AffriCerdd: Frances Abigail Bolley shares first Welsh language track

Cardiff-based artist, Frances Abigail Bolley, has released her first Welsh language song as part of AffriCerdd – an initiative which aims to support artists of colour to produce music in Welsh.

Released on Tŷ Cerdd’s artist-led label, Sionci, the new song from Frances Abigail Bolley, titled ‘i siarad’ (‘to sing’) is part of Tŷ Cerdd’s partnership with the National Eisteddfod which aims to encourage wider representation in the Welsh music scene.

The song was originally written for the 2024 National Eisteddfod as part of the initiative, which supports musicians of colour to create new Welsh-language music.

This stems from both organisation’s commitment to engage and support a diverse range of music creators to engage with making work in the Welsh language.

Poetry

Rising star, Frances Abigail Bolley is a live-looping, improvisatory musician and multi-instrumentalist. She lives and works in Cardiff, and plays bass for grunge alt-RnB band Adjua and lead guitar for trans-fronted hard rock band Fenix.

Frances said: “It’s been a privilege to be commissioned to write for the Eisteddfod. Though I’m not a fluent speaker, I love Welsh and think it’s a beautiful, poetic language. It was very important to me that what I wrote didn’t just make sense in Welsh but also had poetic flow.”

‘i siarad’, meaning ‘to speak’, is an exploration of the value of words and speech, touching on historical attempts to eradicate the Welsh language.

The song also interrogates the relationship between language and place, utilising two pieces of poetry by Ann Griffiths and David Whyte.

Frances said: “…as someone who is a semi-verbal autistic person and sometimes find myself unable to speak, for me it’s also about the value of words and the weight that’s placed upon the act of speech.”

Mentorship

Frances was mentored throughout the process by leading Welsh artist Eadyth Crawford, who developed their confidence in writing and performing Welsh-language lyrics.

The initiative had its genesis in 2021 as an Eisteddfod Amgen project (then under the title CoDi Cân) when five artists of colour were supported to write new, Welsh-language songs, and create their own music videos – with mentoring from Lily Beau, Tumi Williams and Jonny Reed.

The 2024 iteration of the partnership marked the first year of the project under the AffriCerdd umbrella.

This year, AffriCerdd features singer-songwriter Lily Webbe, who has also been mentored by Eadyth.

Lily and Eadyth will both perform at the Eisteddfod on the Encore stage on Friday 8 August @ 1215 – alongside Frances Abigail Bolley, who will perform ‘i siarad’. 

‘i siarad’ was released today (4 July), with the accompanying music video – supported by PYST x S4C Music Video Fund – available to watch on Am.

Discover more about Frances Abigail Bolley and keep up to date with future releases via Instagram.