Four of Wales’ best-loved festivals have joined forces in lockdown to create Gŵyl 2021, a free, online festival of music and comedy.

The best of Festival of Voice, FOCUS Wales, Other Voices Cardigan, and Aberystwyth Comedy Festival have been captured over recent months in Wales and internationally within coronavirus guidelines, to create an event which will be available across the UK at www.bbc.co.uk/gwyl2021 on the weekend of 6th-7th March 2021.

Gŵyl 2021 is described as “a celebration of the established, and a discovery of the eclectic and the emerging, from Wales and further afield”.

The line-up includes contributions from musician and producer Cate Le Bon in collaboration with Gruff Rhys, who rose to fame in the ’90s with Super Furry Animals; actress, singer, comedian (and one of my favourites) Carys Eleri; comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean; acclaimed harpist Catrin Finch; spoken-word artist Jaffrin Khan, and soul and R&B singer Faith.

The festival will include content on other platforms, too. FOCUS Wales has programmed a screening of Eternal Beauty, a new feature film starring David Thewlis (the Harry Potter films, Wonder Woman, Macbeth) and Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water; Happy-Go-Lucky).

Rhodri Talfan Davies, director of BBC Cymru Wales said: “We all need a blast of creativity, comedy and music right now and this unprecedented partnership with four brilliant Welsh festivals promises to be a real gem.”

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