Derw started as a project between songwriter Dafydd Dabson and his mum Anna Georgina, a lyricist, after they got to the final of S4C songwriting competition Can i Gymru in 2018 and decided to keep writing together. The band is fronted by Welsh/Iranian singer Elin Fouladi and their debut EP 'Yr Unig Rhai Sy'n Cofio' involves musicians from Welsh acts Zervas and Pepper, Afrocluster and Codewalkers.

Drawing on chamber pop influences like The National and Elbow, the band has a strong connection with the past and their family history and is named after Anna's father - Derwas. Their family is full of interesting stories and 'Yr Unig Rhai Sy'n Cofio' (The Only Ones Who Remember) is about making sure these stories are recorded and remembered.

The track 'Mikhail' is about a friend Derwas met while studying in Jerusalem in 1926. Mikhail grew up in Russia and his father was part of the imperial navy. One night in 1917, when Mikhail was nine and his mother was away, the Bolsheviks came to his house, took his father into another room and shot him. Mikhail then moved to Palestine with his mother and, when he was 19, met Derwas, a student from Oxford. They then spent years exploring the wilderness together and trying to find peace.

The lyrics for 'Silver', the final track of the EP, are taken from a poem written by Anna's mother in the 1930s. She loved writing and had notebooks full of poetry she'd written. She tried several times to get them published but never managed it so it gives Anna and Dafydd a huge amount of pleasure to be able to make use of one of them now.

Derw’s first single, ‘Dau Gam’, came out in May on CEG Records. It was made ‘Track of the Week’ on BBC Radio Cymru as well as getting airplay on BBC Radio Wales.

The band’s second single, ‘Ble Cei Di Ddod i Lawr’ is out on the 28th of August on CEG Records.
..

'Anthemic' - Golwg

'A bridge from the past to the present...Stunningly beautiful' - Mob York City Blog

'Hyfryd' - Ffion Davis, BBC Radio Cymru

'This song allowed me to truly be connected and in the moment' - Indie Pulse Music

'Tender and fills the mind with bright emotions. Fouladi's vocals are intoxicating' - Too Much Love Magazine

..

Cyrhaeddodd Dafydd Dabson a'i fam, Anna Georgina, rownd terfynol cystadleuaeth Can i Gymru yn 2018, y tro gyntaf iddyn nhw ysgrifennu gyda'i gilydd - ac allan o’r brofiad yma tyfodd Derw. Elin Fouladi, cantores Gymraeg/Iraniad, sydd ar flaen y band, gyda’i EP cyntaf, ’Yr Unig Rhai sy'n Cofio’ yn cynnwys cyfraniadau gan gerddorion o Zervas and Pepper, Afrocluster a Codewalkers.

Mae Derw wedi ei ddylanwadu gan fandiau pop siambr fel The National ac Elbow ac mae ganddynt gysylltiad cryf gyda'r gorffennol a hanes eu teulu, yn cymeryd ei enw gan tad Anna - Derwas. Mae’r teulu yn llawn straeon cyfareddol, a bwriad ’Yr Unig Rhai Sy'n Cofio’ yw sicrhau bod nhw'n aros mewn cof.

Mae'r trac ‘Mikhail’ yn son am ffrind Derwas a ddaru o gyfarfod yn Jerwsalem yn 1926. Cafodd Mikhail ei fagu yn Rwsia, a'i dad yn gomander yn y Lynges Ymerodrol. Un noson yn 1917, tra oedd ei fam i ffwrdd, cyrhaeddodd y Bolsieficiaid ei dy, mynd a'i dad i ystafell arall, a'i saethu. Symudodd Mikhail a'i fam i Balesteina, a pan oedd Mikhail yn 19 cyfarfododd a Derwas, myfyriwr o Rydychen. Treuliodd y ddau sawl blwyddynyn crwydro'r anialwch gyda’i gilydd, yn chwilio am heddwch.

Mae geiriau ‘Silver’, trac olaf yr EP, yn dod o farddoniaeth a ysgrifenwyd yn y tridegau gan Mary, mam Anna. Bu wrth ei bodd yn sgwennu, a llanwodd sawl llyfryn a'i cherddi, ond er bod hi wedi ceisio mwy nag unwaith cyhoeddi ei gwaith, llwyddodd hi ddim. Felly, mae'n bleser aruthrol i Anna a Dafydd ddefnyddio nhw nawr.

Mi ddaeth sengl gyntaf Derw, ‘Dau Gam’, allan yn mis Mai ar CEG Records. Gafodd ei wneud yn ‘Drac yr Wythnos’ ar BBC Radio Cymru yn ogystal a cael ei chwarae ar BBC Radio Wales.

Mae ail sengl y band, ‘Ble Cei Di Ddod i Lawr’ allan ar y 28fed o fis Awst ar CEG Records.
..

'Anthemig' - Golwg

'A bridge from the past to the present...Stunningly beautiful' - Mob York City Blog

'Hyfryd' - Ffion Davis, BBC Radio Cymru

'This song allowed me to truly be connected and in the moment' - Indie Pulse Music

'Tender and fills the mind with bright emotions. Fouladi's vocals are intoxicating' - Too Much Love Magazine

..

https://www.derwband.com/

https://www.instagram.com/derwband/

https://twitter.com/DerwBand

https://www.facebook.com/DerwBand

https://soundcloud.com/derwband

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQb3a9tZuQo2QrhbA_DFvhg

' SWITCH'  - The brand new single by Welsh singer-songwriter SERA (Sera Zyborska).Once again working with acclaimed producer Andi Crutwell-Jones, plus the notable contribution of Nico CJ on violin and Len Whitehead on Electric guitar makes a full-sounding, statement of a song that again blends all  SERA's  favourite parts of Americana, folk and pop with her storytelling and folklore album theme.

'SWITCH'  is a bolt out of the dark, a harsh awakening. Empowerment.
 
Her album songs are all drawn from folklore and  SWITCH  is no different, drawing inspiration from Steam-punk, Frankenstein and the 'Freak Lab-accident' trope of the comic superhero.
SERA's  music is rooted in folk, Americana, singer-songwriter, with this track taking a further leap into energetic pop.
 
Praise for 'Switch'   

'Switch' has been recently added to  BBC Radio Wales  A-List Playlist.

'Switch is full of dark magic, bold and energetic, Bewitching and full of surprises'
-  Voidd Music Blog  
 
SERA 'When I Wake Up' Album   The brand new album by SERA is out on CD July 31st (pre-orders from July 17th) and on digital and streaming platforms from August 14th. The album is a collection of 11 tracks, all inspired by folklore. This album takes a little bit of folk, Americana, singer-songwriter and pop and mixes it in a musical cauldron!


Physical Copies of 'When I Wake Up' (Available 31st July)   
https://sera-songs.bandcamp. com/    https://www.cegrecords.com/ sera  

'When I Wake Up' Released Digitally on 14th August.  

Virtual Album Launch Party: 14th August Facebook LIve
https://www.facebook.com/ events/790824428120019  

SERA BIO  

A pianist, guitar player and a singer-songwriter, SERA (Sera Zyborska) has been writing, recording and performing in both English and Welsh for a while. Over the last couple of years, SERA has spent time in the studio working and writing with producer Andi Crutwell-Jones, looking at the real stories she wanted to tell with a sound that matched her ambition. The result is a collection of songs inspired by anxiety, love, nostalgia, ancestry, witches, ships and lost worlds. It's all there.

Having grown up in Caernarfon, North Wales, a place steeped in history, culture, between the Snowdonia Mountains and the Irish sea, you could understand her love of folklore and how landscape is a big source of inspiration behind her music.
 
SERA  was selected as a  BBC Horizons  artist for 2019-2020, and played a live session in the legendary  BBC Maida Vale Studios .  SERA  is also a part of new Americana band  TAPESTRI  with Lowri Evans and folk duo  EVE & SERA  with Eve Goodman. She has a band in Cardiff as well as a function band in North Wales called  SUSPECTS  


'SERA is clearly proven to be a sheer multi-talent with her new upcoming release.
With a clever Welsh hook and angelic voice combined to give a sing-and-dance-along musical audacity to every chord progression'  – Jammerzine  

'....distinctive and powerful'  - Folk Radio   

'SERA has been weaving together stories with an Americana rootsy twang which has so far earned her comparisons to Amanda Palmer and Joni Mitchell'.  - PRS for Music  

"Sera Owen is a singer-songwriter from Caernarfon, now living in Cardiff. A recent recipient of a Lyndsey Du Paul PRS for Music prize for emerging women songwriters. She writes and performs in both English and Welsh. Her last album, ‘Little Girl,’ which had Americana and folk influences, received praise from BBC 6 Music – “A beautiful gem of a song” (Chris Hawkins) and Folk Radio UK, among many – “A thoroughly absorbing journey from start to finish.”  - Festival No 6  
 
Sera Website:  https://www. serasongs.com/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ Serasongs
Facebook:   https://www. facebook.com/Serasongs/
Instagram:   https://www. instagram.com/serasongs/
Spotify:   https://open.spotify. com/artist/ 2R4Pz7h7LHtxHObkJB8ifb

“The hiss is another instrument” and it’s an instrument integral to the new recordings, sounds and songs by KEYS. Over the next few weeks we will be unveiling the latest collection of songs by the band, as Matthew Evans vocals / guitar / songwriter explains: “We recorded these tracks on Cassette four track machines during lockdown. Let’s not pretend we had access to an expensive studio, we didn’t. It was a time to connect with bedroom songwriting again. These are not band arrangements worked out in a rehearsal room – these were written and recorded simultaneously. Not demos but songs that took shape during the "recording process.”

The hiss of the cassette turning is the sound of the endless possibilities and magic of the pop song spilling out in vivid colours at the exact moment inspiration took hold. No second guessing or over thinking, only the joy of creating.

A perfect example of this is the first single ‘This Side of Luv’. “This was our attempt at joyous early 70’s Midlands pop. 3-day weeks, winters of discontent, a Tory government…yet out of that bleakness came some heroic, ecstatic British pop music.

Music has the power to lift the spirit, if we can do that for 3 and a half minutes then we’ll feel our efforts were not in vain.” Matthew summarises this collection of songs, also written in trying times,  as: “something to help us get through this lockdown. Hopefully you can use it too.”

Online KEYS

https://twitter.com/thekeysmusic

https://www.facebook.com/KEYSband1

https://soundcloud.com/libertinorecords

https://www.libertinorecords.com

Bydd Sera Zyborska (o Gaernarfon) a Lowri Evans (o Drefdraeth Sir Benfro) yn gyfarwydd i gynulleidfaoedd miwsig Cymru fel artistiaid dwyieithog sydd wedi bod yn ysgrifennu, perfformio a recordio yn unigol ers amser. Rhyngddynt maent wedi cael eu hyrwyddo ar BBC 6 Music, Radio 2, wedi perfformio ym mhobman o ŵyl y Dyn Gwyrdd i Gŵyl Rhif 6, o King Tut’s yn Glasgow i’r Union Chapel; O Gymru i America i Ffrainc, sydd fel mae'n digwydd, lle bu’r ddwy yn cyfarfod am y tro cyntaf y llynedd, wrth berfformio ym mhafiliwn Cymru yng ngŵyl Lorient yn Awst 2019.

Sbardunodd y cyfarfod cyntaf hwn syniad i ffurfio band gyda merched ar y blaen, a chreu eu brand eu hunain o ‘Americana’; band â all berfformio ar lwyfannau mawr a chynrychioli lleisiau menywod. Wedi’i ysbrydoli gan The Highwomen, ‘supergroup’ o’r Unol Daleithiau sy’n cynnwys Brandi Carlile ac Amanda Shires, a ffurfiodd fel ymateb i ddiffyg cynrychiolaeth artistiaid benywaidd ar radio a gwyliau canu gwlad.

Mae ei caneuon yn cymryd eu lliwiau cerddorol o balet eang sy'n cynnwys Americana, ‘Roots’, Gwerin a Gwlad.

Mae nhw wedi cael dechrau anodd a dweud y lleiaf. Roedd Tapestri am lansio mewn sioe yn Y Galeri Caernarfon yn ôl ym mis Chwefror, ond cafodd ei ganslo oherwydd difrod i'r theatr gan Storm Ciara. Yna fe gafodd ei phlaniau i recordio a rhyddhau EP a mynd ar daith haf, fel gyda llawer o artistiaid a bandiau eraill, ei effeithio gan amodau Covid-19. Ond er eu bod yn byw 4 awr ar wahân, mae Lowri a Sera wedi llwyddo i barhau i weithio ar eu recordiadau. ‘Y Fflam’ yw fersiwn Gymraeg o’i trac ‘Open Flame’ a fydd ar eu EP yn y dyfodol.

‘Y Fflam’ is the first single from newly formed ‘Tapestri;’ the Americana band fronted by Lowri Evans and Sera Zyborska

Sera (from Caernarfon) and Lowri (from Newport Pembs) will be especially familiar to Welsh music audiences as two bilingual singer-songwriters that have been writing, performing and recording as solo artists for some time. Between them they have been championed on BBC 6 Music, Radio 2, performed everywhere from Greenman, Festival Number 6, from King Tut’s to the Union Chapel; From Wales to America to France, which is as it happens, where the two met for the first time last year, performing at the Welsh Pavilion at the Lorient Celtic festival in August 2019.

This first meeting sparked an idea to form a female fronted band and to create their own brand of Americana; an act that could headline and represent women’s voices. Inspired by The Highwomen , a US ‘supergroup’ featuring Brandi Carlile and Amanda Shires, who formed as a response to the lack of representation of women artists on country music radio and festivals.  

Their songs take their musical colours from a broad palette that includes Americana, Roots, Folk and Country, all beautifully knitted together through their innate musicality and heartfelt delivery. 

They’ve had a bumpy start to say the least. Tapestri was due to launch at a show in Y Galeri Caernarfon back in February, which was cancelled due to theatre damage from Storm Ciara. Their EP release and subsequent summer tour then, as with many other artists and bands, suffered from the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown. But despite being a 4 hour drive apart, Lowri and Sera have managed to continue to work on their recordings. ‘Y Fflam’ is the Welsh language version of their ‘Open Flame’ track from their forthcoming EP.

Cyfryngau Cymdeithasol/Social Media

www.facebook.com/tapestrimusic

Twitter @tapestrimusic

Instagram @tapestrimusic

Cysylltu/Contact

Bookings: tapestrimusic@gmail.com

Label: Shimi Records

Cyfryngau/Media: kev@pyst.cymru / Nannon@pyst.cymru