City music map set to be unveiled

A MUSIC map of Cardiff will be launched today – featuring the city’s venues as you’ve never seen them before.

Well-known venues such as the Motorpoint Arena, Clwb Ifor Bach, and St David’s Hall have been hosting gigs of all shapes and sizes as an integral part of the city’s music scene.

Now, broadcaster Daniel Minty and his friend, artist Alex Waeland, have joined forces to create a map of 30 Cardiff venues which they hope will act as an indispensable guide for those wanting to discover the diverse music which is on offer in the city.

When we first ran a story about the creation of the illustrated map in July, Daniel was investigating ways of funding the project and, after the story appearing, the newly-formed FOR Cardiff (the business improvement district) came forward to offer to fund the project to the tune of £5,000, covering the costs of printing and distribution.

“I was looking for funding when the story went out,” said Daniel, who produces the popular podcast Minty’s Gig Guide to Cardiff, as well as having his own slot on Bethan Elfyn’s Saturday night Radio Wales show.

“Three different people got back to me – one of those was FOR Cardiff. They told me they wanted to meet up and have a discussion about the map. I didn’t think anything of it at first but they were really up for it. And I can’t thank them enough for funding the project.”

Now the map will be launched at Clwb Ifor Bach with performances from local artists Chroma and Mike Dennis, as well as guest speakers including MP Jo Stevens and representatives from FOR Cardiff and the Save Womanby Street campaign.

“The idea from the map came from the fact that I’ve been going to see live music in Cardiff now for many, many years,” said Daniel.

“One of the things that I enjoy, aside from the music I’m seeing, is how each individual venue is a different shape, a different size – but they’re all here to paint the picture and represent the live music scene. The venues themselves have their own characters – from the massive Gwenno Saunders mural on the side of Clwb Ifor Bach that has become a landmark now in the city to the many quirks and the wonderful compartmentalised beer garden approach in Gwdihw.

“When the Champions League was here a few months ago we could have really done with a map to say: ‘This is the live music in Cardiff and these are all the venues’.”

Alex admitted some of the drawings were quite a challenge. He said: “St David’s Hall needed a real bit of thought put into it and the windows on the Motorpoint took me forever, as did the brickwork on the Wales Millennium Centre. I actually tried to add every single brick onto the front of the venue. The architecture of many of the venues did grab me so I wanted to show appreciation to that in the drawings while still maintaining the style that we went for.”

The bilingual A3 maps will be available to pick up at all of the venues featured. Find out more at www. facebook.com/mintysgigguide