Geraint Jarman obituary

The Guardian

13-03-2025

Geraint Jarman, who has died aged 74, was an influential figure in the arts in Wales, as a musician, poet, actor and film-maker, as well as a mentor to younger artists. He always performed and wrote in Welsh, his mother tongue, but he brought influences into his work from European poetry, new wave, reggae, country, rock and beyond, keen to demonstrate that Wales was part of a broader cultural world.
Starting with Gobaith Mawr Y Ganrif (The Great Hope of the Century, 1976), for which he was shot in denim on the cover, in monochrome, like a hip singer-songwriter, Jarman released nine albums in 10 years on the independent Welsh language record label, Sain, several with his multicultural band, Y Cynganeddwyr (its name a playful reference to an ancient Welsh poetic form, still used in eisteddfod competitions), and eight more over the next 30 years.
His singing, and approach to his subjects, could be sweet, spiky or playful. Tracks on Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers, 1978) include a cover of the Welsh national anthem, slathered in feedback by his bandmate, the guitarist Tich Gwilym, as well as Ethiopia Newydd (New Ethiopia), inspired by rastafarianism, and an impish love song, Merch Tŷ Cyngor (Council House Girl).
Reggae also features prominently, a genre for which Jarman's passion grew in the 1970s through the Casablanca Club in Cardiff (which he discussed, in a rare English interview, on a 2021 Radio Wales documentary), and later he recorded two all-reggae albums, Cariad Cwantwm (Quantum Love, 2018) and Cwantwm Dub (Quantum Dub, 2020).
Jarman influenced Welsh bands, including Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Ffa Coffi Pawb (members of which formed Super Furry Animals, for whom Jarman directed a documentary of their first global tour, Poptastic, in 1997). Both acts featured on Fideo 9, the music show Jarman co-produced with his TV company Criw Byw (Live Crew) between 1988 and 1992, for the Welsh-language channel S4C. Welsh language bands were paid to make videos for the show, using state-of-the-art equipment, which were then broadcast at prime time on Thursday evenings.
Cerys Matthews also sang on Jarman's 1994 cassette release Y Ceubal Y Crossbar A'r Quango (The Ferryboat, the Crossbar and the Quango), shortly before Catatonia's mainstream success. The Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys praised his 'cultural curiosity … he brought a new critical and urban outlook to Welsh-speaking culture.'
Born in Denbigh, north Wales, Geraint was the second of three children, and the only son, of Emrys, an accountant and Myfanwy (nee Owen), a primary school teacher. The family moved to Cardiff when he was four, and Geraint went to Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Bryntaf, the city's first Welsh language primary school. With his older sister, Tanwen, he sang with the Pontcanna children's choir, and they performed often on the ITV Welsh music programme Gwlad Y Gân (Land of Song).
At Cathays high school, he was in the same class as the future football manager Terry Yorath. However, Jarman was often to be found skiving in local cafes, he admitted in a 2015 interview with Wales Online, writing verse inspired by the poets Pablo Neruda and Constantine Cavafy.
After leaving school, he met Heather Jones, a singer, and they married in 1969. He wrote songs for her, and with the singer-songwriter Meic Stevens, the couple formed a pastiche folk-rock group Bara Menyn (Bread and Butter). Its name was a reference to their need to make money so they could pursue other projects. They were signed by Lupus Music, alongside T-Rex and Pink Floyd, and released two EPs in 1969.
Jarman published a first volume of poetry, Eira Cariad (Snow Love), in 1970, which was followed by Cerddi Alfred St (Alfred Street Poems, 1976) and Cerbyd Cydwybod (Vehicle of Conscience, 2012). The editors of the 2017 Welsh literature anthology The Old Red Tongue, Gwyn Griffiths and Meic Stephens, described his writing as 'freewheeling … both whimsical and enigmatic, [with] a wide range of feeling which gives his work a serious, lyrical and haunted note'.
He also co-wrote a folk-rock opera with Stevens about environmental issues, Etifeddiaeth Drwy'r Mwg (Inheritance Through the Smoke), which was broadcast on HTV in 1970 as 'an experiment for St David's Day'. As an actor, he worked in fringe theatre and TV, appearing in 1977 as PC Gordon Hughes in the BBC Wales police station comedy-drama Glas Y Dorlan (Kingfisher), and as a student in the 1978 BBC drama Off To Philadelphia in the Morning. He was also the voice of Superted in the original Welsh language version of the children's cartoon.
His autobiography, Twrw Jarman (Jarman's Noise) was published in 2011. In 2017, he won a special contribution award from the Welsh music magazine Y Selar. He collaborated widely through the years, working with the experimental dub/hip hop group Llwybr Llaethog, the folk singer Gareth Bonello, and his three daughters, as singers, both live and on record.
His marriage to Jones ended in divorce. He is survived by his second wife, Nia Caron, whom he married in 1987, and their daughters, Hanna and Mared; by his daughter Lisa, from his first marriage; and by his sisters, Tanwen and Catrin.
Geraint Rhys Maldwyn Jarman, musician, writer, actor and film-maker, born 17 August 1950; died 3 March 2025