Adwaith named Welsh music’s most influential artist

The Welsh language music scene continues to boom, as Dydd Miwsig Cymru – Welsh Language Music Day – celebrates its 10th year and learner numbers hit a record high.

The female three piece were named the most influential Welsh language act of the last decade and their song ‘ETO’ as the decade’s favourite track by representatives from the music industry including promoters, DJs and artists as part of Dydd Miwsig Cymru’s Sound of Miwsig Awards. They were presented with the award live on BBC1’s The One Show at the Dydd Miwsig Cymru launch event at Portland House in Cardiff.

This evening also sees Cymraeg becoming the sound of Shoreditch as Dydd Miwsig Cymru takes over an iconic East London venue with a headline gig at The Old Blue Last, alongside a host of other live events, special releases and awards to celebrate a decade.

The annual event shines a spotlight on the vibrant diversity of Welsh language music, celebrating genres from hip hop to rock, pop to electro, jazz to jungle and everything in between through songs which have racked up millions of listens on streaming platforms, been played at festivals across the world, and become a pivotal gateway to the language for learners, with latest Welsh Government figures showing more adults are learning Welsh than ever before.

Since the first Dydd Miwsig Cymru, the reach and influence of the Welsh language music scene has grown, with Oscar-nominated Irish rappers Kneecap talking about how seeing young people enjoying Welsh language electronic music at the Maes B festival on a visit to the Eisteddfod inspired them.

In one of the 40-plus gigs happening around Wales and the world, Cardiff via Aberystwyth indie rockers Mellt, North Walian alt-poppers WRKHOUSE and Carmarthenshire folk singer Gillie will follow in the footsteps of acts like Arctic Monkeys and Amy Winehouse by taking to the Old Blue Last stage in a show from DIY Magazine.

Celebrations kicked off the night before in Cardiff (Thursday 6 February), with Ynys, Mali Hâf and Don Leisure playing a launch gig at Portland House, with more live music at grassroots and community venues around Wales on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 February including Newport, Swansea, Wrexham, Bangor, Pontyclun and Pontypridd.

With their third album – Solas- released on Dydd Miwsig Cymru, post-punk band and twice winners of the Welsh Music Prize, Adwaith close the weekend on Saturday in Bethesda’s Neuadd Ogwen.

Industry representatives and the music-loving public were also asked to choose their three breakthrough Welsh language acts for 2025 with Buddug, Talulah and Taran coming out on top, chosen from a longlist of 20 acts and revealed by Mirain Iwerydd on her BBC Radio Cymru show on Wednesday 5 February.

As well as gigs and awards, iconic Welsh record label, Sain Records is releasing a host of albums from its golden era of the 1970s and 80s on the day as part of the label’s digitisation drive. Music from the oldest independent record label in Wales is being preserved for future generations and sparking a new age of music – including a new album release from Cardiff producer Don Leisure, who has mined the Sain archive for an upcoming album Tyrchu Sain featuring Gruff Rhys, Amanda Whiting and Boy Azooga.

Distribution service PYST has also revealed some of the top streamed Welsh language songs of all time, with Alffa, Adwaith, and Bwncath among the top streamed artists of the decade. The top two most streamed Welsh language songs ever are North Wales rock duo Alffa’s tracks Gwenwyn and Pla, with 3.7m and 1.4m streams, respectively.

The streaming figures reflect the promising growth in the number of adults learning Welsh, which saw an increase of over 33% between 2017 and 2023.

To help music lovers find their nearest gigs, Dydd Miwsig Cymru has also teamed up with brand new gig finder platform, Awni.

Launched by brother and sister Jona and Martha Owen with support from record label Sain through the ARFOR fund, Awni lists all gigs on an easy-to-navigate interactive map. The map features gigs from some of the 20 longlisted artists for Sound of Miwsig 2025 such as Dadleoli, Talulah and Melin Melyn.

As well as Adwaith’s hugely anticipated third album Solas, other releases for the day include singles from Melin Melyn’s upcoming debut album, a collaboration between Tara Bandito and Band Pres Llarregub, New York-based Bright Light, Bright Light in a track produced by Charli XCX’s producer and Glasgow-based hip-hop artist Knuckle MC.

Thousands of school children across Wales will be coming together in their classrooms to sing their favourite Welsh language songs and businesses like HSBC and co-working spaces across Wales will be playing Welsh language music all week and hosting jam sessions and song writing workshops. And Radio Cymru 2 will release four unique 30-minute playlists aimed at gyms, filled with energising Welsh language music to help motivate and uplift workout sessions across Wales. Traciau Dydd Miwsig Cymru will be available every day starting from 3 February on BBC Sounds and can be accessed HERE.

Music lovers across the world can also celebrate Dydd Miwsig Cymru and dive into Welsh language music though a series of themed playlists on streaming platforms, including ‘Songs to help you learn Welsh’.

International opera singer Sir Bryn Terfel will be sitting on one of the most iconic chairs on television on the Dydd Miwsig Cymru weekend as a coach on the Welsh language version of the global, multi award-winning hit TV series The Voice, (Y Llais) on S4C.

The Grammy, Classical Brit and Gramophone Award winner has also released records on the Sain Records label. He will be joined by Welsh Music Prize nominee Aleighcia Scott. The Welsh-Jamaican reggae artist tipped by BBC as ‘an artist to top your playlist in 2025’ has learned the language and has some new Welsh language songs due for release.

Speaking about the impact of Dydd Miwsig Cymru in the last 10 years, Gwenllian Anthony from Adwaith said:”Dydd Miwsig Cymru is such an important day for us here in Wales. As the land of song, it’s great to see Welsh creatives being championed and celebrated, especially artists who are creating in our mother tongue. It’s been a pleasure to see Dydd Miwsig Cymru celebrated across Wales, but also across the UK and beyond. We hope to see this energy continued throughout the year!”

The Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for the Welsh Language, Mark Drakeford said: “I’m very proud that we have record numbers learning Welsh as adults, with almost 17,000 people learning with the National Centre in 2022/23 – up 11% from the previous year and over 33% since 2017/18. 

“Increasing the use of Welsh is at the heart of our Cymraeg 2050 strategy. Mae’r Gymraeg yn perthyn i ni gyd – the Welsh Language belongs to all of us! I want everyone to feel proud of their Welsh and have the confidence to use it, so it’s great to hear about the artists who have learnt Welsh and are now creating music in the language. It’s truly impressive and an inspiration to us all.”

Dona Lewis, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Learning Welsh, said, “More people than ever are learning Welsh with the National Centre – around 17,000 – and many of our learners tell us they were attracted to the language by listening to and enjoying Welsh language music”. 

“Welsh music is used to help boost language learning, while the vibrant Welsh language music scene can play a part in welcoming and supporting people with their language journey.”