We are still processing the thoroughly awesome, AWESOME experience that was Boomtown Fair … but while we prepare our report, feast your eyes on this!
We know there were a whole bunch of the Welsh contingent there – we ended up camped next to some boys from Newport, of course, and met a whole bunch of set designers / glitter artists / DJs and all sorts from fair Cymru.
We hope you all had a safe and enjoyable festival.
In the meantime, enjoy these visual delights … and get yourselves ready for Green Man!
Huw Stephens. Champion of new music, voice of Radio One on weeknights, Monday to Wednesday. One of Cardiff’s favourite sons and best exports, and official Friend of We Are Cardiff.
Last year, Huw was on Scroobius Pip’s podcast, Distraction Pieces. It’s a really interesting listen, where Huw talks about his early days in Cardiff, including his early years, a love of magic, Welsh language, the Eisteddfod, Gwenno, his early record label endeavours, starting out in radio, Gorky’s, SFA, Catatonia, hospital radio, Radio One Wales, devolution, plus a billion more things.
It’s a really good listen. From a personal perspective, I recommend you skip forwards to 1.03:20, where they talk about Kruger Magazine, the Cardiff music magazine that ran from 2004 – 2010, where I cut my music journo chops. RIP.
Oh – Huw also did the voiceover introduction to the little film we made about Cardiff. Have you seen it? It’s really rather good, if we do say so ourselves. Watch below:
Big up.
x
PS I do realise that podcast was released last year, and I CANNOT believe how long it’s taken me to post this … but anyway! Enjoy!
For all the photo sharing addicts out there … there have been some cracking shots of the city over the past month. I was going to do a post profiling just one Instagrammer, but you’re all too good! So here we go – summer in the city, through your images.
If you’re keen for lovely pics of the city, don’t forget to follow IgersCardiff – they share the best of the rest and arrange Instameets where you can wander around and enjoy the city with fellow photography enthusiasts!
As part of Cardiff Contemporary 2016, visual artists and makers across the city will be opening their studios over the month of August.
Around 100 artists will be taking part and to plan your visits a calendar, maps and guides are available online on the Open Studios website and print/flyers through your local gallery and Library.
A series of FREE events over the month of August, it is a chance to explore the places in Cardiff where artists work and discover more about how artists and makers work today.
Below is a list of all the events taking place in August.
Not long now until the madness that is BoomTown kicks off! In celebration and anticipation, we tracked down the festival’s Head of Music – none other than Cardiff native Kaptin – for a quick chinwag.
Describe the BoomTown vibe for people who haven’t been before.
It’s honestly like no other festival. The town is split into a number of districts and each district has its own streets and own vibe. For example, those who want to rave it up to Drum N Bass, Garage or the harder stuff like Raggatek can head into the backstreets of DSTRKT 5 where things are a little more wonderfully twisted, or our brand new Sector 6 district. For the Reggae fans, there’s either the lovely Hidden Woods or the massive Lion’s Den temple with artists such as Fat Freddy’s Drop, Madness and Damian Marley, plus then there’s many other districts from the chilled out Whistler’s Green or the plush(ish) Mayfair to the lawless Wild West or the even wilder OldTown where we have a life size pirate ship as the district’s main stage.
We have 27 main stages in total hosting everything from House to Hip-hop, Folk to Funk and Ska to Psy-Trance, but then there are tons of ‘inner city’ venues from the Job Centre to the Town Hall which are often populated by characters who will then set you different tasks or take you on a mini adventure.
It’s very theatrical and in fact there’s a whole story line that runs through the festival that you can keep an eye on. At the moment there’s a revolution happening against the corrupt Mayor, but I don’t want to give too much away as those coming will see the story unfolding around them as the weekend goes on.
How did you get involved with BoomTown?
Well I’ve been involved in festivals for over a decade, either as a DJ or with crazy projects like the Inflatable Church so I met the BoomTown directors Lak and Chris along the way and Matt The Hat and I did some Secret Garden Parties in their old club Clockwork. Lak asked me to host their main stage the second year of BoomTown and from there I somehow became the original Town Mayor.
It was a couple of years after programming Cardiff Arts Institute and then a project in London that I started in the BoomTown office. I was originally given a couple of week’s work updating the music info on their website to help me on my feet as I’d just moved to Bristol, but then never left and in a bizarre few twists of fate ended up running the music office, then became the Head Of Music for the whole festival a few months later.
How has the festival changed through the years?
It never stays the same from year to year, but last year’s festival was certainly a turning point. The atmosphere on site was just beautiful, which is great considering how quickly the festival has grown. This year is our eighth and it’s 60,000 people, but it really feels like we’re growing in the right direction.
The team we have now is easily one of the best in the festival world and it’s surprising how much that feeds through into the whole atmosphere and experience of everything else. The festival has become infinitely more family friendly with a brilliant kids area and a lot more suitable districts to wander around, plus where the crowd used to be 90% Bristolian, now people come from over 90 different countries and the age of our citizens ranges right up to people in their 80s.
What can people expect this time that’s different?
Well if you’ve never been before then the whole experience will be different to anything you’ve had before, but even if you came last year, there are new stages such as our massive Sector 6 ‘Nuclear Power Plant’ and the Windmill Stage in our newly situated Whistler’s Green district, plus some of the other stages have evolved so we now have: the Scrap Yard to host the hardcore beats; Robotika for the classic dubstep, glitch hop and more experimental styles; and Vamos where you can find House and Techno acts such as Derrick Carter, Simian Mobile Disco, Alan Fitzpatrick and Jackmaster.
BoomTown seems to have a bit of a Cardiff link up – you’re there, the festival is full of Cardiff peeps – what’s the attraction??
Well in terms of bands and teams such as the Crazy Calamities crew, it’s been a pleasure to bring in people who I’ve been working with for years back home in Cardiff, but then in terms of the crowd, I think Cardiff people just know a really good thing when they find it and make the most out of it.
In my experience Cardiff has one of the best crowds to perform to and the BoomTown crowd are by far the liveliest and most giving I’ve ever seen, so they probably feel right at home.
Omg you guys, it’s back! Following their success with the John Street circus last year, Street Food Circus are bringing their AWARD WINNING show back into town for a six-week run.
The launch weekend is 18 – 21 August, so if you’ve missed out on Green Man tickets because you were TOO SLOW, then console yourself by spending all weekend stuffing your face with delicious food and drink.
SFC is a movable feast of nomadic street food traders, vintage trailers, chefs and mixologists who’ve set up camp in Sophia Gardens Bute park, just minutes from Cardiff Castle and Cardiff Central Train Station. Last year the Street Food Circus won Best Street Food event in the UK! Pretty special.
‘Festivals, warehouses, yards, markets – we’ve done them all over the last five years,’ says Simon Thomas, director of Street Food Circus. ‘This summer we’re excited to bring our infamous collective back together to create an unrivalled dining destination that lives up to our name of Best Street Food event in the UK. Sophia Gardens is perfect location to eat alfresco, set amongst an urban oasis of lush greenery. Our aim is to create communal dining experiences that are big on vibes, deliciously different, and street food that is good enough to tweet. The hashtag is #SFC2016, by the way!”
Street Food Circus is an immersive dining experience like no other; a colourful outdoor food festival and night market. It will be open Thursday to Sunday, from 18 August through to 25 September.
Complete with a circus big top for communal dining, 20 rotating artisan food trucks and themed bars featuring the finest local craft ales and beers, this years event promises to be deliciously different.
Some reminders of what happened last year …
This is Simon with Neil (proprietor of Dirty Bird Fried Chicken – you know, with the controversial cock logo?) talking through Cardiff’s cafe, restaurant and bar scene.
New for Street Food Circus in 2016:
Three new food zones
Milgi sky yurt sit down supper club restaurant (booking essential)
Feast Clwb Membership
£5 grazing menu
Street Food Thursdays
The Farmyard
The Applecart Cider Bar / Slow Pig / Hang Fire Smokehouse / Brulee Bar / The Pork Society / Crofters / La Froga Racalette / Big Fish Little Fish / The Spanish Gourmet / Dusty Knuckle Pizzas / Mr. Croqewhich / Outpost Coffee / Earlybird
Bakery / Ice Green Vegan Ice Cream
Singha Street
The Purple Popadom Tukka Tuk / Bangkok Cafe / Gopals Curry
Shack / Mr Jerk / Little Bao Peep / Patagonia / Bearded Taco / El
Salsa
The Block
Dirty Bird Fried Chicken / Lolas Wings / Meat & Greek / Cheese
Truck / Science Cream / Pregos Street Food / The Pickled Brisket / Ffwrness Italian Pizza / Got Beef
Seems like 2016 is the inaugural year for many things here in our fair Cardiff. We had our first theatre fringe, and now there’s a crowdfunder open for our first Book Festival!
Loads of cities have Book Festivals, right? So why doesn’t Cardiff have one? Here at We Are Cardiff, we’re very partial to a good yarn – so much so, we published our first book for the We Are Cardiff Press late last year (it’s called The 42b and is a collection of short stories about an unconventional bus route through a dystopian Cardiff), and we’re currently scheming on our second one.
Anyway, back to the book festie … here’s all the official blurb …
Cardiff Book Festival Gŵyl Lyfrau Caerdydd is backed by award-winning writers and leading figures in Welsh public life.
This year, the aim is to host a three-day festival aimed at promoting reading, writing and debate to the Welsh capital for the first time this autumn (28-30th October 2016).
It comes in the year the city celebrates the centenary of its most famous literary son, Roald Dahl.
The ambition is to continue to grow every year adding more events and putting the Cardiff Book Festival on the literary map.
Events will include artists like Ifor ap Glyn, the national poet of Wales, award-winning writers including Rachel Trezise and Jonathan Edwards and the investigative journalist, Martin Williams.
Festival organisers are aiming to raise £5,000 via Indiegogo but the more they can raise the more events they can organise at the festival.
As well as helping the festival get off the ground, they’re offering supporters a range of experiences including signed books, a Roald Dahl walking tour with one of our favourite Cardiff writers, Peter Finch, masterclasses with award-winning authors including Rachel Trezise and workshops with publishers and agents on how budding writers can get into print.
They’re promising a diverse and inclusive programme featuring talks and debates from high profile figures on topics ranging from poetry to politics, crime writing to children’s events, fiction to feminism and the Welsh language to walking tours.
Cardiff’s arcades are definitely a hallmark of a city shopping experience. Given the strong concentration of Victorian, Edwardian and contemporary arcades in the city centre, Cardiff was known to some as the City of Arcades (this is according to WalesOnline though, so take all the salt you deem necessary with that claim).
Whatever is in the name, Cardiff’s arcades are amongst its finest features. I used to work in a shop in the High Street Arcade back in the early 2000s, and most of my lunch hours were spent wandering the holy trinity of High Street Arcade, Castle Arcade and Indoor Market. People-watching is at a premium in such locations – as too is the architecture, if you remember to look up.
Contributor Rob Khoo stepped out in the arcades recently to furnish us with some classy black and whites.
Rob says: “I had a nice sunny Sunday afternoon with little to do; so a delicious lunch in The Vegetarian Food Studio followed by a wander into town and then up and down the arcades whilst trying not to spend any money. A difficult task when there are so many great independent shops there, managed to get away with it though – just! Great to see so much going on in the Hayes too, Hijinx Theatre were doing a fine job of entertaining the shoppers, and the plant stall was lovely as well.”
If our antique arcades have piqued your interest, there are the following links you might want to visit:
Photographer Amy Davies spent some time a few years back wandering around our arcades and documenting them. The result is this lovely blog: Cardiff Arcades Project. It’s a few years old now but a great resource.
If you’re of an artistic bent, check out Jennie Savage’s Arcades Project: A 3D documentary. It was a series of projects initiated by artist Jennie Savage which took place in Cardiff’s Victorian and Edwardian Arcades between October 2008 and October 2009. Cardiff is known as the city of Arcades because it has the highest concentration of Victorian and Edwardian Shopping arcades in the UK. Between 2008-2009 artist Jennie Savage led an exploration into these spaces, inspired by Walter Benjamin’s Arcades project and constructed in the light of the St David’s 2 Shopping Centre.
Aaaand if you’re just after plain and simple tourist advice, have a look at the Visit Cardiff site.
An interactive walking trail around Tiger Bay launches TODAY! Put together by the Wales Millennium Centre, the Tiger Bay Tales trail is inspired by true stories and accounts from members of the Tiger Bay community.
At its peak, Cardiff Docks was one of the largest dock systems in the world; in 1907, 9 million tonnes of coal were exported. This project will permanently capture the rich, diverse and spirited history of Tiger Bay which lies within a shared ‘square mile’ of Wales Millennium Centre, before living memory is inevitably lost and further capital development changes the dynamic of the area.
The Tiger Bay Tales trail will guide walkers – via an app – around the Bay, with beacons dotted along the route beaming unique audio and visual content about the area to their phone.
The trail forms part of a story gathering initiative to capture and preserve the legends of Butetown and Tiger Bay.
Earlier this year, local residents were invited along to the Tiger Bay Tales pop-up Hub in Mermaid Quay to share their memories of the former Tiger Bay. These stories have been developed into digital content, accessible via the Tiger Bay Tales app, providing a unique glimpse of Tiger Bay as it once was.
Guided by a map on the app, walkers on the trail will be directed to key landmarks in the area, signposted by blue plaques. On reaching each plaque, a beacon will send digital content to the app, including audio narrated by community figures from Tiger Bay, historic photos and video footage, piecing together a moving narrative about the transformation of Tiger Bay over the years.
Wales Millennium Centre’s Arts and Creative Officer, Jason Camilleri, said: “The beauty of the area known as Tiger Bay is a direct result of the geographical partitions that kept it separate from the rest of the city. It was in this square mile that a truly unique community was able to thrive, enriched by its many visitors from overseas. Often misrepresented to communities outside of its boundaries, one of the oldest multi-cultural communities in the UK, Tiger Bay can arguably lay claim to possessing Cardiff’s most interesting history. Tiger Bay Tales is a project that aims to shine a light on the real Tiger Bay, concentrating on the true colour and character of the area, through the voices of the fantastic people that made it what it is today.”
The free-to-download app and website www.tigerbaytales.com goes live TODAY, 19 July.
Love ace music? Love recycling? Combine these loves at the launch party for an exciting new venture from Make Noise.
The Make Noise manifesto offers programming cutting edge electronic music events and making entry 100 per cent FREE in exchange for a piece of electrical recycling.
Party-goers just need to bring something to hand over at the door; a broken mobile phone, hairdryer or laptop – anything with a plug or a battery! Since it began, Make Noise has packed out venues all round the UK and recycled tonnes of electronic waste.
To kick start the 2016 tour, Make Noise will take over Cardiff’s Gwdihw on Tuesday 19th July 2016 for a very special and intimate launch event. The evening will feature a special live performance from Heavenly Recordings very own Stealing Sheep plus support from R.Seiliog.
Make Noise started in 2016 and is a unique partnership between ERP (European Recycling Platform) Heavenly Recordings and for this new Welsh chapter, Resource Efficiency Wales
MAKE NOISE WALES
Parti Lawnsio gyda gwesteion arbennig:
Launch Party with very special guests:
Stealing Sheep + R.Seiliog playing live + Heavenly Jukebox and Nyth DJs
Nos Fawrth Gorffennaf 19 – Mynediad am ddim gyda teclyn trydanol i’w ailgylchu!
Tuesday 19th July – Free entry with a piece of electrical recycling!
Cyflwynir gan / Presented by Heavenly Recordings, ERP, Resource Efficiency Wales + Nyth
The overwhelming choice was …. FITZHAMON EMBANKMENT!! Thisbit of pavement is probably one of the most used paths in the city, but the surface is nearly unrideable to all but mountain bikes. It’s incredibly dangerous to brake on the loose gravel, and the endless deep potholes mean that you have to constantly swerve to avoid pedestrians and holes! The road next to it isn’t much better, and it’s only one-way. In the autumn when the leaves drop, it’s even more dangerous….
So please, Cardiff Council – we know you don’t have much money but please prioritise this bit of cycle path so people aren’t put off cycling in our beautiful city!!
Second choice was the tiny, inexplicably un-paved bit of path down the Taff near Sophia Gardens:
The 31st season of Wales’ National Classical Music Festival is happening in Cardiff in July!
Founded by Owain Arwel Hughes CBE, the Welsh Proms takes place in Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.
The festival – which celebrates its 31st season in 2016 – annually features some of the world’s top orchestras, soloists and and additional artists, and continues to be a major focal point in the cultural calendar of the Welsh capital.
The 2016 Welsh Proms Cymru will run from July 16 to 23 and feature the world renowned Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, The Cory Band & Massed Male Choir, and London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Full details of the 2016 programme of events, all conducted by Welsh Proms Artistic Director Owain Arwel Hughes CBE, are now available here. July 16th-23rd St David’s Hall, Cardiff Tickets priced £7.50 – £30.50 can be purchased from St David’s Hall Cardiff, tel: 029 2087 8444 16.7.16 Verdi Requiem with an all Welsh cast – WNO orchestra, 3 Cardiff choirs and
Welsh soloists 19.7.16 Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra perform Holst’s The Planets; the world
premiere of a newly commissioned work to commemorate the Battle of the
Somme by Paul Mealor; and For the Fallen by Karl Jenkins. 20.7.16 An evening of favourite classics ending with the 1812 Overture performed by the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. 22.7.16 The Cory Band and two Male Voice Choirs performing choruses and hymns. 23.7.16 The Last Night featuring two world premieres – Aberfan by Chris Wood and Mr
Dahl by Bernard Kane plus Gareth Wood’s Songs of Wales where the audience
joins in the singing and flag waving.
All the concerts are conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes CBE.
Full details on www.welshproms.com
We Are Cardiff 