FOCUS Wales, whose success and impact on our economy we reported on last year, are set to deliver yet another memorable Festival as they have recently announced over 60 new acts for the 2018 Festival – keeping it up there with the biggest and best events in Europe.
Among the new wave of acts announced are: legendary DJ, record producer and musician A Guy Called Gerald – “Nobody else redefined UK club culture so much with the character and soul of Britishness, creating music for both the feet and the head” DJ Magazine. Gerald will be djing as well as delivering a keynote talk at the FOCUS Wales conference.
“High praise from the likes of Clash Magazine”
Also announced are Hilang Child – recently signed to Bella Union – who is the moniker of Ed Riman, a half-Welsh, half-Indonesian musician, who’s been earning high praise from the likes of Clash Magazine and The Line Of Best Fit.
Ani Glass is a bilingual electro pop artist from Cardiff who will be supporting Jane Weaver on Thursday 10th May at St Giles Parish Church. Plus, Welsh psych rockers and Radio 6 Music favourites Hippies Vs Ghosts will be returning from their base in France to showcase their new material at the festival.
These acts will be joined by a long list of exciting new additions to the line-up, including acts from: Canada, Catalonia, France, Japan, South Africa and Taiwan. Visit http://www.focuswales.com to see the full list of new announcements.
FOCUS Wales 2018 will also feature performances from:
This Is The Kit | Gaz Coombes | Gengahr | Bill Ryder-Jones | Euros Childs | Jane Weaver| 9Bach | Kate Rusby | Damo Suzuki (of CAN) | Gallops | Boy Azooga | Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart / Jeff Buckley) | Dream State | Stella Donnelly | The Gentle Good with the Mavron Quartet (Winner of the 2017 Welsh Music Prize) | and so much more, with over 300 performances across the 3 days, and featuring acts from Australia, Canada, Catalonia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, and the USA!
“Hwb Cymraeg to return”
A new addition last year was the Hwb Cymraeg – an all Welsh speaking event which showcases welsh acts and promotes the welsh language. It took place in a Tippee on Queen’s Square and was hugely successful and many Welsh speakers found themselves in an all Welsh environment for the first time in a long time. None Welsh speakers too were impressed by the friendly atmosphere
“Bigger and better event”
Cllr Terry Evans, Lead Member for the Economy, said: “The organisers of FOCUS Wales should be very proud of their achievements – year on year they put on a bigger and better event and in the process they are helping to put Wrexham on the map by showcasing its thriving music scene to a huge amount of people from across the UK and further afield. These visitors bring hundreds of thousands to the local economy which benefits local businesses and traders. All their events are popular and very professionally organised and I hope to go to more than a couple during the weekend of 10 to 12 May.”
FOCUS Wales will take place over 10, 11 and 12 May across multiple venues here in Wrexham and you can get a 3 day wristband for admission to all FOCUS Wales events at http://www.focuswales.com/tickets from £40 each.
FOCUS Wales is supported by Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Government and ourselves, Wrexham Council.
Hilang Child
Ani Glass
You may like to read our previous articles:
What Brings £330,000 to Wrexham Every Year?
Welsh comedy performer to come to HWB Cymraeg at FOCUS Wales
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