Singer Iris Williams who performed for Queen Elizabeth II dies
Her hits included He Was Beautiful and Pererin Wyf, a Welsh-language version of Amazing Grace.In the 1960s, Williams appeared on the Welsh BBC pop music programme Disc A Dawn. From there she went on to feature in her own BBC TV show.In 1974, she won Cân i Gymru, the Welsh-language talent competition A Song for Wales with the song I gael Cymru'n Gymru Rydd, translated to For a Free Wales. She was among a group of performers to take part in a concert to celebrate the opening of the National Assembly of Wales in 1999.In 2004, she was honoured with an OBE for her contribution to music, and in 2006 was admitted to the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod.In a post on social media, The St David's Society of the State of New York said Williams had "joined the heavenly chorus where her joyful singing will surely bring those joys beyond measure which we have been honoured to share.""New York held a special place in her life and it was here that she gave birth to her only child Blake."Opera singer Beverley Humphreys paid tribute by saying the "distinctive voice" will always be associated with the song He Was Beautiful. "Iris had her own unique jazz style - vivacious and elegant - with a twinkle in her eye, she had a way of inhabiting each song she sang."Iris was a story teller whose voice could set your feet tapping or touch your heart."
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The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘I feel equally rooted in bhangra and hyperpop, queer anthems and Sufi poetry': Pakistani star Ali Sethi on his defiant debut album
As a child, Ali Sethi was enthralled watching Sufi whirling – a religious dance – at nearby shrines in Punjab: 'There's this collective catharsis that takes place and, briefly, your caste, class, gender, appearance, they stop mattering. You have licence in an otherwise extremely hierarchical society to just express yourself.' This is something the 41-year-old Pakistani-American singer, songwriter and composer hopes to create himself. Though he's also a writer – be that his acclaimed 2009 novel, The Wish Maker, or contributions to publications such as the New Yorker – music became somewhere Sethi could be accepted, especially as a queer person growing up in Lahore. 'I think music has this shamanic function in south Asian culture,' he says, 'where things you cannot say in lay language you say in the love language of music.' Sethi's stratospheric, shiver-inducing voice dissolves cultural divides. Take Intiha, his sublime 2023 experimental album of Sufi poetry with Chilean-American musician Nicolás Jaar, or 2022's Pasoori, a bombastic raga-meets-reggaeton track which has surpassed a billion streams on YouTube Music, making it easily the biggest song to come out of Pakistan this century. When we speak, Sethi is about to release his debut solo album, Love Language, which builds on Pasoori's thundering, Technicolor global pop. Working with producers like Brockhampton's Romil Hemnani and Colombian musician Juan Ariza, it's exuberant and almost oversaturated, flecked with 00s R&B, Bollywood, drill rap, slinky flamenco, even a skit on the children's game 'akkad bakkad', all of it underlined with hallmarks of north Indian classical. Not everyone is pleased. Sethi trained under two of the greats of classical music, Ustad Saami and Farida Khanum, and his initial career was in that more traditional world; some fans yearn for 'the old Ali Sethi'. Though he's adamant about using south Asian ragas rather than western chord progressions to inform the melodies for his songs, Sethi recounts how even the esteemed Ustad Saami asked him whether his music lately is fusion or, simply, confusion. 'But I think in today's completely monstrous world, what could be a better reflection than confusion?' Sethi laughs. The work of Pakistani musicians, including Sethi, has been banned and removed from streaming services in India, where fans are forced to access the music via VPN due to escalating tensions between both countries. 'If you're looking at it from the point of view of ideologues, music is the one thing that has kept the populations of India and Pakistan deeply connected to one another,' he says. 'Every time the walls go up, the borders get re-erected but some song slips past, and there's an instant [release of] fellow feeling … this unspoken connection.' The brief outbreak of conflict between the two nations earlier this year has worsened the cultural divide. The opening track on Sethi's album was initially a duet with a well-known Bollywood singer, but a film industry body threatened that any Indian artist collaborating with a Pakistani artist would be blacklisted. The song is now censored, cut through with screams and distorted industrial textures. Sethi has also been unable to get a visa to enter India in nearly a decade. 'Ever since I started releasing music, my biggest audience has been in India, and it's the one place I've not been able to go,' he says. He wryly notes that the themes of 'forbidden love' he explores in his music are 'already in place' thanks to the travel ban. Inspired by Pakistani revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Sethi's lyrics read like love songs, but they're layered with double-meanings about ethno-nationalism, Islamophobia, war, queerness and exile. On Bridegroom, he subverts a 13th-century qawwali sometimes sung at weddings, his untethered, gliding voice delivering coy lyrics that translate to 'don't ask about my husband'. This follows 'pretty rigorously orchestrated fake news' two years ago, falsely claiming Sethi and his partner, the Pakistani painter Salman Toor, had breached local law and married. He didn't know how to react, until the answer came in the form of this song. 'I realised the appropriate response is to troll them back with what they think of as semi-sacred music, saying, 'I refuse to give up my traditions.'' Sethi may laugh in defiance, but his words are tinged with sadness. 'These last few years have been a whirlwind, not always in the nicest ways,' he says. 'There's a lot of angst and despair, a lot of ruing the loss of a milieu, the loss of home – but also revelling in new homes, temporary shelters, finding community with other musicians in places like Los Angeles, London and New York.' He says the success of NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is revitalising; the way he 'squares that distance between all these different communities.' Love Language, then, is Sethi's attempt at the same: a 'diary of displacement' with the accompanying tour set to be 'a variety show for the end times'. Mainly, he wants the music to be a refuge, and to capture his and his audience's multiplicities. 'I'm hoping it comes across as a work of synthesis rather than a work of assimilation,' Sethi says of his album, an attempt to make hybrid music without 'simplifying or diluting' any of its constituent parts. 'I feel equally rooted in Punjabi bhangra and hyperpop, equally conversant with queer club anthems and Sufi poetry; and, actually, I see all these connections all the time, because they dwell within me.' Love Language is out now on Zubberdust Media/The Orchard
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Bronwen Lewis to host Morning Show on BBC Radio Wales
Bronwen Lewis has announced she will be presenting the morning show on BBC Radio Wales from the autumn. Speaking live on Behnaz Akhgar's Afternoon Show on BBC Radio Wales, Bronwen shared the news and spoke of her joy as she prepares for the new challenge. Bronwen Lewis said: 'I am beyond excited and honoured to be given this incredible opportunity. 'BBC Radio Wales has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and it has been the soundtrack to many memories. 'To represent a station that has given me so much not just as a presenter but as a listener too - it's honestly a dream come true.' Bronwen, who hails from the Dulais Valley, joined Behnaz in the studio in Central Square, Cardiff to reveal details of her new show: 'All I want with this new show is for people to turn on the radio and go 'That's my mate Bron.' I love knowing the listeners like family and sharing in their life moments. 'Working with a brilliant team, I look forward to creating a show that makes the listeners want to tune in and turn up! As a musician, music will be the beating heart of the show - with plenty of fabulous guests, big laughs and the usual serving of silliness. 'From the little listeners to the big listeners and everyone in between, we all have one thing in common - we love radio and it feels like home to us. Can't wait for the house warming party this autumn. See you soon cariad!' Bronwen will continue to present her Country Music show on Wednesday evening. Comedian, presenter, actor and writer Robin Morgan will have a brand new show on Sundays between 12.00 noon – 3.00pm. Robin, who also hosts Radio Wales' award-winning topical comedy panel show What Just Happened?, said: 'I'm so excited to be joining the Radio Wales family! I've loved spending time with the listeners this year - and now I get to do it during the best part of the week: during Sunday lunch! It's going to be three hours of fun and games, great music and big laughs. I can't wait to get started.' Bronwen Lewis first shot to fame following an appearance on the TV series, The Voice in 2013 – a journey that would come full circle when she was invited to join the judging panel of Y Llais, the Welsh language version of the show. After her appearance on The Voice, Bronwen starred in the BAFTA winning film, Pride and released a solo album. She toured with Welsh icon Max Boyce for three years, honing the craft of capturing an audience through storytelling and song. During the Covid pandemic, Bronwen gained a huge fan base when she performed more than 45 concerts, virtually, from her home studio. Her TikTok videos, which see her cover famous pop songs in the Welsh language, also went viral, clocking up hundreds of thousands of views – performances which have been championed by BBC Radio 1's Greg James and BBC Radio 2's Scott Mills. She joined Radio Wales, to present her Sunday show, in April 2023, adding a weekly Country Music Show the same year. The latter's first year anniversary was celebrated with a congratulatory voice note from Dolly Parton live on the show. Bronwen was also recognised in this year's ARIAS – the radio industry's Oscars – nominated for Best New Presenter. Carolyn Hitt, Editor of BBC Radio Wales said: 'Bronwen is a really special presenter and we are thrilled to make her the new voice of mid-mornings on BBC Radio Wales. She embodies all that Radio Wales is about – warmth, connection and community – with a passionate sense of Welsh identity at the heart of everything she does. Her musicianship ensures she has a real sense of ownership of our station sound – bringing knowledge and insight. With an appeal that spans the generations, she's a natural storyteller with a lovely cheeky humour and great comic timing. 'But above all Bronwen genuinely loves our audience: she connects with them, relates to them and cares about them and we know they love her too. 'We're also delighted to welcome Robin Morgan – one of the most exciting talents in British comedy - to Sundays as we embark on this exciting new chapter for Radio Wales.' EWL Follow for more
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ian Smith: Foot Spa Half Empty review – struggle to conceive is fertile ground for stellar standup
Reviewing Ian Smith's breakout show Crushing two summers ago, I compared the Yorkshireman to Rhod Gilbert, another comic who gets very het up at the most trivial provocation. Smith's follow-up show mirrors Gilbert in a different way, by addressing an issue the Welshman became associated with in standup and documentary: infertility. Foot Spa Half Empty is about Smith's low sperm count, discovered as he and his partner start trying for a child. It arranges a suite of humiliating stories and manic overthinking comedy around the more substantial tale of our host's visit to a clinic to have his sperm tested – in Smith's hands, it's as surefire an anecdote for self-abasing standup as it's possible to imagine. Give or take a weak ending, it's a killer stage return from a man now increasingly recognisable from your TV screens. Not that fame has gone to his head; Google ('people also search for Robert Mugabe') has seen to that. He did briefly worry that success might defang a comic style rooted in anxiety and failure. But lo, big-time Smith still sweats the small stuff, and very funnily. See his section about being mocked for being a poor skier, another deconstructing the phrase 'wrong place, wrong time', and a memorable set piece about a gull with a steak knife in its beak harassing punters in a beer garden. These are big-impact routines, all the funnier for their tone of voice, which combines a relish for the absurd, an inability to let things go and an adhesive relationship with indignity. All come into play as the 36-year-old relates his fertility journey, which finds him buying a magic spell from Amazon ('And if that worked, I'm scared of that baby …'), roadtesting old wives' tales, and pontificating on the milestones that signal we're getting old – which include, in Smith's case, a father-son tutorial in extra-strong mints. You can bet that phrase 'extra strong' gets a workout from Smith: not a man to leave a casual figure of speech un-interrogated. It may be wearisome to possess, but Smith's worrisome personality is catnip for comedy lovers. With him at the mic, laughs, at least, go forth and multiply. At Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh, until 24 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews
