9Bach is an

alternative folk Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has its ...

group formed by Welsh singer-songwriter and pianist Lisa Jên and guitarist Martin Hoyland, a veteran of 1990s alt-rock band Pusherman. The group now includes Dan Swain (bass guitar), Esyllt Glyn Jones (harp, vocals), Mirain Roberts (vocals) and Andy Gangadeen (drums). The sextet's name puns on "nain", the word for "grandmother" in north Wales; "bach" means "small" in Welsh. When the group began in 2005, its repertoire mainly consisted of traditional

Welsh-language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has al ...

folk songs. Its self-titled debut album was released in 2009. Lisa Jên sang on Gruff Rhys's 2007 album, ''

Candylion ''Candylion'' is the second solo album by Welsh musician and Super Furry Animals front-man Gruff Rhys. It was released on 8 January 2007 through Rough Trade Records (in the UK) and Team Love (in the US) and peaked at number fifty on the UK Albu ...

'', and toured with Rhys in that period. In 2015, 9Bach's album ''Tincian'' ("resonate") won Best Album at the

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...

. The band was joined onstage by Bethesda-based

male voice choir A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low bass ...

Côr Penrhyn for their final song of the evening. The band's third album, ''Anian'', ("nature") was released 13 May 2016. Its title song was written by actor-musician

Rhys Ifans Rhys Ifans (; born Rhys Owain Evans; 22 July 1967) is a Welsh actor and musician. He was the frontman of Welsh rock music bands the Peth and Super Furry Animals. As an actor, he is best known for his roles in ''Notting Hill'' (1999), ''Kevin & ...

, who sings it on 9Bach's recording. "Deryn" is sung by musician and Real World founder Peter Gabriel. The album incorporates Greek and Middle Eastern musical influences.

References

Welsh-language bands Welsh-language singers Welsh folk music {{UK-band-stub