By now, you may well have seen the announcement of the lineup for 2022’s BBC Radio 6 Music Festival: the first since 2020, and the first to take place in Cardiff. It’s an impressive selection of acts, ranging from household names in unusually intimate venues to those climbing the ladder towards a future in much bigger rooms.

Buzz will be covering it in greater detail in the lead-up to the event, the central plank of which runs from Fri 1-Sun 3 Apr, and will bring you live reviews and photo galleries of the gigs when they happen. However, we also want to get off on the good foot and highlight the 6 Music Festival Fringe, which opens on Tue 29 Mar, and in particular the events programmed by Immersed!, an annual event organised by the University Of South Wales’ School Of Music & Sound students. (Buzz is one of Immersed!’s media partners for 2022 alongside Orchard Live, Libertino Records, Cardiff Council and Wagamama.)

These events will combine showcase gigs highlighting various diamonds from the city’s sparkling music scene – you need one of those to have a viable live music infrastructure, you see – with some offstage discussions and artistic happenings. Cardiff’s Tramshed venue hosts Immersed!’s opening night on Tue 29 Mar, with an evening of local rap, soul and stylistically related types across two stages: Afro Cluster, Mace The Great, Benji Wild and Yasmine & The Euphoria are among them (ticket link here). This will be preceded by Climate Clash Cymru, which addresses issues of sustainability in the context of live music and is co-hosted by Music Declares Emergency.

Wed 30 Mar is an online-only selection of performances, interviews and discussions under the banner of Immersed TV (hit up their website below on the day for that one), while Thurs 31 returns to the live fray, this time in Cultvr Lab. This showcase is more on the rock/alternative side of the scene, with sets from 10 acts including Telgate, Murder Club, Silent Forum and Breichiau Hir.

Keep an eye on this page for more information on Immersed! and the 6 Music Festival as it’s announced.

Info: www.immersedfestival.co.uk