Two of South Wales' finest emerging new bands will top the 'alternative' bill at Ponty30.

No Obligation from Swansea and Project 25 from Neath will headline a full programme featuring the best from the South Wales scene on stage in the Leisure Centre theatre.

No Obligation are no strangers to the festival, having played here every year since we returned to the grass. For Project 25, this will be their first taste of the Pontardawe experience.

We are delighted to be able to announce that we have been officially recognised as Wales' first Fair Trade music festival.

It’s the latest step in a five-year plan to make Pontardawe a completely sustainable event. Our former Site/Technical Director, Emyr Morris, has been appointed Fair Trade Co-ordinator to oversee the incorporation of Fair Trade principles into every aspect of the festival’s activity.

It means we will be looking to use only Fair Trade products wherever we can, not only in what we do but also encouraging our suppliers, such as food traders, to do likewise.

We are also looking to introduce a dedicated Fair Trade area this year, in which only companies and organisations selling Fair Trade products will be present. There will also be special Fair Trade workshops and demonstrations.

Transglobal Underground have picked up a prestigious BBC World Music Award at a ceremony in London hosted by BBC Radio Three.

The legendary London-based band were crowned in the Club Global category.

Our congratulations to them, and to you if you've already booked your ticket!

If you haven't then...well, you know what to do!!

Irish superstars Kila are the latest band to be confirmed as headliners for this year's festival.

WOW! I hear you say. How many headliners do we need?

Well, because it's a special year this 2008, we've decided a splash out on the greatest line-up that's ever been seen hereabouts.

The Dublin-based seven-piece had hoped to visit last year but it didn't quite happen. It'll be well worth the wait.

And joing them are Londoners Prego who have been with us in the past. But they went from strength to strength in '07, winning accolades from an ever-expanding musical universe.

Check them out via the *Artists 2008* block on the left hand side of the page.

Vandals have completely trashed the historic Gellionnen Chapel on the Graig Mountain above Pontardawe.

Read about it in the news

Video - Vandals Ruin historic chapel, BBC Wales

The chapel is home to the annual Festival Service and has played a huge part in our history. Chapel members have always been at the forefront of the tremendous volunteer army that makes PontyFest possible.

So now it's payback time. We will be offering whatever help we can in whatever way is needed.

If you can help us help them - in any way whatsoever - please get in touch, and we will keep you posted.

They raised the roof when they last appeared in 2000. Now they're back!

TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND are the latest world-beating band to sign up for our celebration of thirty years of great music.

For many, their set eight years ago was the finest ever to be seen on a Pontardawe stage. So it's only natural that they - and we - want to go for it again.

2008 may be the Year of the Rat in China, but for the Silk String Quartet, it's definitely the Year of the Dragon.

The acclaimed all-female Chinese ensemble has confirmed it will be playing Pontardawe Festival for the first time, as part of their European summer tour.

Two of the world's most distinctive bands are set to headline this year's 30th-anniversary festival.

Berroguetto from Galicia, Spain, and Hotel Palindrone, from Austria, are the first big names to be announced, along with renowned Senegalese drummer Seckou Keita.

Wales's own One String Loose are returning to Ponty after they so narrowly missed out on this year's BBC Young Folk Musician award.

And there's to be a host of other favourites, including the jazzy Harriet Earis Trio, Jim Fox, Billy In The Lowground and Baggyrinkle.

Watch this space for more announcements very soon!

Iconic Welsh supergroup Ar Log played the first ever Pontardawe Festival - and now they're to return for our 30th. birthday celebrations.

The band's 1978 gig was one of their first, and it led to the record deal that propelled them to the top of the Welsh music scene.

Check them out, it still isn't finished - we have over a thousand pictures to do again!

The 2007 Gwyl Pontardawe Festival picture gallery

Photography by:- Howie Watkins, Linda Grenfell, Linda Simmonds, Ian Griffiths, Chris Bates, Lloyd Stranaghan, Ffion Haf Davies, Baz White, Cas Smith, Emyr Wyn Morris