Julie Murphy & Ceri Rhys Matthews

engaged folk music from Wales

Julie Murphy and Ceri Rhys Matthews are among the pioneers of Welsh folk music. They met at art school in 1979. They have lived in Pencader, a small Welsh-speaking village in Carmarthenshire, for over thirty years.  Many of their songs and melodies reflect the history and cultural life of the area. It is music rooted in place and language, but the themes of love, loss, joy and struggle are universal. 

Ceri Rhys has also devoted himself to making musical instruments. He has researched and learned melodies that originated in his village and evolved in the larger town, Dolgellau. Hundreds of melodies created by dozens of people, shared memories and imaginations. Ceri Rhys Matthews has recorded over 25 CDs and performs as a solo artist, with the band Fernhill he founded in 1995, and also as a duo with Julie Murphy.

Julie Murphy is a singer-songwriter from Wales with a long career. She is known for her remarkable, contemporary interpretations of Welsh folk songs and her very personal, yet politically engaged lyrics. She is a founding member of the Welsh folk band Fernhill. With the band, but also solo and with numerous other projects, she has performed in many countries, not only in Europe and Canada, but also in countries & areas such as Pakistan, Sudan, Gaza, the West Bank, Brunei, Myanmar, South Africa and Vietnam. 

TIME OUT magazine called her a singer you absolutely must see and hear. Her remarkable voice, which is hauntingly beautiful one moment and dark and mysterious the next, has led to collaborations with John Cale and Robert Plant, among others.

This concert takes place as part of the European Folk Day 2025.