Welsh sextet joins leading London agency

"Absolutely stunning – they should be headlining all the major festivals!" - Mick Peat, former BBC Midlands “Folkwaves”

“A top band led by one hell of an accordion player and arranger” -Mike Harding, BBC Radio 2

“A breath of fresh air in Welsh music. Like their name, Mabon kick up an equinoxal storm on stage”- Mary Ann Kennedy, BBC Radio 3 ‘World on 3’

“The rootsy vibrancy explodes around Jamie Smith’s accordion” – Colin Irwin, MOJO 

Fizzing new-look Welsh band Jamie Smith’s Mabon have been invited to play the coveted BBC Radio 3 stage at WOMAD next month. 


It will be the all-male band’s debut at the UK’s premier world music festival. They will take to the Charlton Park stage in Wiltshire on Friday, July 29, 4-5pm, and will feature in a Radio 3 highlights show that night , going out from 11.15pm. The WOMAD festival runs from July 28-31 

Other Friday artists on the Radio 3 stage will be Romanian gypsy band Mahala Rai Banda; Nashville-based banjo star Abigail Washburn; Congolese singer Gasandji and Lokkhi Terra; a band formed by UK/Bangladeshi musician Kishon Khan. 

Coinciding with the WOMAD news, JSM are delighted to announce they have joined leading London agency Alan Bearman Music, who represent some of the foremost acts in folk and acoustic music.


Formerly known simply as Mabon (meaning autumn equinox), the prodigiously talented JSM sextet are fast making their unique mark on the roots scene with a vibrant fusion of InterCeltic music, led by tunesmeister and accordionist extraordinaire Jamie Smith. 

Mabon scooped the Best Instrumental Album of 2010 title (for Live at the Grand Pavilion) in the 2011 Spiral Awards, run by top music website Spiral Earth – an album that captures all the energy and pizzazz of their acclaimed live show and includes a free bonus DVD.

The album not only triggered an instant response from fans old and new but garnered an unprecedented volume of media airplay and reviews for the band, including BBC Radio 2 and 3.

Radio 2’s Mike Harding called them “a top band led by one hell of an accordion player and arranger” while Radio 3’s Mary Ann Kennedy described them as “a breath of fresh air in Welsh music” and the Financial Times praised their “fearsome reputation as a live band”.They relaunched as Jamie Smith’s Mabon (JSM) at the start of 2011 with new band member Adam Rhodes bringing bouzouki to the band’s soundscape for the first time. The remaining band members are all familiar faces from the former Mabon line up – Brittany-based Young Scottish Musician of the Year finalist Calum Stewart on wooden flute and pipes ; stand-out, in-demand fiddler Oli Wilson-Dickson, Cardiff’s Matt “The Hat” Downer on bass and the Vale of Glamorgan’s irrepressible Iolo Whelan on drums and percussion. 

While Mabon gained its class act reputation as an instrumental band, JSM marks a new departure, weaving some songs, penned by Smith, into the set –including the aptly named Yes We Sing Now(!) as well as some exciting shifts in style and sound.

But it is Smith’s inspired, eclectic tunes that continue to dominate the material that delves into every Celtic corner – from their native Wales to Brittany, Scotland, Ireland, Galicia and beyond. The South Wales-based musician’s prolific and imaginative compositions take audiences on a magical whistle-stop Euro tour with jigs and reels jostling for space alongside other dance-related forms including Breton an dro, French mazurka, Galician muinera and even shades of klezmer in an exuberant, feelgood show. 

His rising reputation saw him invited to a “Young People in the Performing Arts” reception and celebration at Buckingham Palace in May, given by the Queen.Along with around 500 other guests, including some famous faces, Jamie briefly met the Queen and joined her at a special orchestral concert inspired by Romeo and Juliet, featuring Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Joe McElderry, Rumer, street dancers Flawless and rapper Ironik. The concert also included ballet and scenes acted out from Shakespeare's famous play. 

Says Jamie: “The invitation was certainly unexpected! It was an honour and a privilege, not to mention extremely fortunate, and proved a really interesting day.”Before the WOMAD appearance, Jamie Smith’s Mabon are about to hit the road  for a weekend of festivals in early July including two on home ground in Wales.On Friday July 8 they will headline “Folk Friday” at the prestigious Llangollen International Eisteffod, which has run for more than 60 years. 

The next day (Saturday, July 9) sees them heading for Llandovery in Carmarthenshire for the Small Nations Festival while on Sunday, July 10 they return to the sold-out Priddy Folk Festival in Somerset’s Mendip hills.

In August the band heads north for the Mull of Kintyre Music Festival and a show in Buckie, Banffshire before hopping over the Channel to the Festival des Traversees on Normandy’s Tatihou Island. Another upcoming highlight on the band’s calendar this year will be September 13 when they perform in the Roots Unearthed concert series at Cardiff’s St David’s Hall.

JSM has already scored success in Scotland notching up a successful debut at the world’s largest indoor music festival Celtic Connections in January. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBwk-WNSBw4.

They also got a rapturous reception at the first Bristol Folk Festival in 32 years in May, where they recorded an impromptu number for the on-location Songs for the Shed - Jon Earl’s surprise Somerset recording studio that has become something of a phenomenon. Other UK festival performances this summer will include headlining Fylde Folk Festival in Lancashire in September.

JSM’s website - in Welsh, English and French - can be found at www.jamiesmithsmabon.com where all concerts are listed and where the award-winning album and back catalogue can also be purchased.

The band can also be followed at www.myspace.com/jamiesmithsmabon, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62149346341 and Twitter http://twitter.com/jsmabon