A CELTIC band who won two national awards will be headlining the Tredegar House Folk Festival next month.

The folk festival - which takes place from May 11 to the 13 - will feature Ímar who won the Horizon Award in the Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Anglo-Iranian concertina player, Ímar member and Glasgow native Mohsen Amini also triumphed in the Radio 2 Musician Of The Year award.

Ímar already boasts a glittering line-up featuring current and former members of stellar Scottish, Welsh and Isle Of Man bands Mànran, RURA, Barrule, Talisk, Cara, Jamie Smith's Mabon and The Lowground.

Member Adam has several links to South Wales. He was an ex-member with South Wales-based band Mabon, led by accordion master and prolific composer Jamie Smith, who was born in the town of Bridgend and lived in the Gwent valley town of Risca;.

“Tomás and Adam have done a lot of research into the Isle of Man’s music, and some of the tunes they’ve unearthed are really quite similar in style to the music from my area in Cork,” said Ryan Murphy, Imar's Cork-born uilleann piper and flute and whistle player. "We’re blending these elements to sound like one, even though these tunes might not have been played together for hundreds of years.

"At the same time, we do want to reflect all the different backgrounds, including Scotland, and we also have tunes from Cork that haven’t been widely played further afield. We will probably bring in some of our own compositions too, as well as other contemporary tunes.”

Tredegar House Folk Festival's Festival the guest list promises a weekend entertainment and thrills, which music and dancing galore.

This year, the festival will be celebrating a wealth of local music; On Friday night, Newport Folk Club will be sponsoring Brynmawr-born songwriter Huw Williams, champion Eisteddfod clog-dancer, adventurous guitarist, bizarre storyteller, Welsh bagpiper, manager of Cool Cymru ambassadors Calan and erstwhile half of a duo with Tony Williams, who conquered the folk clubs and concerts of Britain before they called it a day.

However, he was a vital member of the Welsh super-group Crasdant for many years, and he maintained his prominent profile by tutoring and teaching clog-dancing at national workshops.

Huw is supported by Newport-born songwriter Phil Millichip, who outlined the bleak and dangerous South Wales coal industry in his song 'If I Had A Son', championed and recorded by the famous and well-loved singer and musician Vin Garbutt.

On Friday night, The Calennig Big Band will be performing in the ceilidh tent, with Pat Smith calling, and through the weekend Velha Bataria, the 15-piece samba band from Gwent, will be playing to the crowds.

Many Welsh, Cornish, English and Irish dance teams - including Cornish dancers Hevva, the Bassaleg-based Gwerinwyr Gwent, The Men Of Sweyn's Ey, Clocs Canton, Cobblers Awl, Cardiff Morris, India Dance Wales, Cwmni Gwerin Pont-y-Pŵl, Dawnswyr Blaenafon, Isca Morris, Shoostring and Brandywine Appalachian - will give free afternoon displays, and Gwent CAMRA will organise a real Welsh ales, cider and perry bar.