Cerys Hafana is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from

Machynlleth Machynlleth () is a market town, community and electoral ward in Powys, Wales and within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads. At the 2001 Census it had a po ...

, Wales. They are a member of AVANC ( (English: The Youth Folk Ensemble of Wales)). In 2022, they released the album ''Edyf'', based on songs found in the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

. The album was shortlisted for the 2022-23

Welsh Music Prize The Welsh Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from Wales, as voted for by members of the music industry based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. It was founded by music promoter John Rostro ...

and the Welsh-language album of the year. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' named it one of the top ten folk albums of 2022. They contributed an essay to the 2022 anthology Welsh (Plural). The essay was met with a controversial reception.

Reception

Paul Carr and Robert Smith of the

University of South Wales The University of South Wales (USW) () is a public university in Wales, with campuses in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. It was formed on 11 April 2013 from the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport. The ...

have described Hafana as "one of the most original voices in contemporary

Welsh folk music Welsh folk music () is traditional music sung or played in Wales, by Welsh people or originating from Wales. Folk artists include; traditional bands Calan (band), Calan and Ar Log, Ar log; harpists Siân James (musician), Sian James, Catrin Fi ...

." Jude Rogers of ''The Guardian'' has described them as "a master of the Welsh triple harp" who "explores resonances from the past that connect with the modern day."

Personal life

Hafana describes themself as ''queer'', not fitting into the

gender binary The gender binary (also known as gender binarism) is the classification of gender into two distinct forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system, Culture, cultural belief, or both simultaneously. Most cultures use a gender binary, ...

, and uses ''

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

'' pronouns.

Discography

All releases below have been available through

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

Studio albums

* ''Cwmwl'' (2020) * ''Edyf'' (2022) * ''Difrisg'' (2025); piano compositions * ''Angel'' (planned release 2025)

Studio EPs

* ''The Bitter'' (2024) * ''Crwydro'' (2024)

Singles

* "The Wife of Usher's Well" (2023) * "Child Owlet" (2024) * "Tra Bo Dau" (2025)

Notes

References

External links

* *
Cerys Hafana
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hafana, Cerys Welsh harpists People from Machynlleth Year of birth missing (living people) Living people