PRESSGANG - Still fiery after all these years

They went away, they came back, they went away again and now they're back once more!

Pressgang have been festival scene regulars for as long as any if us can remember - including them, I dare say, and notwithstanding their absence from the scene for a while a few years ago.

But the infectious enthusiasm they have for their art remains undiminished. Yes, folks, it's party time whenever they hit the stage!

"...a partnership made in heaven."

So says one review of this remarkable transatlantic alliance, and who are we to disagree? They've certainly been almost everywhere underneath it, and know the tunes into the bargain.

Tania's the Alaskan, Mike's from Manchester. She now lives on an Indian reservation; his home is Kilkenny in Ireland. And together they've toured the length and breadth of both the US and UK with music taken from across America, Europe and Central Asia.

Between them they play more than a dozen instruments and sing in a dozen different languages.
Mike's main instrument is the Gambian djembe, from which he draws an amazing variety of sounds, but he plays everything from dholak and darabouka to bones, bodhran and congas, and composes tunes on guitar and mandolin.
From early classical training on piano, cello and violin, Tania moved on to explore many different fiddle styles and a wide range of wind instruments, and even to experiment with such exotic instruments as chang, gidjak and doira,

And then there's the dance thing. Mike is renowned on both sides of the pond as a caller and he pair regularly conduct dance workshops as part of their educational programme, but also just for the hell of it.

Now that's what I call versatility.

It's barely a year since The Hundred Man Orchestra was first unleashed on the world, and what a year it's been!

That first gig at our sister festival, Towersey, was greeted with open-mouthed wonder, according to our spies, and so a welcome in the hillsides was clearly in order.

HMO is the brainchild of Brummie flautist Kieran Szifiris, one of the brightest new names emerging onto the trad. scene. If you haven't caught him live, then you may have heard his music courtesy of the BBC2 series It's Not Easy Being Green

They don't come more Celtic than Aberystwyth-based Harriet Earis, and they don't come more eclectic than The Harriet Earis Trio (hence T.H.E. Trio, see?)
Harriet is quite simply one of our most accomplished and original harpers (which is how harp-players describe themselves). Her speciality is the Celtic harp and it has taken her to the prestigious Harper of All Britain title not once but twice. And last year, she added the equally coveted Open Stage Award at Celtic Connections to her trophy list.

Harriet has a degree in Celtic Studies from Trinity College, Cambridge, and is proficient not only in Welsh but also in Irish, Scots and Gaelic. So she knows what she's talking about - in almost any language - and, more importantly just now, she knows what she's playing as well.

Together, they play a brand of Celtic Jazz fusion, as demonstrated on the CD From the Crooked Tree which came out last year, unlike anything you've ever heard from a harp before. This is truly innovative music, which suits us down to the ground.

For even more, go to http://www.myspace.com/harrietearistrio

may well be the newest outfit to take to the stage at Pontardawe this year, even though they've played here before.

Not that there's any lack of experience among the individuals who have come together to make it happen. Remember Sole Addiction? They played here in '05, since when guitarist Steve Rowlands and drummer Mark Pitts have decided to move in a somewhat different direction...and P25 is the result.

Unusually, the band's sound revolves around the strong percussion elements they've introduced.

They've been off the road in recent months whilst new bass player Claire Thomas gets the hang of it all, and she seems to be making good progress...

Once that's done, they've promised to play our little booties off.
We can hardly wait...

It's no coincidence that this will be their fourth consecutive year at Pontardawe, leading the best of the emerging new crop of Welsh bands onto a wider stage.

And it's been a good year for the Swansea quartet, thanks in no small measure to singer Alex Taylor's part in the DT8 project, which received nationwide attention, not to mention several high-profile support spots.

Their eclectic mix of the electric and the acoustic sets them apart from many of the new guitar bands that seem to hog the headlines. It can only be a matter of time before someone picks them up and gives them the record deal they deserve.

Mary K's journey has taken her, with many a twist and turn, from a Derry childhood to the streets of Glasgow. And her music tells the story of that journey.

Now she is bringing that story to Wales, which is entirely to our benefit. Once heard, her mellifluous voice is never forgotten, especially when accompanied - as it is - by her sensitive playing.

Comparisons are odious, they say, but think Nanci Griffith, Gillian Welsh, Mary Black perhaps, then they may not sound odious at all.

Mary has been a writer and performer since the age of 15. Remember Tanya in the early 90s? That was her. Then there was the country band Nevada, amongst others. But it is only now that she has finally released her debut solo album A Song In Her Heart - which has received widespread acclaim.

Yes, there is good solid traditional Celtic bedrock here. But there is more: a delightful version of Donovan's Catch the Wind, to name but one. And this woman has just written music for the Desperate Housewives TV series, for goodness sake! Which goes to show you never can tell...

For more, go to http://www.marykburke.co.uk/

For even more, go to http://www.myspace.com/maryk1

Le leg, as we Welsh know only too well, is a cunning device invented by The Great Inventor for...yes, dancing, of course. Ideally, you need two of them. And that is precisely what we have here.

Olivier Le Gallo (Diatonic Accordion, Flute, Percussion, Programming) and
Jean Luc Gueneau (Electro-acoustic hurdygurdy) are two of the six musicians that make up the widely acclaimed French band Le Gop! (and their name is three-fifths of the same - clever eh?)

Basically, what we have here is an infectious blend of traditional French music and 21st-century technology. The Massif Central meets the Celtic Fringe. Sacre bleu!

Guo Yue is (yet) another internationally-acclaimed musician who has a special place in his heart for Pontardawe (and it's entirely mutual).

These pictures were taken at a performance he gave last year in the Pontardawe Arts Centre and, as you may have spotted, there's more to him (even) than the virtuoso renditions of traditional Chinese music that he gives on any one of his fifteen different flutes, not to mention a host of other instruments.

For Yue, music really is the food of love and his demonstrations of the art of Chinese cookery are an eye-opener indeed to those of us for whom Chinese food is Chop Suey, Crispy Beef and Spring Rolls.

Yue has also worked on the soundtracks of several international films, including Bertolluci's Oscar-winning The Last Emperor and The Killing Fields. He also played the soundtrack theme, composed by George Fenton, for the Emmy award-winning Channel Four documentary Beyond the Clouds