News
Ghazalaw @ Sesiwn Fawr, Dolgellau
So excited to be playing Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau this Sunday (17 July). We’ll be on the Ship stage at 1700. Come and catch us in the last of our summer gigs!
Ghazalaw live in session tonight on BBC Radio 3’s World on 3!
We’ll be live in session tonight on BBC Radio 3’s World on 3 with Mary Ann Kennedy from 11pm! Details here.
Ghazalaw’s Festival Dates June & July 2016
BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Nomination for ‘Moliannwn / Ishq Karo’
So thrilled that ‘Moliannwn / Ishq Karo’ has been nominated for Best Traditional Track in the Radio 2 Folk Awards! This years awards takes place on 27th April at the Royal Albert Hall, London. More info….
Ghazalaw Nominated for Songlines Music Awards
We’re delighted and excited to be nominated for Best Group in The Songlines Music Awards! Please show your support and vote for Ghazalaw today – and be in with a chance to win tickets for WOMAD 2016! Cast your vote here:
“From Mumbai to Machynlleth” Ghazalaw on BBC Radio 4
A half hour feature on Ghazalaw produced by Megan Jones aired on BBC Radio 4 on 5th January 2016 (repeated on 9th January). The feature went on to be selected by journalist Sarfraz Manzoor as the best of BBC Radio this week. Listen again here:
Sarfraz Manzoor with the best of BBC Radio this week (32 minutes in)
Ghazalaw to release on Cerys Matthew’s label in September 2015
Ghazalaw, the eponymous debut album from the Wales / India collaboration, is the latest album to be released on Cerys Matthews’ record label ‘Marvels of The Universe’ in co-production with Theatr Mwldan. The album released worldwide on 25 September 2015, followed by live UK performances in November 2015, with support from BBC Horizons Artist Of The Year Kizzy Crawford.
Ghazalaw is a sublime musical meeting between acclaimed Indian ghazal singer–musician Tauseef Akhtar from Mumbai and Gwyneth Glyn, one of Wales’ leading singer-songwriters from Cricieth, North Wales.
Ghazalaw is a musical love-match, the marriage of two great traditions of love poetry and traditional music: the ghazal singing of the Indian subcontinent and the folk song of Wales. The pairing is unique – ghazal singing has never been fused with any alien musical tradition before – and reveals a remarkable and unexpected affinity between those two traditions. The ease with which they blend into something new and coherent is striking, even obvious.
Tauseef Akhtar served a ten year ‘apprenticeship’ with the greatest ghazal singer of modern times, the ‘King of Ghazal’ Jagjit Singh, responsible for drawing ghazal singing out from its Muslim and Urdu enclave; Tauseef now carries the torch forwards with Ghazalaw.
Gwyneth Glyn is steeped in the linguistic and poetic richness of her homeland, inspired by the landscape of Wales and centuries of tradition. Yet she stands at the forefront of a new Welsh generation keen to seek out and celebrate all the many affinities that tie two distant parts of the world together.
“Ghazalaw is unique. It’s the inarticulate speech of the heart, voiced across cultures, continents and ages. It’s a record from the past, for the future.” Andy Morgan
A Marvels Of The Universe | Theatr Mwldan | Ghazalaw Co-Production, originated by Wales Arts International. Developed with the support of Arts Council Wales and Welsh Government, working in partnership with Air India.
