Teacher who quit job to make Welsh reggae music hopes ‘quality tunes’ will revive the language

A former physics teacher who quit his job to create Welsh reggae music has said he hopes “quality tunes” will revive the language.

Morgan Elwy, 29, from Llansannan near Denbigh in North Wales, quit his job as a physics teacher in 2021.

A lifelong music lover and an activist for the Welsh language, Morgan decided to create Welsh language reggae, tapping into North Wales’ rural underground reggae scene.

Morgan, who still tutors physics to A-level students, is passionate about reviving the Welsh language and believes music is the best way to do it.

“The best thing you can do to help revive the Welsh language is produce quality tunes for the people,” Morgan told PA Real Life.

“My sound is bass heavy with skanking guitar rhythms over the top and catchy melodies.

“The lyrics are really important too, even though many people can’t understand them, they come from the heart.”

Morgan says people are often surprised to hear his reggae, saying: “People come to our nights expecting classic reggae so when we get going it turns heads. You get plenty of people who talk Welsh but rarely hear Welsh music.”

Morgan said his music has met with some backlash online and he has been called a “cave dweller”.

“There’s a lot of hate in the world,” Morgan said.

“But we’re just trying to spread the love.”

Born to teachers and a family of sheep farmers, Morgan said his father and uncle were always writing songs so music was a big part of the family.

Morgan grew up listening to Bob Marley and the family had a Police CD in the car which had an important influence – prompting all four of his siblings to become musicians too.

“It was this idea that you could take reggae elements and add our own British culture on top,” Morgan said.

Morgan played in rock bands as a teenager but realised he wanted to make reggae when he saw Welsh language musician, actor and poet Geraint Jarman playing a reggae set with a nine-piece band in 2015.

“I thought wow, this is what I want to be doing,” he said.

“To begin with, I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to make reggae music as a dude from North Wales, but I grew out of that quite early on.”

In 2015, Morgan went to study physics at the University of Manchester and while there was exposed to the city’s rich musical subcultures, sound systems and drum and bass scene.

After graduating, though still passionate about writing music, Morgan moved to London to complete a PGCE teaching qualification.

In 2020, he became a physics teacher in London, but left a year later after winning first prize at the Can i Gymru (Songs for Wales) competition.

According to the 2021 census, there are roughly 540,000 Welsh language speakers in Wales, which is just 17.8% of the population.

As a result, Morgan sees the project as making more than just music.

He said: “As a Welsh language musician, you’re also an activist for your language too because it is still a minority in Wales.”

Morgan began playing in pubs across North Wales and singing with reggae DJs.

Morgan’s favourite pub to play is Ty Coch (The Red House), a remote fishermen’s pub in Porthdinllaen on the Llyn Peninsular, which hosts regular reggae events.

“Pubs are such a vital part of the music scene in North Wales,” Morgan said.

“When you’ve got someone who runs a pub and loves music and they put gigs on, it’s such a boost to the community.”

After winning Can i Gymru, Morgan was also invited to play at many Welsh language events across the country, including the music and poetry festival Eisteddfod, but he has recently started playing at exclusive reggae events too.

“Most of the crowd won’t understand what I’m saying but the message is quite clear,” he said.

“And you get to promote your own language and sing it to people who actually know how to dance to reggae!

“Before I was singing reggae to the Welsh language crowd who’d never really heard reggae before. Now I’m singing it to the reggae crowd who’ve never really heard the Welsh language before – it’s really rewarding.”

Although he now plays at festivals throughout the country, he is still keen to support local pubs where he can and his latest album, which came out in 2024, is called Dub yn y Pub (Dub In The Pub).

The cover, designed by Ben Jones aka Pen Dub shows eight sound systems from across North Wales, including Freedom Sounds from Bangor and Precious Sounds from Denbigh.

Sound system culture originated in Jamaica in the 1940s and 50s and involves a collection of MCs and DJs playing dub, ska, rocksteady and reggae on customised speaker systems.

The music was a way to bring the community together and has played an important role in British musical history since the arrival of the Windrush generation in the 1940s.

Morgan said there has long been an appreciation for reggae and dub in Wales and there are several festivals across the country devoted to it.

He said the support for his music has been positive but there have been instances where people have reacted badly.

On a recent TikTok video, someone called Morgan a “cave dweller” and one gig in a local pub ended badly when some people took offence at Morgan’s band.

“It was probably just our long hair,” said Morgan.

This week the radio presenter and reggae singer Aleighcia Scott and Pen Dub landed a number one on the iTunes Reggae Chart.

Scott played with Morgan at the Eisteddfod last year and Morgan is very happy to see Welsh reggae in the charts, particularly as Scott is learning the Welsh language.

Morgan is playing with Scott and Pen Dub again at Tafwyl festival this summer in Cardiff.

You can listen to Morgan Elwy’s music, read his lyrics and find tickets to his shows at www.morganelwy.com and on his Instagram at instagram.com/morganelwy.