Wales: Music Nation with Huw Stephens: Episode 2 (S1EP2 Saturday 1 October 2022)

Huw Stephens is still working on compiling a mixtape of Welsh music, choosing his personal favourites from various musical eras. In this episode, he visits the Manic Street Preachers and Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals as he investigates the explosive growth of Welsh pop in the 1990s. He explores the intriguing history of the triple harp, the national instrument of Wales, and unearths the life of one of the country’s most talented and tragic classical composers.

Additionally, Huw travels to the South Wales valleys to meet the renowned Treorchy Male Voice Choir and learn more about how another choir contributed to Wales’s reputation as the Land of Song. Huw meets renowned singer-songwriter Dafydd Iwan, whose song Yma O Hyd recently became a football anthem, at the opposite end of the nation.

Huw ends his journey in Cardiff’s Splott neighbourhood with a name for the future: Mace the Great, a prominent rap artist from Wales. Huw explores the characteristics that unite Welsh music throughout history as he travels and wonders why music has come to play such a significant part in Welsh culture and identity.

Airdate: Saturday 1 October 2022 at 21:00 on 

Season 1 Episode 2

Huw Stephens reveals the fascinating history of Welsh music.