Siân James (born 24 December 1961) is a Welsh traditional folk singer and harpist who has recorded for Sain and

BBC Records BBC Records was a division of the BBC founded in 1967 to commercially exploit the corporation's output for radio and television for both educational and domestic use. The division was known as BBC Radio Enterprises (1967–1970), BBC Records (1 ...

as well as her own label, Bos. A native of the

Mid Wales Mid Wales ( cy, Canolbarth Cymru or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands") or Central Wales refers to a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd ...

village of

Llanerfyl Llanerfyl is a village and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. Located near the River Banwy, the community includes the village of Llanerfyl, several farms and wide tracts of marchland. The southern part of the community includes Cwm Nan ...

Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...

, Siân James participated, from an early age, in local

eisteddfodau In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, ac ...

, playing the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and later the

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

. While still a student at

Llanfair Caereinion Llanfair Caereinion is a market town and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales upon the River Banwy (also known as the River Einion), around 8 miles west of Welshpool. In 2011 the ward had a population of 1,810; the town itself had a popul ...

High School, she began composing her own songs and arranging traditional Welsh music. She went on to read music at the

University of Wales, Bangor Bangor University ( cy, Prifysgol Bangor) is a Public university, public university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Bangor, Wales. It received its Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 and was one of the founding institutions of the federal University of Wales ...

. She is also well known for her acting work on Welsh language television. Having been a recording artist for Sain and BBC Records, James has, in the 2000s, recorded her work for Bos at her home studio in Llanerfyl. James conducts and accompanies a Welsh men's choir called Parti Cut Lloi. In 2009, she performed several times with the choir at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Albums

* ''Cysgodion Karma'' 'Karma Shadows''(1990) * ''Distaw'' 'Silent''(1993) * ''Gweini Tymor'' 'Serving a Term''(1996) * ''Di-Gwsg'' 'Sleepless''(1997) * ''Birdman'' (1999) * ''Pur'' 'Pure''(2001) * ''Y Ferch o Bedlam'' 'The Girl from Bedlam''(2005) * ''Cymun'' 'Communion''(2012) * ''Gosteg'' 'Silence''(2018)

Film

*''

Tylluan Wen ''Tylluan Wen'' is a Welsh language film / television drama produced in Wales in 1997 by Ffilmiau'r Nant and directed by Angharad Jones. It is set in Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, as an adaptation of Angharad Jones' novel ''Y Dylluan Wen'' (''The Wh ...

'' (1997)

References

External links

Siân James official website
* * Siân James and Parti Cut Llo
on YouTube
1961 births Living people Welsh folk harpists People from Montgomeryshire Alumni of Bangor University Welsh-speaking musicians Welsh-language singers {{Wales-bio-stub