Posted By: Editor
February 25, 2022
CALAN
ACCLAIMED WELSH ‘POWER FOLK’ BAND ARE READY TO GO…
RE-ENERGISED & READY FOR NEW SPRING 2022 UK TOUR
+ ‘KISTVAEN RELOADED’ – THE ALBUM ONLY CRITICS COULD RAVE ABOUT PRE-LOCKDOWN
TO BE EXPANDED & RELEASED AS SPECIAL DELUXE EDITION
LISTEN TO LEAD TRACK “THE SONG OF EVAN” VIA PRIVATE SOUNDCLOUD LINK HERE
Calan new colour portrait © Richard P Walton 2022
“A storming juggernaut of cool-Cymru with-attitude power-folk with a jaw-dropping repertoire… You can’t help but marvel at their astounding musicianship” (Folk Wales)
“Calan [are] a new generation of ambassadors… Raising the international profile of Welsh music” (Magnet (USA))
“Calan take traditional music and beat it into exciting, unfamiliar shapes… Kistvaen is a kinetic ride, dense with delight, thrills, twists and turns” (From The Margins)
Winter’s just about over, so buckle up for a spring whirlwind…
Calan, the acclaimed Welsh folk band who have been described as “a storming juggernaut,” are barnstorming into 2022 by announcing a new UK tour for April & May 2022, celebrating the rebirth of their much-lauded 2021 album ‘Kistvaen’.
The Kistvaen Reloaded UK Tour aims to give audiences that astonishing mix of intricate, brilliant musicianship welded to foot-stomping, crowd-pleasers that, until now, only the critics could rave about
Full list of Kistvaen Reloaded UK Tour dates is as follows;
3 April Galashiels Macarts
?5 April Bury – The Met
?6 April Barnard Castle – The Witham
?9 April Swansea Taliesin Arts Centre
?10 April Cardiff Pentyrch (acapella)
?13 April Stamford Arts Centre
?15 April Dorchester Arts
?16 April Bristol – The Folk House
?21 April Bangor, Gwynedd – Pontio Arts & Innovation Centre
?22 April Glyn Ceiriog – Canolfan Ceiriog Centre
?29 April Great Torrington – Plough Arts Centre
?30 April Newton Abbot – Abbotsbury Church
?5 May Colchester Arts Centre
?6 May Newport, Gwent – Tredegar House Folk Festival
?30 May London N1 – Kings Place Concert Hall
“Kistvaen is what we are as a band,” says Calan’s guitarist Sam Humphreys. “We recorded it just before the lockdowns, and we were gutted when we found out we could not take it on tour so we could show everybody our hard work, and let the music breathe and fly. We spent many hours handpicking our favourite tunes and songs from the national archives and giving them a new lease of life and now, at last, we can share it. We’re reloaded and we’re going to make the most of every minute with the shows”.
The newly reloaded deluxe edition of Calan’s ‘Kistvaen’ will feature two live tracks recorded at Cardiff’s Gate Theatre, plus a brand new remix & reimagined arrangements.
Come to think of it, From The Margins website’s description of ‘Kistvaen’ being full of “thrills, twists and turns” pretty much sums up Calan’s lockdown experience. The day international travel bans were first due to be put in place, the band were on tour in the USA and managed to scramble onto the last seats out of Minneapolis for London. Just as they were sitting on the tarmac congratulating themselves, vocalist (and champion step dancer) Bethan Rhiannon piped up, “Right, that’s the kitty spent. Er…how are we going to live?” With the plane still idling before take-off, the band got busy on their smart phones and immediately opened both an online shop and crowdfunding campaign.
Patrick Rimes (fiddles) sold his brocade performing jacket and the group hatched a plan to sell specially written songs for special occasions, all set out on parchment. By the time they landed at Heathrow, they’d made £1,200. They were on a roll.
From that moment on they turned lockdown into a launchpad for creativity. Besides being a world-class harpist Calan’s Shelley Musker Turner creates magnificent leatherwork and horse armour for Hollywood historical epics. So, relying on travel still being available for essential work, she took herself off to Ireland to work on Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer (if you haven’t seen it yet, you can get a flavour of the film here: https://youtu.be/mgygUwPJvYk
Bethan Rhiannon split her time between returning to teaching and acting. She even tried her hand at comedy with a spot on Romesh Ranganathan’s TV hit Ranganation where she was ‘Folk Hero’ – watch her here: https://www.facebook.com/bbciplayer/videos/185703346219917/
Bethan also landed herself an acting role in a situation comedy Vandullz, the story of an up-and-coming indie band; https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011y40
Angharad Jenkins (fiddles) worked on a wide-ranging Swansea community music project and showcased music and songs written about her experience of turning a mother.
Sam Humphreys (guitar) focused on releasing music on his eclectic electronic music label UDISHIDO Records and created the stunning electronic music for national theatre group Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru’s Gwlad Yr Asyn (Donkey Land) as well as collaborating with artists such as Skunkadelic, Eadyth & Mali Haf.
In a brief break during lockdowns, the band performed with the National Orchestra of Wales and, last Christmas, a worldwide online concert from Brecon Cathedral with opera giant Sir Bryn Terfel and organised by New York’s Metropolitan Opera House.
Now, with Britain looking towards a brighter 2022, Calan are getting their dancing feet back in gear.
“We hope people will listen to Kistvaen and come to hear it live,” adds Bethan. “We’re delighted that other bands have recommended us to their fans so, to return the favour, we’ve put together a special Spotify playlist – a collection of tracks by some of our favourite bands that best celebrate the freedoms we will now hopefully and sensibly enjoy.”
For the uninitiated, these new live shows promise a high-volume, high-octane blaze of fiddles, guitar, accordion, harp, Welsh bagpipes, stunning step dancing plus some of the finest singing – and songs that draw on the great mystic traditions and legends of the band’s native Wales.
Oh yes, and Patrick’s managed to find a new jacket.
