Storyteller Michael Harvey has launched a new company, BANDO! It will champion storytelling, merging with other artforms without rules or limits. BANDO! is passionate about creating stories, performances, and projects bilingually that fuse together oral storytelling, movement, music, space, and improvisation.

The name BANDO! was inspired by the turn-of-the-century Bando, a game without known rules played in the South Wales Valleys. The company will support bold and risk-taking projects, providing opportunities for creatives to collaborate, diversifying and building storytelling audiences for the future.

Multiform storytelling

Michael Harvey has over 20 years of experience as a storyteller, workshop leader, and director in the field of storytelling. He has toured throughout Wales and internationally, and was awarded a Major Creative Wales Award in 2011.

When creating a recent piece – which premiered at the Beyond the Border storytelling festival – he realised there was an appetite and need for shows to be told in Welsh, English, movement, and music, all at the same time.

“When we created Y Llyn, I knew from working with musician Stacey Blythe that storytelling and music were a fit. I had already discovered that Welsh/English bilingual storytelling worked. And from working with Eeva-Maria Mutka, I knew that the body and storytelling were a dynamic combination.”

“When we put this all together, we were overwhelmed by the response from audiences, and the demand for stories to be developed and told like this.”

Spaces without rules

BANDO! will explore opportunities to work with and support dedicated and talented people. It will expand who creates stories, how we create and perform bilingually; stretching and improvising on what storytelling is and can be. It wants to create spaces with no rules about how we create stories. Spaces that transcend languages, body, and minds to connect with audiences and participants in Wales and beyond.

Its first production will be a 12-date tour across Wales of Y Llyn, a reimagined version of Llyn Y Fan Fach (The Lady of the Lake). The tour will take place this autumn and into Spring 2025 across Wales, heading to Pontypridd, Ceredigion, Tenby, Crickhowell, Llanelli, Ammanford, Barry, Holyhead, Caernarfon, Builth Wells, and Presteign.

Y Llyn and BANDO! have received support from Arts Council Wales and Adverse Camber. Full tour details can be found on the BANDO! website and its social media @bando_chwedl

Lawnsiad cwmni chwedleua newydd – BANDO! Plethu ieithoedd, corff, a cherddoriaeth

Mae’r storïwr Michael Harvey wedi lansio cwmni newydd BANDO! Bydd yn hybu adrodd straeon fel celfyddyd a’i chydblethu â chelfyddydau eraill, heb gyfyngiadau rhwystrau. BANDO! yn angerddol am adrodd a chreu straeon, perfformiadau, a phrosiectau dwyieithog sy’n plethu adrodd straeon, gwaith corff, cerddoriaeth, gofod, a gwaith byrfyfyr.

Yr enw BANDO! yn cael ei hysbrydoli gan Bando troad y ganrif, gêm heb unrhyw reolau hysbys a chwaraeir yng Nghymoedd De Cymru. Bydd y cwmni’n cefnogi prosiectau beiddgar sy’n mentro, gan ddarparu cyfleoedd i bobl greadigol gydweithio, arallgyfeirio ac adeiladu cynulleidfaoedd adrodd straeon ar gyfer y dyfodol.

Adrodd straeon amlffurf

Mae gan Michael Harvey dros 20 mlynedd o brofiad fel storïwr, arweinydd gweithdai, a chyfarwyddwr ym maes adrodd straeon. Mae wedi teithio ledled Cymru ac yn rhyngwladol ac wedi ennill Gwobr Fawr Cymru Greadigol.

Wrth greu a pherfformio gweledigaeth Y Llyn yng Ngŵyl Chwedlau Beyond the Border, sylweddolodd fod galw am berfformiadau sy’n plethu Cymraeg, Saesneg, corffwaith, a cherddoriaeth.

“Pan greon Y Llyn ro’n i’n gwybod, wrth weithiogyda Stacey Blythe, bod chwedleua a cherddoriaeth yn cyd-fynd. Ro’n i’n gwybod yn barod bod adrodd yn y Gymraeg a Saesneg gyda’i gilydd yn gweithio’n dda ac, ar ôl hyfforddigydag Eeva-Maria Mutka, o’n i’n gwybod bod gwaith corff ac adrodd straeon yn gyfuniad deinamig a chryf.”

“Wrth roi’r holl beth at ei gilydd cawsom ein synnu gan ymateb twymgalon a brwdfrydig y gynulleidfa a’r galw am fwy o sioeau fel hyn.”

Mannau heb reolau

BANDO! yn archwilio cyfleoedd i weithio gyda phobl ddawnus a thalentog a’u cefnogi. Bydd yn ehangu’r cyfleoedd i’r rhai sy’n creu straeon ac yn creu ac yn perfformio’n ddwyieithog, gan ehangu posibiliadau’r grefft o adrodd straeon. Mae eisiau creu cyd-destun heb reolau trosfwaol a datblygu beth allai adrodd straeon fod. Byddai’n hoffi creu set wahanol o reolau er mwyn creu straeon sy’n mynd y tu hwnt i ieithoedd, cyrff, a meddyliau; i gysylltu â chynulleidfaoedd a chyfranogwyr ledled Cymru a thu hwnt.

Ei chynhyrchiad cyntaf fydd taith 12 dyddiad ar draws Cymru o Y Llyn, fersiwn wedi’i hail-ddychmygu o Lyn y Fan Fach. Bydd y daith yn cael ei chynnal yr hydref hwn ac i mewn i Wanwyn 2025 ledled Cymru, gan fynd i Bontypridd, Ceredigion, Dinbych-y-pysgod, Crucywel, Llanelli, Rhydaman, Y Barri, Caergybi, Caernarfon, Llanfair-y-Muallt, a Llanandras.

Y Llyn a BANDO! wedi derbyn cefnogaeth gan Gyngor Celfyddydau Cymru ac Adverse Camber. Ceir manylion llawn y daith ar y BANDO! gwefan a’i chyfryngau cymdeithasol @bando_chwedl