Cerys Hafana is a Welsh triple harpist and composer who mangles, mutates and transforms traditional music. They explore the creative possibilities of archival material, folk songs and psalms, found sounds and electronic processing, alongside original compositions. They come from Machynlleth, mid Wales, where rivers and roads meet on the way to the sea.

Hafana's third album 'Angel' (her first on Glitterbeat's tak:til label imprint), out 26 September, is a deep exploration of minimalism, traditional and avant-folk music and Hafana's primary instrument the Welsh triple harp. The album alternates between vocal songs (all sung in the Welsh language) and instrumentals, often buoyed by a deft trio of sympathetic and exploratory musicians (drums, double bass, alto sax).

The uncommon breadth and innovation of 'Angel' soundly confirms Hafana as one of the UK's most exciting young contemporary folk artists. Their spellbinding music is rich with atmosphere and heart and stubbornly resistant to genre boxes and easy classification. The album's first single “Helynt Ryfeddol” (which translates to "An Incredible Ordeal"), out now, is a percussive, hypnotic folk song in part discovered in the Welsh National Library and propelled by their layered vocals and masterful Welsh triple harp playing. Hafana explains: "I put Blu Tack on the harp strings to give it a muted, woody sound, and also used the body of the harp as a percussion instrument. The interplay between the voice and saxophone is a rough impersonation of the Breton 'Kan ha diskan' style of singing, in which singers alternate lines so that they can maintain a completely uninterrupted melody and rhythm for people to dance to." They continue, "I wanted the music to have a feeling of inevitability and drive, as the man walks through the trees towards his fate, and to capture some of the horror towards the end of the song of him returning home to find it completely changed and full of strangers."

Cerys released their first album, Cwmwl, in 2020. Their second album, Edyf, was selected as one of The Guardian’s Top Ten folk albums of 2022, and was shortlisted for the 2023 Welsh Music Prize. In January 2024 Cerys released The Bitter, a 5-track EP of English and Scottish folk song arrangements self-produced for the Old Tunes Fresh Takes podcast during the COVID lockdowns. In September 2024 they released Crwydro, an EP of solo piano pieces to mark two years since the release of Edyf.

Cerys has performed extensively around the UK, and at festivals such as Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Green Man, Reeperbahn, Other Voices, WOMAD and Trans Musicales, and has supported artists such as Charlie Cunningham, Adwaith, Andrew Wasylyk and Yann Tiersen. They completed their first solo headline tour of the UK in early 2024, and will be touring the UK and Europe extensively in 2025. Cerys has toured with leading classical ensemble Sinfonia Cymru in early 2024. They have also performed live sessions on Radio 6 Music (Cerys Matthews, Riley & Coe), Radio 3 (In Tune and Music Planet), Radio Wales and Radio 4 (Woman’s Hour). Cerys has composed commissions for: Aberration, an Aberystwyth based LGBT organisation; Citrus Arts, a Pontypridd based outdoor circus performance company; and recently contributed music to the score for a new Welsh-language short film (Fisitor). They have collaborated with a wide range of artists, including: Lea Digois, for the Welsh-Breton collaboration Kann an Tan; Patrick Rimes, with Sinfonia Cymru; Chwalaw and Efa Supertramp for their singles Dim Arwyr and Diflanu; and has worked as a session musician for various artists.