Geraint Jarman, who has died aged 74, was an influential figure in the arts in Wales, as a musician, poet, actor and film-maker, as well as a mentor to younger artists. He always performed and wrote in Welsh, his mother tongue, but he brought influences into his work from European poetry, new wave, reggae, country, rock and beyond, keen to demonstrate that Wales was part of a broader cultural world.
Starting with Gobaith Mawr Y Ganrif (The Great Hope of the Century, 1976), for which he was shot in denim on the cover, in monochrome, like a hip singer-songwriter, Jarman released nine albums in 10 years on the independent Welsh language record label, Sain, several with his multicultural band, Y Cynganeddwyr (its name a playful reference to an ancient Welsh poetic form, still used in eisteddfod competitions), and eight more over the next 30 years.
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