Siân James

Amdani · About

About Siân

Siân is one of Wales’ leading contemporary female vocalists and a foremost innovator in the field of traditional folk songs. She plays harp and piano and is a respected composer. Her versatility as a performer has seen her starring on stage, screen and concert venues throughout the world, and is recognised as being one of Wales’ leading ambassadors of song. She has to date released ten albums of her work — eclectic collections of both original and traditional songs and compositions which encompass the whole gamut of human emotion, from love and laughter, to loss and the spiritual world.

She was raised in the mid-Wales village of Llanerfyl in Powys, and took part in local eisteddfodau from a very early age. She began playing the piano at 6, and the harp at 11, and while she was a pupil at Llanfair Caereinion High School she was inspired by her harp teacher Ffranses Môn Jones to compose her own arrangements of traditional folk songs. She subsequently developed her love of composition when she went on to read music at the University of Wales, Bangor.

She is also well known for her acting work on the stages of Wales and Welsh-language television, including shows such as Enoc Huws and Llyfr Mawr y Plant, and series such as Pengelli, Iechyd Da, Byw Celwydd, and the films Tylluan Wen and 31/12/99. She conducted the renowned male choir Parti Cut Lloi for twenty years, which was initially established to compete at the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Meifod in 2003. Two CDs of their work were released on the Recordiau Bos label: Henffych Well and Y Dyn Bach Bach.

Her latest musical adventures include the group Pedair and the piano duo Sonant.

• 10Albums
• 3Decades of song
• LlanerfylHome studio, Powys