The presenter, actress, musician and podcast host tells Aled Lloyd-Biston how the Covid-19 pandemic changed her life
TARA Bethan lost all her work when the country went into lockdown.
Whilst most people were working from home, cultural butterfly Tara had lost all her freelance work and didn’t know what she was going to do next.
“‘Who was Tara Bethan going to be?’ was the question I often asked myself,” she said.
“I didn’t know where the next opportunity was going to come from, it was scary.”
But it came in the form of creating a podcast: “My friend Llinos said there was an Arts Council grant and she said why don’t we do a mental health podcast.
“I’m very open about my mental health struggles and I love speaking about it. For me, it helps lessen the problem.”
She created a list of Welsh-speaking celebrities she wanted on the podcast, including the likes of Radio DJ Huw Stephens and novelist Manon Steffan Ros, and began recording.
“I didn’t know what reaction it would get, I was a bit scared about how people would receive it.
“Especially with Welsh-speaking Wales, when people ask you how you are, you always say you’re okay, even if you’re not.”
Her podcast, DEWR, which means ‘Brave’, discusses the ups and downs of life and how the arts can help with both challenging and happy times – and Tara wants to learn from other people’s experiences.
“I love speaking about life. I want to compare people’s life notes with each other because I can learn from them. When people tell me about how they deal with struggle, I can learn from that.”
Award-winning podcast
The podcast won the Best Welsh Podcast award at the British Podcast Awards last year, a moment that Tara described as overwhelming.
“I felt like I had an out of body experience. Winning it was a defining moment in who I am.
“It’s changed my life completely and made me stop doubting myself as much. DEWR is who I am, it’s not just a job.”
DEWR has been commissioned by the BBC for a second series, for which Tara has already recorded 12 episodes of with the likes of Elis James and Beti George.
When asked if she feels like she’s created a safe space for discussing mental health, her face lights up.
“The fact you’ve said that makes me really happy. If this has normalised speaking about it then hell yeah.
“It’s definitely made me feel less lonely because I’ve always felt like an outsider. People have spoken more to me, so it’s an honour if that’s what people are doing.”
Who would be her dream guest on DEWR?
“My absolute dream is to get Mark Drakeford on the podcast. I get the politician, but I want to know the man.
“He cares about human and life and I want to speak about that. If one day I can get Mark Drakeford on DEWR my life is complete.”
The birth of Tara Bandito
Tara has wanted to release music for 20 years, but feared of being judged, sharing her mental health struggles on her podcast has changed that.
“If people judge my music, then they judge me, and I was afraid of that,” she said.
“But if people like me in the podcast, they’ll like my music. They both talk about mental health.”
Tara Bethan turns into Tara Bandito on the music scene, a name inspired by a lady wrestler played by Tara when she performed in concerts with Gai Toms, who wrote an album about her dad, the wrestler ‘El Bandito’.
“Taranwen Bandito was her name and she was a ballsy wrestler you didn’t mess with.”
“I loved who she was, I turned into someone else on stage. I’m now still Tara but the lady wrestler version, but there is an element of Tara Bethan in Tara Bandito and vice versa.”
Tara Bandito recently released her second single, ‘Rhyl’ the follow up to her debut single ‘Blerr’ which came out on January 14.
“I wanted to break out from being self-aware of what I was doing, and Tara Bandito can do whatever she wants.
“The message I’m trying to get out in Blerr is that everyone has their own versions of themselves they appear to be but in reality, everyone has that version where they’re not okay.”
- Tara Bandito will play her first gig at The Roundhouse, London on March 3.
