Music makers are the focus of Bruce Cardwell’s latest book of black-and-white reportage and portrait photography, with 80 new images in total.

Practitioners of acoustic and vocal music – folk, gospel, opera, choral, classical and ‘ethnic’ – in Wales at the start of the twenty-first century make for a rich and diverse gallery of talent. Cardwell’s subjects range from harpists Catrin Finch and Elinor Bennett, through Bryn Terfel, conductor Owain Arwel Hughes and Incredible String Band songwriter Robin Williamson to Welsh bagpipers, hurdy gurdy players, harpmakers, and African drummers in Newbridge and steel bands in Carmarthen.

All musical life is here and the resulting book is an atmospheric group portrait of musicianship, fascinating to followers of music and photography alike.

Bruce Cardwell is the author of Hoofpicks (Seren, 2009), a collection of photographs of horses in Wales. He is also a folk musician, playing flute, violin and citrain, who has appeared in Wales, Britain, Ireland and Europe. He has an invaluable personal insight into the lives of musicians and the world of music in Wales.