A Pembrokeshire town was bursting with music over the bank holiday weekend as a hugely popular music festival enjoyed a spectacular 21st birthday.

The north Pembrokeshire town of Fishguard was the place to be for the long weekend as the Aberjazz five day Fishguard Jazz ‘n’ Blues Festival brought the town to life. In total there were 22, mostly sold-out concerts in the main programme, 13 workshops and more than 25 free performances in the Aberjazz Fringe, plus a jazz parade and even an Aberjazz float in the town’s carnival.

The festival started very well indeed on Thursday in Ffwrn with a double bill headed by the highly acclaimed Washboard Resonators, the first of 10 events in Ffwrn, all double bills with the exception of the triple bill on bank holiday Monday afternoon.

Peppers, Fishguard’s intimate jazz café and art gallery, also held 10 concerts featuring leading jazz musicians from Wales, England, Ireland and France.

Theatr Gwaun sold-out twice, firstly on the Thursday when the Moscow Drug Club returned to Fishguard with their unique theatrical Berlin/Eastern European jazz sound, led by Canadian born vocalist Katya Gorrie and her backing group of five incredibly talented musicians from Bristol.

The concert everybody was talking about was Friday’s headliner Lady Nade performing the music of Nina Simone. Lady Nade has a distinctive voice that has won her several awards and this musical journey was a wonderful tribute to the iconic Nina Simone. She was joined by five fine musicians and brought love, humour and world class music to Theatr Gwaun.

Possibly the main event in Ffwrn was King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys led by Big John 'Boysey' Battrum, these dazzling musicians from the Midlands gave a riveting stage performance finishing with three encores.

In St Mary’s Church, a relatively new venue for Aberjazz, Lowri Evans attracted a large audience who revelled to her emotional renditions of her own music, beautifully sung in Welsh and English.

Another highlight of the weekend was virtuoso violinist, Billy Thompson and his gypsy jazz band; Billy enjoyed himself so much he stayed with his family until the end of the festival.

In Peppers sell out audiences delighted to astounding performances from the likes of Lyndon Owen in Coltrane Dedication, award winning jazz vocalist, Victoria Klewin, and two Irish acts, Sharon Clancy, sponsored by Culture Ireland’s project, “Beyond Two Shores” and songsmith, Jack O’Rourke, already well established in Ireland and beginning to make a name for himself on the “main land”.

The festival ended, as always, with the Aberjazz Party in Ffwrn this year headlined by Gambian multi-instrumentalist Suntou Susso. His highly talented band kept everyone on their feet right to end.

Alice and Paul of Aberjazz thanked their sponsors, the Arts Council of Wales, Fishguard Town Council, Pembrokeshire County Council, Agritrader and Stena Line. They also paid tribute to the hard work of MC Francesca Dimech, Guy the sound guy, and all the volunteers who put in long hours over the extended weekend, also accommodating many of the artists, some of whom have travelled a long way to get to this superb festival in this lovely town on the far western coast of Wales.