Our City, Our Stories

Our City, Our Stories opened at the Central Library Hub on 12 October and runs until 24 October. It's an exhibition celebrating Cardiff's live music heritage, and it's free to visit. You'll find it on the third floor of the hub.

What makes it work is where the stories come from. It's the result of an intergenerational oral history project funded by a Welsh Government Priorities for Culture grant. Earlier this year, the project trained younger volunteers to interview older residents about their experiences of live music in the city. More than 100 volunteers put in over 500 hours, and they collected more than 70 stories in the process.

Inside, you can hear extracts from ten selected recordings through an interactive audio display, and listen to full interviews on retro tape and Walkman devices. Those sit alongside historic gig posters, tickets, memorabilia and a short film. The stories themselves cover a wide stretch of the city's musical life: The Beatles, The Clash and The Waterboys; Patti Smith; the Butetown Carnival; and Welsh folk music. The interviews will be preserved through People's Collection Wales and Glamorgan Archives.

Ruth Cayford, curator of Cardiff Music City Festival, said music is about more than the artists on stage, and Councillor Lee Bridgeman called the work a preservation of the city's cultural heritage. Once the run at the library ends, smaller versions will tour community hubs across the city. It's free to enter and runs until 24 October on the third floor of the Central Library Hub.