ABOUT
"Billed as “Wales’ national youth folk band,” Avanc take a part-trad, part-not approach, but in a very different way. Their latest release, a track titled Fitz, begins with drums, quickly pivots to a Celtic-misted hoedown and eventually employs the busy clack of clog dancing as a percussive backdrop ... (BuzzMag, Dec 12 2020)"
MEET
Elisa
Harp
ELISA MORRIS
Elisa took up clog dancing at the age of eight to avoid swimming classes after a teacher tried to make her swim underwater. Dancing around the world with Bro Taf and Nantgarw allowed her to discover her love for all things folk. In 2018 she called one of the first gender-free Twmpaths in Wales and wants Welsh folk dancing to be as welcoming and accessible as possible.
RHYS MORRIS
Rhys started playing guitar from a young age and discovered his love for folk music as a teenager. Since then he has played across the country and has been a tutor on the Gwerin Gwallgo course multiple times.
RHODRI GIBBON
Music has always been present in the Gibbon household and so also in Rhodri’s life. His musical journey started playing the recorder. He still plays the recorder to this day which is a rare occurrence with this instrument. Rhodri’s musical curiosity led him to play many different instruments including the harp and the cello and also the egg and the pipes which he is seen playing on the stage with Avanc. Rhodri is certain that the pipes are his parents’ favourite instrument at they can be used to scare the neighbouring cats from the back garden. Through Avanc Rhodri’s passion for folk music has been set alight and now he can’t imagine his life without folk music.
MEG ELIZA COX
Meg is a fiddle and bodhrán player from South Wales. When she was 8, she played bodhrán competitively and won places in the all-Britain Fleadh Cheoil. Since then, although she hasn’t grown much taller, she has continued to develop her fiddle playing talents through performing inter-celtic music.
In recent years she has immersed herself in the culture of Welsh folk music and has performed in various bands including Avanc.
MEINIR OLWEN
Meinir Olwen is a harpist from Aberystwyth. She started playing traditional Welsh music by accident when she returned from a holiday with a small, borrowed harp. Within a year, that small harp had grown into a six-foot-tall triple harp that was quite a challenge to fit into a small car! Despite being a foot shorter than her harp, Meinir has dragged it around Wales and across Europe. When she isn’t fighting to keep the harp in tune Meinir enjoys escaping up mountains and dreaming about finishing her PhD in linguistics.
MARED LLOYD
Mared is a fiddle player from the Gwendraeth Valley in Carmarthenshire. She has been involved in traditional music from an early age and likes to take every opportunity to promote all kinds of Welsh music. As a member of the band Beca and her family band Mansant she has played in several folk festivals. She is currently studying a Masters in Marine Biology at Bangor University.
HARRI LLEWELLYN
On the accordion with AVANC is Harri; along with anything he could possibly be asked to do if needed…
Despite not being from a particularly musical family, Harri was always encouraged to take up music. Although the violin was in fact his first instrument of choice in the world of Welsh folk he has now been playing the accordion for 7 years; and he’s never too ready to boast about it being self-taught.
Harri has been interested in folk music ever since seeing the band Calan play on the Welsh light entertainment show Noson Lawen and was very lucky to meet the members of Calan and of the Scottish band Breabach. Since then, he has played with the Nantgarw dance team and the band Nantgarw. It is with Avanc he has flourished — as long as he keeps a safe distance away from the bagpipes.
SAM PETERSEN
It was his parents great joy when in his early teens Sam told them he wanted to play the pipes. Coming from a musical family he was destined to make noise somehow and despite a short foray into fiddle playing (grade 1 pass), he decided bagpipes are better. He’s now the proud owner of not one but two gaitas. More recently he has developed a growing love of the mellow tones of the low whistle. Sam can be found playing at various sessions and anywhere windswept with nice scenery, preferably in his native Pembrokeshire. All his friends agree the top of a deserted mountain is the best place to practise!
SIWAN EVANS
Siwan is a clog dancer and whistle player from Cardiff. She has been clog dancing from a young age and has travelled the world with her clogs, performing both as part of dance groups and bands. Originally a saxophone player, her love of Welsh clog dance soon expanded into an interest in welsh trad music. This inspired her to pick up a whistle but she sometimes regrets not learning to play harp so she could have a sit down after clog dancing.
OSIAN GRUFFYDD
From Pontypridd, Osian is one of our fiddle players. He became involved in the Welsh folk scene in his early teenage years playing with bands, accompanying dancers and competing in festivals.
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As well as folk music, he enjoys listening to film soundtracks while travelling to gigs and admits being a fanboy of the Norwegian pop star Sigrid.