Welcome to the 23rd Aberjazz Festival!

We’re thrilled to welcome you back to Fishguard and Goodwick for five days of music, dance and unmistakable Aberjazz spirit over the August Bank Holiday.

This year’s programme is packed to the brim: 30 ticketed events, including 10 exciting double bills, a full range of workshops, the ever popular Aberjazz Fringe, and of course the Aberjazz Parade, winding its joyful way through the town. Whether you’re here to hear the best in live music, enjoy a truly family friendly festival, or to simply soak up the atmosphere, we hope you find moments that stay with you long after the final note fades.

Aberjazz has now been running for 23 years, and that’s entirely down to the people who support it. We want to offer our heartfelt thanks to our sponsors, whose generosity keeps the festival thriving; to the local businesses who advertise in this programme and champion the arts year after year; and above all to you, our fabulous audience. Your enthusiasm, loyalty and sheer love of live music are what make Aberjazz possible.

Have a wonderful festival — and enjoy every beat.

A Day in the Life of Aberjazz

Running Aberjazz isn’t a once a year job — it’s a year round labour of love. As soon as one festival ends, planning for the next one begins: booking bands, applying for funding, updating the website, selling tickets and adverts, researching new artists, and keeping the social media wheels turning. It’s a small team, powered by music lovers who grew up on The Beatles and the blues and somehow found themselves falling deeper and deeper into the world of jazz. After twenty‑three years, we’re still amazed by the sheer variety of music that fits under the “jazz & blues” banner.
So what does a typical day look like during festival season?

It usually starts early — cup of tea in hand, checking ticket sales, answering artist emails, confirming sound checks, and sorting out the day’s logistics. Theatr Gwaun is often the first stop: a community‑run gem and one of only six theatres of its kind in Wales. This year it hosts some of our biggest shows, from the fiery Latin‑jazz energy of Very Santana to the cinematic swing of Chris Ingham and Joanna Eden’s “Jazz in the Movies”, the spiritual power of the Coltrane Dedication, and the hard‑grooving Nigel Price Organ Trio.

By midday, we’re juggling everything from posters to parade planning. Peppers is  our jazz café — a cosy hub where musicians and audiences mingle over coffee,  wine, food and improvised magic.

Across town, in Ffwrn, the main festival venue you’ll find the Aberjazz team and the “Aberjazz Office” in our gazebo, selling tickets, T-Shirts, handing out programmes and generally managing the festival over the weekend.  This charismatic, popular venue/restaurant/wine bar hosts 10 double bills during the five day festival; the afternoon sessions  fill with sunshine, smiles and sound, featuring artists like Welsh indie favourites Twpsyn and the captivating vocalist Llinos Emanuel.  The evening sessions are packed to the rafters.

Then there’s the Aberjazz Fringe Trail, our much‑loved wander through pubs and cafés, where you never quite know what you’ll hear next. It’s chaotic, joyful, and pure Fishguard. Workshops run in the background, instruments appear and disappear, and someone always asks where the gaffer tape has gone, or has anyone got a spare mic.

As evening arrives, the excitement builds. The Jazz Parade, led proudly by our dragon and Wonderbrass, this year’s marching band; it winds through the streets with a burst of colour, rhythm, and community spirit. And when the final night comes, everything culminates in the Aberjazz Party, this year headlined by the electrifying N’famady Kouyaté. By then we’re tired, exhilarated, and reminded exactly why we do this.

Because the best moment of every day is the same: the lights go down, the first notes ring out, and the room fills with people who love live music as much as we do. That’s what keeps Aberjazz alive — not just the bands, not just the volunteers, but the whole community coming together for five days of music, rhythm and dance.

And once it’s all over, we take a breath… and start planning the next one.

Let’s Face the Music & Dance

Across Wales, small towns face familiar challenges: shifting economies, changing high streets, and the slow erosion of communal spaces. Yet in Fishguard, something different happens during the August Bank Holiday Weekend. The town fills with music, conversation, and colour as Aberjazz takes over; one of three festivals that have quietly made the twin towns of Fishguard and Goodwick one of the most distinctive centers of culture in Pembrokeshire.

Music festivals are often spoken about in terms of entertainment, but their impact runs far deeper. They create identity. They generate pride. They give people a reason to gather, to celebrate and to imagine something bigger for their community. In towns like Fishguard, that matters.

Jazz and blues, in particular, brings a special kind of magic. Born from improvisation, collaboration, and cultural exchange, jazz and blues music has always been about reinvention. It grew from the grassroots creativity of ordinary people, shaping new ideas out of the materials and talent they found all around them. This is the same spirit that drives a small town like ours to build a festival from scratch.

Aberjazz didn’t just appear overnight. It is the product of countless volunteer hours, local partnerships, fundraising efforts, and sheer determination. Organising a festival is an all year round affair, booking artists, securing venues, coordinating sound and staging, managing publicity, liaising with businesses, and navigating the unpredictable world of Pembrokeshire weather. It is work done not for profit, but for passion.

And the results speak for themselves. Each year, Fishguard welcomes visitors who eat in local cafés, stay in local accommodation, browse local shops, and discover a town they may never have visited otherwise. The festival has become a showcase for the town and not just for the  music; the whole community benefits.

More importantly, Aberjazz create stories. A child hearing live jazz for the first time. A visitor discovering a new favourite artist. A local business having its busiest weekend of the year. A volunteer realising they’ve helped build something meaningful. These moments accumulate, shaping how people feel about where they live.

Grassroots cultural effort is one of the most powerful tools a town can use to reinvent itself. It doesn’t require massive infrastructure or corporate investment; just imagination, commitment and a belief that culture belongs to everyone. Fishguard has shown that when a community invests in creativity, the rewards ripple outward for years.

As Aberjazz continues to grow, it stands as a reminder that festivals aren’t just events. They’re expressions of identity. They’re declarations that small towns matter. And they’re proof that music, whatever it is: jazz, blues,ska or world, has its own history of resilience and innovation and it can help a community find its voice.

Or, in the words of Irving Berlin:

“There may be trouble ahead, but while there’s moonlight and music and love and romance, let’s face the music …….. and dance".

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