Review: Cerys Hafana weaves magic on first date of new tour

Stephen Price

Triple-harpist and singer-songwriter Cerys Hafana’s 2025 live dates kicked off with a spellbinding set at Acapela, Pentyrch on Thursday 20 March, ahead of a series of dates across Wales and England.

With my ticket in hand, and arrival late, a front row seat was out of the question, and so was a pizza (one of the draws of this uniquely special venue), so I found myself sitting in the above stalls of this former chapel, looking down on the stage and Cerys’ towering triple harp, guitar and laptop before the highly anticipated one-musician show began.

Scanning the crowd, I spotted more than a few other well-known figures from the Welsh arts scene, something not too unexpected with Cerys’ growing acclaim, and more importantly, their deserved acclaim.

Cerys is a Welsh triple-harpist and composer who mangles, mutates and transforms traditional music – and their music has become a mainstay on my playlist (a bunch of CDs in old money – God bless Cerys for producing them, the magpie that I am – and how pretty they are too).

Cerys’ work is a glorious and limitless mash up of archival material, folk songs and psalms, found sounds and electronic processing, alongside ethereal original compositions, and they stand at the forefront of a buoyant and exciting rebirth of folk music from Wales and beyond.

Music that, as this night proves, is everlasting. Tragwyddol.

Horeb

The venue for Cerys Hafana’s first gig of many, with a fair few festival dates to boot, was an inspired choice – Pentyrch’s Acapela Studios which utilises beautifully the repurposed Horeb Calvanistic Methodist Chapel.

The building itself was completed in 1839 and extended in 1863. Through the Rechabites Society, Horeb led the local campaign for Abstinence.

After its closure, it was converted into a recording studio in 2008, and while its founders might not have been ones for pizza and a pint, they might, just might, have been aware of some of the pieces that have found their way into Cerys’ wide and ever-evolving repertoire.

The space couldn’t have been more befitting of Cerys’ works – many of which involve psalms, revived folk songs, and hymns which themselves have roots in Welsh folk music.

Cerys told Nation.Cymru previously: “People often blame the Methodists for completely stamping out the Welsh folk tradition, but I think actually an interesting thing happened where lots of the folk tunes got channelled into hymns.

‘The psalm tunes I’ve arranged, as far as I can tell, are all folk melodies which have just been documented and archived in a different context.”

Setlist

Not to give too much away for those who have yet to go along, but consider this your spoiler warning.

The set began with an acapella track that was entirely new to me. Music that left the audience enraptured.

After each song, the silence in the room was like no other concert I’ve attended before – careful as we all waited for the last string to cease vibrating before the first person broke rank with applause.

I’m as irritable an audience member there can be – a sniffle, a cough, an elbow, and I’m a-tantrummin’, but the location and its intimacy had the feel of (no surprise) a good old chapel concert.

While one audience member filled his face on a final slice of pizza (jealous, moi?), and a few straddlers found their pew, Cerys took to the harp to play the achingly beautiful Crwydro and, again, the acoustics of the building could not only be heard but, joyously, felt.

Fans of Cerys’ entire back catalogue won’t be at all disappointed if they’re first timers like me, with my longed-for highlights being Cilgerran, Bridoll, Y Mor o Wydr.

The Bitter EP also gets a good airing, with two tracks that began life as English-language folk songs that Cerys started working on during the first lockdown, thanks to a podcast called Old Tunes Fresh Takes.

The hosts would pick a folk song every month and invite anyone to contribute a version, and Cerys got stuck in “because I needed something to do instead of revising for my cancelled A-levels.”

Something I didn’t expect, however, was to be so moved by the new tracks.

I came in search of the known…to hear in person, in string, the songs that have soundtracked much of my life since discovering this outstanding, and still so young, performer who is flying the flag for Welsh folk music on the world stage.

Of course, I’d hoped we might be gifted something new, but I didn’t expect the ‘something new’ to be examples of Cerys’ best work yet. I don’t quite know how that is possible, when working at such a high bar, but the unfamiliar music was next level.

Their music is, and always has been that. Never quite the simple tune it first might have been, still might be in others’ hands.

A more organised person than I would have taken pencil notes, but I wanted, needed, to be in the moment.

This wasn’t a work assignment for me, after all, even if I’ve made it one since, and I wish, I truly wish, I could recall it all…One song in particular, a second part of a suite about an epic dream. If that makes it to a recording, then we will all be indebted to this pure, raw talent.

Bilingual anecdotes between some of the songs added to the intimacy of the night, and Cerys even shared an update about new music recordings and releases.

Another unexpected, but welcome, element of the night was the stirring Breton music Cerys introduced the audience to. I may just have to put these recordings on a wishlist too, but as with all the best creatives, this is a hand that doesn’t need guiding, and won’t take guiding.

What a joy to have been at this most special set, and I’m not envious of anyone else who gets to go along to future dates – I urge you all to go if you can.

To be in the moment and feel music surround you and take you in, to forget about the worldly and political woes weighting us all down is a tonic we could all do with at the moment, and what a tonic this night was.

An unforgettable night, and an unequalled talent.

We’re incredibly lucky to be around at the same time, and in the same place.

Early 2025 live dates

Tickets are available from Cerys’ website: ceryshafana.com/live-dates/

You can sign up to Cerys’ as-yet-unused mailing list or keep an eye on their website and Instagram to get updates about touring and other things.

Purchase all releases from Cerys Hafana at Bandcamp.