BBC Radio Wales presents the 'Best of Sŵn' Festival Showcase
On Saturday 22 October Adam Walton and I from BBC Radio Wales will be hosting a special stage of acoustic sessions at the plush location of the Kuku Club, Greyfriars Road, Cardiff.
We'll be showcasing a selection of some of our favourite bands appearing at Sŵn this year, and broadcasting them across the weekend, on my show at 6.30pm on the Saturday, and Adam's show on the Sunday from 10pm.

Race Horses
Adam and I have been supporting, enjoying and hosting stages every year since Sŵn started, and for this, the fifth year of Sŵn, we're making it special, intimate, and exclusive with a guestlist-only audience watching six of the best up and coming bands at the festival. We support Sŵn as it's been a real hub of excitement, a real meeting of minds in terms of musicians and fans who love new music and it's great to reflect this on BBC Radio Wales too.
It's also part of Radio Wales' ongoing commitment to new music in Wales, in that it's the last in a series of broadcasts from festivals this year. We started at April's Laugharne festival, travelled through the summer till we hit August's Green Man festival.
The bands will include Welsh favourites Race Horses who will be playing their first ever acoustic session. The band, who are signed to Fantastic Plastic, have seen 6 Music in particular get behind their new songs including Benidorm.
Also on the bill are the boy/girl duo Summer Camp, aka Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley. They have a beautiful new album out at the end of this month called Welcome To Condale, on their own label Apricot Recording Company (in conjunction with Moshi Moshi). Elizabeth has such a unique voice, so I'm excited to hear an acoustic session by them.
Daughter is another name that has cropped up in new music circles recently. The stunning and fragile folk voice of Elena Tonra blew me away when I first heard it. The London singer has an EP coming out called The Wild Youth released via Communion Records on 21 November, so I hope we hear something from it in the showcase.
Welsh singer Denuo first came to my attention when I heard he'd been self-recording a soundtrack to his travels around the north Wales coast, called Wolf River. What cemented my attention was the call to support Manic Street Preachers at their Radio 2 concert in Blackwood Miners Institute earlier this year. I've been playing his music ever since and really look forward to what he'll bring to the session on Saturday.
Sam Airey, the Leeds-based, north Walian singer/songwriter sent us his music through the Introducing Uploader, and it was instantly taken as one of the rare treasures that you find within a pile of demos. He's since had the support of Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1, and recorded a Maida Vale session, and was a welcome addition to the Sŵn line up. His voice and heartbreaking style is reminiscent of Bon Iver or Nick Drake, just touching to the core. His first single The Blackout was released earlier this year.
We're also honoured to be hosting another beautiful troubadour Benjamin Francis Leftwich. He might just sneak a few covers into his set, and if that sound like something you'd like, why not download his covers EP for free from his website?
Please note artists not necessarily appearing in this order.
For more info on our showcase at Sŵn, or to tune in to the broadcast, head to the website for all the details: bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/.
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