What do you get when you put a rave producer, a punk singer, a Welsh triple harpist, a Palestinian oud player and a bilingual rapper in a room together?
The answer is Y Goriad (The Key), the new EP from Cardiff-based project CHWALAW. On paper, it sounds utterly improbable. In reality, it sounds magnificent.
Music made by artists from wildly different genres can often end up feeling a little too polite, as though everyone is carefully staying in their own lane. Not here. Y Goriad is full of yearning, defiance and creative tension, blending Welsh folk, Palestinian musical traditions, hip hop and electronica into something that feels genuinely new.
Featuring producer Nick Ronin, singer Efa Supertramp, rapper Izzy Rabey, Palestinian oud player Salih Hassan (Oud Resists) and triple harp virtuoso Cerys Hafana, the EP centres on a musical conversation between Hafana’s intricate harp and Hassan’s expressive oud. The result is rich, immersive and often breathtaking.
Over the top, Efa Supertramp and Izzy Rabey’s Welsh-language vocals provide both emotional weight and urgency. You don’t need to understand Welsh to feel the power of these songs. The emotion comes through loud and clear.
Recorded and produced entirely in Splott, the Cardiff neighbourhood where most of the musicians live, Y Goriad feels deeply connected to place and community. It’s a record about collaboration in every sense of the word, bringing together different musical traditions, cultures and experiences to create something stronger than any one element alone.
Even better, proceeds from the EP are being donated to Save Gaza and the International Solidarity Movement, supporting grassroots Palestinian organisations on the ground.