommend a new Cardiff-based podcast from local boylesque star, Ernie Sparkles!
Fabulous Beyond is a new fortnightly chat show podcast by Ernie Sparkles. Each episode features a different guest in conversation with Ernie as they discuss the concept of Fabulous and what the word means to them.
The project was launched in June with the aim to compile and document research by Ernie. “I have been fascinated with the concept of Fabulousness for a number of years, since finding out someone had referred to me as Fabulous,” he says. “It made me question – What does fabulous even mean?! I figured capturing discussions with different people might help me to find the answers. I figured these conversations would actually make quite interesting podcasts! The conversations so far have been really interesting – we’ve talked about identity, gender, LGBTQ issues, Queer culture, the royal family, mental health and Drag Queens!”
The podcast ‘Fabulous Beyond’ is available for download on iTunes or direct from the Fabulous Beyond website. Please listen in, review, subscribe and share the word and help to get Fabulous Beyond beyond fabulous! Check us out at @fabulousbeyond
We spotted these gorgeous illustrations of Cardiff a few months back and decided to investigate who was behind them and their accompanying poetry: meet Efa Lois and Morgan Owen!
Gwelsom ni’r darluniadau hyfryd hyn hyn o Gaerdydd rhai misoedd yn ôl a phenderfynu ymchwilio i bwy oedd wedi’u creu yn ogystal â’r barddoniaeth sy’n cydfynd â hwy. Dyma gyflwyno Efa Lois a Morgan Owen!
Rhithganfyddiad is a collaborative project between Morgan Owen, a young poet and MA student at Cardiff University, and Efa Lois, an illustrator and Architectural Assistant currently based in Cardiff. They told us:
“We started Rhithganfyddiad because we wanted to document the city as it currently is. Cities are constantly evolving, especially Cardiff, and we hoped to capture what the city is currently like, whilst reflecting on its past.
The end result is a poem and an illustration – a chronicle of each place.”
Mae Rhithganfyddiad yn brosiect ar y cyd rhwng Morgan Owen, bardd ifanc a myfyriwr MA ym Mhrifysgol Caerdydd, ac Efa Lois, sy’n arlunydd ac yn Gynorthwyydd Pensaernïol. Dywedodd Morgan ac Efa wrthom:
“Dechreuodd Rhithganfyddiad am ein bod am adlewyrchu’r ddinas fel y mae hi ar hyn o bryd. Mae dinasoedd yn datblygu drwy’r amser, yn enwedig Caerdydd, ac rydym am ddal naws y ddinas fel ag y mae hi, tra’n ystyried ei gorffennol. Cynnyrch ein hymwneud â’r gwahanol ardaloedd yr ydym yn ymweld â nhw yw cerdd a darlun.”
They are gradually filling in their map of Cardiff with their gorgeous work – we can’t wait to see the full set!
Maent yn raddol yn llenwi eu map o Gaerdydd gyda’u gwaith hyfryd – ‘da ni’n methu ag aros i weld y casgliad yn ei gyfanrwydd!
Dyma ddetholiad o’u darluniadau a’u barddoniaeth – gallwch weld mwy o’u gwaith ar eu gwefan, neu yn siop Cant a Mil Vintage ar Heol yr Eglwys Newydd. Gallwch hefyd brynu printiau arlein.
Heol y Gadeirlan | Cathedral Road
Mae’r hewl hon yn bont annisgwyl
o’r canol i’r cyrion,
un stryd sy’n rhychwantu
dinas benbwygilydd.
O unpen i’r llall mae bywyd
yn arafu a’r ddinas
yn ymbentrefoli
nes dy fod mewn byr o dro
yn bell bell o’r dwndwr
heb ymgydnabod â’r rhyngdir.
Plasnewydd
Cydgymysgwn – nid goddef
ond parchu gwead
ein cydblethiad;
ymhyfrydwn yn y cymhlethdod
cain lle gwêl
y culion ddryswch.
Treganna | CantonMewn dinas o’r iawn ryw mae’r
strydoedd yn gyfrodedd
heb arwain at unlle’n benodol.
Dryswch dymunol yw ei nod amgen,
ei chyfiawnhad a’i gogoniant.
Mae’r hewlydd oll yn rhan o’r cyfanwaith,
a phob un, eto i gyd, yn torsythu
yn ei hannibyniaeth.
Y daith ei hun yw’r unig resymeg.
Wrth hyntio’n ymwybodol o’r cymysgedd
awn i wledydd dirifedi
heb adael am eiliad ein dinas ni.
Cathays
Ni fu realiti erioed mor hurt â tharfu ar y cyfeddach a’r delfrydu, ac amheuthun yw tario yn y tir neb rhwng rhyddid a chyfrifoldeb.
Dychweli’n ddoethach
yn ddieithryn. Fe weli,
a thithau’n lwcus, fod bellach
sylwedd am yr hen haniaethau
a’r breuddwydion liw dydd.
Fe weli, a thithau’n eithriad, nad ildiaist i’r sadrwydd mae’r lle hwn yn brotest yn ei erbyn.
Heol y Fuwch Goch | Womanby St
Fin nos yn feddw nadredda gwyntoedd ffrwythlonder a phydredd i gyfeiliant diotwyr a gwylanod. Yn ddeuparth bywyd ac unparth marwolaeth, cerdda ffantasmagoria y strydoedd sydd bob un yn arwain at ruddin y gân a’r golau. Annedd frwysg rhwng gwyll a gwawr yw’r noswaith lân sy’n darfod yn yr oriau mân.
Llandaf | Llandaff
Yng ngogysgod y ddinas mae hendref greiriog sy’n edliw i’r concrit ei lesgedd.
Ar ei ynys grebachlyd mae’n mesur y llanw di-drai sy’n difa gwreiddiau.
Lle cedwid gynt rin rhyw genedl a gwagle i freuddwydio ceir heddiw grawcwellt yn ymborth.
Eilbeth yw iaith a llên a myfyrdodau lle mae arian yn llywio meddyliau.
Deled y byd i weld tomen o garegos pan nad yw llwydni Llanbobman yn ddigon.
Y Sblot | Splott
Dur yw iaith absenoldeb;
dur sy’n rhydu yn y dociau dof
yw pont dwy genhedlaeth;
dur sy’n fy nghludo i gartref
na ddychwelaf iddo eto.
Dau le a unwyd gan un enw
a dynghedwyd i gyd-ddioddef –
dau le sy’n gorwedd
dan lwch hen luniau
sy’n stwyrian wedi sôn am Ddowlais.
Dowlais yw enw colled
yn y blaendir a’r ddinas
fel ei gilydd lle mae’r dur
yn rhydu o hyd.
Mynydd Bychan | The Heath
Nid angof fydd y fan hon
sydd rhwng dau le o hyd –
tramwyfa aml daith,
ond cyrchfan anfynych.
Pan fo’r cyrion yn crwydro a’r ddinas
yn glastwreiddio’i chalon,
rhinwedd yw rhyngedd
y lle sy’n aros yn yr unfan.
Illustrations/Darluniadau: Efa Loi, poetry/barddoniaeth: Morgan Owen
So I was in my trapeze class yesterday and my lovely teacher Olga said that a photo of me was on Facebook, and it was going to be in a photography book! Intrigued, I reactivated my Facebook account to check it out…
Photo by Craig Kirkwood
In the most Cardiff fashion ever, I was photographed riding my bike through a lovely park, past Bryce Davies’s (aka graffiti artist Peaceful Progress) van. In serendipitous style, Bryce had also recently done my tattoo (you can see it poking out of my right sleeve). If that’s not Cardiff, I’m not sure what is – cycling everywhere, parks, graffiti, everyone knowing everyone and a gorgeous photo of the whole thing.
Anyway, it turns out that the wonderful photographer Craig Kirkwood has gone and made a photography book about Cardiff! It features loads of incredible shots of lots of our friends. It looks really amazing, so we had a chat with him to find out more….
The Book of Cardiff is a hardcover bound portrait of the city told through around 300 stunning photographs taken over a 12-month period.
You can see some of the wonderful shots below, or on the book’s Facebook page.
Foreword to the 1st edition
The Welsh capital is fast becoming one of the great post-industrial cities of Britain. Full of optimism, open spaces, and renewed foreshores, it’s taking its place beside so many urban centres which have emerged, finally, from the collapse of industry, manufacturing and mining that so brutally shook the Kingdom in the 1980s and 90s. It’s also a city that’s changing quickly as the industrial spaces disappear to make way for new retail, commercial and residential projects.
Craig says:
“This book covers about a year in the life of the city. As an expatriate Australian, I don’t pretend to understand the history of Cardiff in any detail. Nor do I have the cultural ties that would give me an informed, insider’s perspective. But I do bring the eye of a resident tourist still delighted with just how pleasant it is to live in a city that can be covered largely by foot or bicycle.
At the time of writing, I’ve lived in Cardiff just over a year. It’s not such a long time really but to delay this book any further would be to miss the opportunity of seeing the town as a fresh outsider.
As a photographer, it’s important to grab that ‘new car feeling’ and breath it in before the sights that seem fascinating become commonplace.”
About the author
Craig Kirkwood is an Australian-born photographer, publisher and entrepreneur. He moved to Cardiff in 2015 and immediately set about documenting both the landscape and the cultural life of the city, taking over 20,000 photographs of hundreds of festivals, events, concerts and everyday life in the city.
Prior to moving to Wales, Craig was the CEO of high- profile creative media consultancy, Fearless Media, which he founded in 1999. At the time, Fearless was the largest organisation of its kind in Australia with offices and facilities throughout the country. He was also a regional manager of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and founded the renowned Flickerfest International Film Festival on Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach which continues today in its 27th year.
Where to buy and launch party details
The book will be available from Waterstones and many other book and gift shops around town or can be purchased directly from the publisher’s online store http://colourshop.co. The launch party is on Thursday 1 June at Little Man Coffee from 7pm, and our faves Maddie Jones and Sparkles Hoop Troupe will be performing.
Everyone is welcome to attend!
We can’t wait to see the finished book – best of luck Craig!!
If you were as sad about The Moons closing as we were, then fear not – you can take the future into your own hands and help the Creative Republic of Cardiff take over the bar themselves!
Creative Republic of Cardiff is a new, non-profit organisation that plans to re-open the beloved Full Moon and rejuvenate Cardiff’s live music and creative culture. It has been set up by former staff and friends of The Full Moon.
They plan to take on the building’s lease within the next month and re-open as a community-led, non-profit venue and arts space. The Full Moon has always been the people’s venue.
Womanby Street and Cardiff’s live music scene is under threat, with the loss of three venues in four months. The closure of The Full Moon was the last straw.
Creative Republic of Cardiff is made up of former staff and friends of The Full Moon. They believe that the venue and the cultural heartbeat it adds to our city, are worth saving and developing.
They plan to take on the lease of The Full Moon and not let it die – it’s viable, it’s vital. But they need your help and this is just the beginning!
They are in positive talks with the landlord and need to show him the support they have from the community. There are obviously other offers, but none of them will be able to support and develop the artistic community like this.
You contribution will go towards the lease, licensing, legal fees, and various costs associated with reopening as a fully functioning venue, as soon as possible.
The previous venue was viable, however it became clear that it needs to be a non-profit, community-focused music and arts space, in order to realise its full potential.
Additional funds will allow the group to improve the venue, carry out maintenance and provide them with basic working capitol.
Creative Republic of Cardiff will use the venue to establish an environment of collaboration, networking and knowledge sharing. It will nurture, develop, organise and showcase talent from Cardiff and beyond.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of the campaign in more detail please email lizhunt1980@gmail.com
Your donation will also secure some goodies! Like a badge, t-shirt, giant print, framed gig poster or even booking the place out for a gig of your own!!
We Are Cardiff have donated £50. We enjoyed plenty of nights out in The Full Moon – so I guess we’re looking at it as back-payment for all those times we got let in for free and danced our socks off all night.
In case ya hadn’t heard, here’s the deal. The Gatekeeper has put in an application to convert some of the building to be Cardiff’s first Wetherspoons hotel. Unfortunately, it happens to be located right in the heart of the alternative musical heart of the city: Womanby Street, a place we’ve spent many hours stumbling around, weaving from venue to venue, smoking, eating burgers, drinking pints, putting the world to rights. Whether you’re a boozehound or not, late alcohol licensing is totally vital to this epicentre of alternative music, and venues are worried about the implications of having the hotel there.
To try and safeguard the venues on this street, there’s a “Save Womanby Street Campaign”. Do your thing, join up, get educated, lobby those that represent you.*
Here’s the vibes:
Save Womanby Street
Backed by Cardiff’s grassroots music venues, the Save Womanby Street campaign is lobbying the council to recognise the street as an area of cultural significance for music and performance arts.
Home to live music venues Clwb Ifor Bach, The Full Moon, Fuel Rock Club and Bootlegger, Womanby Street has been described as “the epicentre of Cardiff for grassroots music” and “the heartbeat of live music”
According to campaign organisers, late alcohol licensing and live music is vital to the venues’ survival.
The addition of a hotel will benefit the area but current systems of law could threaten the unique nature of the street.
As a result the group are calling on Cardiff Council to designate Womanby Street a cultural night time economy. This will protect the street and allow businesses to continue to flourish.
The decision under the current systems of law has been met with widespread objection, with folk singer Frank Turner joining nearly 7,000 others to petition against the move.
However, Save Womanby Street organisers have stressed that the wider issue lies with planning permission policy and not the pub in question.
Under current regulations any complaints regarding noise pollution would threaten the livelihood of the street’s venues.
In addition to the local planning changes, the campaign will lobby the Welsh Assembly to adopt the agent of change principle in relation to planning permission, making it the responsibility of the developers of any new premises, commercial or residential, to find solutions to noise from nearby pre-existing business.
* (if any of you live in Butetown, like I do, good luck trying to lobby our councillor Ali Ahmed for anything, all he ever does is reply saying what’s happening and that there’s no way of changing anything, not once have I ever experienced him actually representing the views of local people – especially on the crazy bonanza of flat building that’s going on around Hamadryad Park. Although I just read he hasn’t been reselected to stand in May, and to be honest, good riddance. How can you live in Penylan and represent Butetown?)
Private art collections can sometimes appear artistically polarising and disjointed. An art collector’s personal taste is not always uniform and cohesive, so when private art collections hang on the walls of carefully curated museums they can appear somewhat out of place. For ‘Bacon to Doig: Modern Masterpieces from a Private Collection’ this thankfully isn’t the case. From Ian and Mercedes Stoutzker, this collection is simultaneously varied, cohesive and personal. Situated in the National Museum Cardiff, Bacon to Doig offers museum-goers an intimate interpretation of modern art. From the delicate sketches of Henri Matisse to the mind-bending pottery of Grayson Perry you are transported to not just a playground of different artistic mediums, but an interesting historiography of modern art itself.
Firstly, credit must be given to the National Museum for their excellent use of space and composition in their presentation of the collection. The difficulties of moving a collection only enjoyed in a domestic setting to that of a museum was a challenge, but they have succeeded. The National Museum can somewhat go under the radar when people discuss Cardiff, but this collection will hopefully galvinise people’s interest in the museum itself. The museum, relative to other British museums, has always outdone itself in regards to the quality of its exhibitions and the professionalism it always operates under, so National Museum – big up yourself.
In terms of the collection, there’s plenty of room to take each piece in, marvel at it, scratch your head, mutter under your breath “Is THIS really art?”, etc even on busy days. The art is curated in a way that is sensible with each room having a really tangible sense of style and place. The exhibition is pretty low on photography, excluding one room of especially profound art and the collection of paper drawings. Photography is barred there and this also happens to be where all my favourite pieces were, so if you want to check them out you’re going to have to go yourself.
Thematically, the collection covers a lot of the major sub-sects of “modern art” from expressionistic canvases to post-impressionism (all these fancy words mean is that it’s all modern and varied). The art collection never becomes too highbrow and can be enjoyed by everyone, there isn’t a sense that you need a strong knowledge of art history or criticism to really appreciate the collection as a whole. Interestingly, a lot of this art was collected by the Stoutzkers was purchased when the artists were in the early stages of their career, so each piece has a sense of appealing innocence to them – there is a sense of each artist still struggling to find their own identity in a lot of the pieces, yet not in a way that it detracts from the pieces themselves. Instead, the sense of artistic innocence imbues a lot of the pieces with a certain playfulness; the collection appears wholly original by not just curating quality artists, but by curating them when they were all at a similar level of creative maturity.
It goes without saying that the art in the collection is of stellar quality, but this isn’t exactly where the appeal lies. The appeal of the collection is how original, yet similar, each piece feels. The zeitgeist of the modern artistic period is captured here in a visceral way. Particular highlights included Lucian Freud’s Girl With Closed Eyes, Francis Bacon’s pieces, the Matisse sketch hidden away in the filing cabinet Nude Model, Resting, and Grayson Perry’s Turner-prize winning vases which were, to me, the absolute highlight of the collection. At fear of spoiling too much, I’ll keep discussion of the actual pieces to that. The collection is best enjoyed without expectation, that way it’ll truly hit you at how important and visually stimulating the collection really is.
The collection will be at National Museum Wales until the 31st January 2018, so please be sure to pop down time and time again before it leaves. It really is one of the most important private collections of modern art in the world and it’s in Cardiff, it’s free, it’s on your doorstep, so get going!
Photojournalist Chloe Jackson-Nott recently completed a project on women in music in Wales, about the lack of women in the industry and how we can address it. Take it away, Chloe!
***
Niamh Doyle and Rebekah Price, presenters on Dragon Radio. All photography by Chloe Jackson-Nott.
My photography mainly focuses on music. There aren’t many female music photographers around, so within my work I wanted to photograph and talk to women in other parts of the music industry: whether that be, in a band, solo artist, radio presenter, photographer or enthusiastic gig-goer.
I found eight young women in different parts of the industry. They all do different things within it, and they agreed to speak to me and allowed me to photograph them.
Firstly, Daniele Lewis is a singer-songwriter from New Quay, West Wales. I stumbled across her at Sŵn Festival when looking through the schedule for female artists. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to speak to her on the day but I did see her perform and she has a lot of friends and family around supporting her. Her performance had a calm vibe to it but at the same time you could see all of her enthusiasm and that she loved being up on stage.
I then spoke to Fenne Lily just before her show at Sŵn Festival in Clwb Ifor Bach who had travelled from Bristol to perform in Cardiff. She has strong views about how to get to where you need to be in the music industry and how you need to fight your way to the top, especially being female.
Before I started to find women to talk to about this, I knew I wanted to speak to Katie Hall from Aberdare as I have worked with and seen her band Chroma play live multiple times. She’s incredible. When she performs, she’s lost in performance – she doesn’t care what other people think about her. She’ll be dancing around the stage, giving enthusiastic facial expressions. You can tell she is very passionate about her music and take advantage of being the lead singer of a band with two other male members. She’s a great role model for young girls who want to make it big one day in music.
I also spoke to Dani Hewitt from Treherbet and Samantha Bull from Aberdare who volunteer with Young Promoters Network where they have worked with many women, including myself, who want to take the next step in music. They realised that all of the girls were coming to them for advice noticing that there were no other female role models for them, so decided to create a community called WOMEN (Women of Music Events Network.)
I then went to the students of all music courses at University of South Wales and found Ellie Strong from Cardiff who aspires to be a successful drummer, which is someone I had yet to come across so jumped at the chance to speak to her. She performs at Café Jazz every Monday to practice her skills and perform to a small crowd. Finally, I was asked to photograph two radio presenters from Dragon Media at University of South Wales who happened to be both female so spoke to them to get a different view as they were not in a band or aspire to be artists.
Women of Wales in music
Samantha Bull, 26, Aberdare, W.O.M.E.N
“There aren’t enough women in the music industry, progress is being made but it is slow. There is so much could be done and must be done to counteract the inequality that we as women face in the industry. From the culture that surrounds us and society it has been ingrained in us from a young age that all girls are in competition with each other. Take that thought and push it out of your brain. We need to come together and start supporting each other and celebrating each other’s achievements.”
Dani Hewitt, 26, Treherbet, W.O.M.E.N Cofounder
“There are a lot of men working in the music industry that I could look up to but not a lot of women that I could identify with and follow in the footsteps of. I volunteer with the Young Promoters Network and a lot of the girls starting coming to me and looking up to me to help them. It became a community where we supported each other with developing skills. As there aren’t a lot of female role models, I decided that I should be one for now for young girls who want to achieve their dreams and goals.”
Samantha Bull, 26, and Dani Hewitt, 26, running a W.O.M.E.N panel (Women of Music Events Network) panel at Swn Festival 2016 to inspire young girls to achieve their dreams in music.
Fenne Lily, 18, Bristol – Singer
“I think there are enough women in the music industry but not women who are actually doing what they want to do, because it’s quite easy to see a girl with an acoustic guitar and tell her she’s can be the next ‘Taylor Swift.’ I think it should cater to women more instead of having men setting up their career and choosing for them. I’ve been brought up by a lot of music as I was attending festivals at a young age so I knew this is definitely what I wanted to do with my life and have decided to build a career out of it. If it’s something you want to do, don’t let society’s opinions stop you.”
Fenne Lily performing downstairs in Clwb Ifor Bach on Saturday 22nd October.
Danielle Lewis, 21, West Wales – Singer
“In the 10 years I have been performing live from school, my local scene at home, playing in Australia to moving to the city in Cardiff, I have seen a lack of women in music in all areas of the industry from playing to sound engineers and producing. It still seems to be a very male orientated business and as a female artist myself I have felt looked down at numerous times. I recently recorded my latest CD with a female producer for the first time and she herself agrees on the shortage. I do think we are becoming more aware of this and I look forward to a new wave of more females in the industry.”
Singer Danielle Lewis, 21, from New Quay, West Wales, performing on the Horizons stage at O’Neils on Saturday 22nd October.
Singer Danielle Lewis, performing on the Horizons stage at O’Neils on Saturday 22nd October.
Katie Hall, 21, Aberdare – Singer
“There are definitely not enough girls in the music industry. It shouldn’t be the defining feature of you band that a girl is the front woman. There are so many talented and inspiring musicians that are girls. I think the way to inspire more girls to work in the music industry is to shatter that glass ceiling that’s oppressing women everywhere. The way we do that is challenging promoters attitudes towards women in bands so they give them more gigs. We need to inspire girls from a young age to get involved or pick up an instrument, and support the women who are currently involved in music to reach their full potential as artist.”
Lead singer of Chroma, Katie Hall, performing in Undertone, Cardiff on Sunday 23rd October.
Lead singer of Chroma, Katie Hall, performing in Undertone, Cardiff on Sunday 23rd October.
Ellie Strong, 20, Cardiff – Drummer
“I think there’s a common misconception that there aren’t a lot of women, but there are plenty of women in music; just not enough making grungy rock and shredding guitar! But then there are some gems like jazz and rock drummer Cindy Blackman, currently killing it in the band Santana.. I think what the current women in the industry need to realise is that ‘music’ isn’t a term to be taken lightly; it’s not always about image, which seems to be the case nowadays. So my advice to singers is that they should listen to Jill Scott’s raw vocals instead of whatever is in the charts, and to instrumentalists – keep doing your thing. Prove that we can do it just as well as the boys.”
Niamh Doyle, 20, Cardiff, Radio Presenter
“I believe that there are a few women who are extremely big at the moment, but that’s only a fortunate few. The advice I would give is to keep up their YouTube platforms, as this is a platform where anyone; gender, age, or race is welcome and as it is such a large platform, it is accessible to everyone around the world. We are also at a time in our lives where society is beginning to change the status levels between men and women; women are beginning to become more noticed and taken seriously. My final advice to women would be to never give up and to just keep their end goal in mind.”
Niamh Doyle, 20, student at USW and radio presenter at Dragon Media
Rebekah Price, 22, Cwmbran, Radio Presenter
“Music is an incredibly important thing in my life. I’ve always loved talking about it, listening to it, as well as making it. But I will admit that there has been times where I have stood back and questioned whether realistically, as a woman, I would be able to move forward in the industry. Negative thinking I know, but this was partly because I’d recently become aware of the gender divide within music festivals. When we look at festivals in particular, which essentially provide a platform for a large collection of artists and musicians, we can see that typically there is only a small percentage of female acts being seen.”
Rebekah (CORR) Price, 22, student at USW and radio presenter at Dragon Media.
Great news, party people – the Green Man headliners have been announced for the 15th birthday, and they are looking GOOD!
This year we celebrate Green Man on 17 – 20 August, and check out the headliners – and these are three acts you can ONLY SEE at Green Man this year – they aren’t playing any other UK festivals!
PJ Harvey will be playing the Mountain Stage, ten years since she last played in Wales. Bring the noise!
Ryan Adams brings moody, devilish journeys through country music and Americana to the Black Mountains.
Future Islands – the crazy silky groovemasters bring their madness to Wales for the first time ever!
Other news: two time Mercury nominated soulmaster Michael Kiwanuka returns to GM for the third time to transfix with his panoramic, soul-stirring exaltations from last year’s number one record. Following 2016’s triumphant return with new album ‘Flotus’, we welcome the magisterial melancholy of the legendary Lambchop. Also Conor Oberst– the man behind the much-loved Bright Eyes – will be getting your stirring up misty-eyed moments and Angel Olsen returns following a clean sweep of critical adulation for 2016’s ‘MY WOMAN’.
With a whole load more eye-catching propositions – like 6Music’s album of the year from jazz wizards BadBadNotGood, a DJ set from long time GM pal Jon Hopkins, the ever excellent Field Music, Julia Jacklin and much, much more added to the bill, our birthday bash is shaping up to be a real corker already.
We’ve still got a Thursday night headliner tucked away up our sleeve, plus plenty more amazing acts (including a party-starting programme of After Dark DJs) to be announced.
Stay tuned for more news!
Green Man 2017 takes place in the beautiful Brecon Beacons from Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th August, putting glorious musical performers in the most magical of settings. With 10 unique areas, there are whole worlds to explore – from late night, frisky goings-on in the Far Out field, to the best in Comedy and Literature in Babbling Tongues, over one hundred beers and ciders in The Courtyard to beaker-fizzing experiments inEinstein’s Garden, and loads, loads more besides, there’s no better place to dive in and see where you end up.
This is a piece put together by Lucy Thomas, Course Leader in BA Music Business at University of South Wales. She published it before Christmas on her LinkedIn and has very kindly allowed us to republish.
Finding myself with some rare time over Christmas I have taken the opportunity to write up a post inspired by some unknown family photos my mum recently shared with me. For the last few years I have been musing concepts of entrepreneurialism, creativity and the nature-nurture debate. It is not my favourite word and I’m not sure exactly what it means, but roughly it’s about new ventures and ideas. The attached photos were a wonderful discovery and have gone some way in confirming my thoughts.
Is entrepreneurialism something that can be taught or is it more of an innate, sixth sense that individuals are born with? Do some people just have the X Factor for new business generation? Obviously, most skills can be learned to some extent, but it is apparent that there are “natural entrepreneurs” who thrive in new landscapes. The traits of individuals wired this way are evident from a young age and at the very heart of it, I see the motivation as creativity and social connectivity. Interaction, expression, the bringing together of things is the driver and pleasure here. It is often the norm for profit to be the secondary result of an excellent service or product. An affirmation of value and not always the main focus as non-entrepreneurs may think.
What has led me to this point has been my own experiences coupled with observations of my oldest son and his friends over the last few years. From the age of about six he genuinely loved nothing better than setting a stall up in the front garden so he could sell, barter, exchange and most of all interact. We then moved to the coast and things got really exciting when the sun shone, people were thirsty and there were tourists. We literally had camper vans pulling up outside and kept running out of stock.
Some young children would rather eat coal than talk to a stranger, or tout a new idea, but our boy just loves to hustle. Fast forward to his dads Street Food projects there is a smoothie stall being incubated along with growing frustration that he’s only 10 and can’t go it alone just yet. We have neither encouraged or discouraged, he’s just been running with his own plans and I have learned that this is the way it is with kids. They have their own ideas no matter what yours are.
Just recently we found these photos of my Great Grandfather’s shop in Pentre selling all kinds of things including bikes and records. I love the way it’s called “W Wiltshire – Athletic, Cycle, Gramophone, Wireless and Electrical Depot”. Anyone who knew the record shop I had for 21 years in Cardiff called Catapult will probably laugh at the many similarities between my business and his, despite the hundred years or so age gap. After completing law school the path I choose at 24 was not that of a solicitor, but an unknown one in self-employment and dance music. Catapult was a launchpad for a label, events, DJ school, lecturing, fashion line and community venue. There is no set career path once you go it alone and this is the best bit.
There can be misconceptions in the ways these “going aloners” or entrepreneurs are perceived and it is particularly difficult for creatives to connect with concepts of business and profit, almost as it if devalues the authenticity of their work. An ugly monster of commercial manipulation, materialism or some such other hideous proposition. The reality is that all new ventures are exciting start-ups to be explored whatever the context and this includes creative projects, music and art. The art of business in itself is an imaginative process; an adventure where you dig deep to collaborate, diversify, adapt and ultimately survive.
Increasingly I see the entrepreneurialism term popping up in the educational sphere and indeed it was a Foundation Degree in Music Industry Entrepreneurship that drew me to the University of South Wales in 2012 and precipitated a career change in lecturing. I found it amazing that people could actually gain qualifications in this sector and was curious to decipher the curriculum processes. What I have found are innovative, transferable skills and environments where you can test things out, including yourself. There are definitely natural entrepreneurs engaging with the process, as well as more reluctant innovators, who sometimes find out to their surprise that they like this stuff.
I am aware that this is a very personal account, really just scratching the surface on a subject I’m keen to research further. Very interested in feedback and shared experiences.
Footnote Jan 2017…. Since writing this post a number of people have been in touch (thank you) with information about W.Wiltshire, including this advert from the Rhondda Leader Newspaper 1917. This has enabled me to date more accurately and I’m blown away that Catapult and Wiltshire’s shops co-existed over a hundred years apart! I love the tone of the advert; the way in encourages saving money by riding bikes in a bid to push the brand. Entrepreneurialism and Wales are in my blood more than I know.
This is for the snappy snappers among you – pay attention fools, as throughout 2017 Buzz Magazine are holding a photography competition in association with Ffotogallery. The winner each month will be featured as the magazine’s Facebook and Twitter cover photos, AND be featured in an upcoming exhibition.
Each month there is a new theme (see the list below) – photographers are invited to take 5-10 images as part of an album related somehow to the theme.
Grab your camera – whatever kind you have – and get creative. Then submit it for everyone to see. The remaining themes for the year are listed below. To be included, send your entries (5-10 images) to Buzz by the 20 of each previous month (for example, the February entries will need to be in by 20 January – so get a move on!):
February Issue Legends MarchIssue Wales AprilIssue Music May Issue Festivity June Issue Excess July Issue Summer August Issue Oddities SeptemberIssue New Beginnings October Issue Humans November Issue Comedy DecemberJanuary Issue Resolution
Email your images to editorial@buzzmag.co.uk to enter your work, along with your name, email and contact number. Winners will be informed a week after submission if you are one of the winners that month.
£100 voucher for one of their photography courses (not eligible with block booking discount)
A Diffusion Festival goody bag (tote bag, Looking for America publication, limited edition box of postcards and a Ffotomatic gift box)
A signed copy of our new publication Garden State | Corinne Silva published by Ffotogallery and The Mosaic Rooms London
A selection of Ffotogallery six limited edition photography publications
Established in 1978, Ffotogallery are the national development agency for photography and lens based media in Wales. Ffotogallery deliver new artistic programmes which are challenging and accessible, featuring the best Welsh and international contemporary work in photography and lens-based media, run accredited photography and digital courses, and are the lead agency for Diffusion Cardiff International Photography Festival.
In a world where nationalism has become muddied by dangerous right-wing rhetoric, it is easy to forget about the metaphysical merit of searching for one’s own national identity. Often, it is a discovery laden with history, language, surprise and – most importantly – growth. Welsh national identity, too, is made particularly interesting by the complicated amalgamation of Welsh and Anglo culture which has left Wales – particularly the South – iridescent. Despite this, the sense of community in Wales is as prominent as our valleys and our stories. Pontio, Invertigo Theatre Company’s and The Conker Group’s newest offering, My Body Welsh, is a play that concerns itself with these issues of national identity, and more with creative aplomb:
“MY BODY WELSH is a playful, part-bilingual, one-man mystery adventure. Weaving stories, histories, sounds and language, performer Steffan Donnelly transports his audience into a slippery world of small-town myth-making. Accompanied by a live soundscape artist creating sounds both with and in front of the audience, the show creates community in its telling, leaving us wondering the extent to which national identity is built upon stories.”
The play weaves its way through the infamous streets of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and into the minds behind small town myth-making and culture building. The play asks if “There’s more to being Welsh than having the accent, isn’t there?”, and it’s up to you to attend and find out the answer. The play is on tour at the moment and will be arriving in Cardiff at Chapter Arts on the 13 / 14 of January. This looks like a real treat, so be sure to grab your tickets for My Body Welsh here at Chapter, if you fancy it.
We Are Cardiff 
