Meraga's Dad was in the Icon Jazz band. She remembers growing up in Cardiff's jazz community

I remember my dad playing in all these weird places in his Jazz band, the Quebec club and places like that. I think music was much more of a focal thing in those days, whereas today even music is corporate. I mean with Jazz it became music for people to eat their dinner too. I suppose pubs and stuff have to change if they want to keep going. I am sure the whole underground thing will come back though; Britain is great for the underground thing, much better than most other countries. I remember just before I was old enough to go to clubs going to the Bute Town carnival long before the whole SWICA thing. I went as a kid and my dad's band would have played there, there was the paddle steamer pub this end of Bute town and the paddle steamer would have been the main meeting place. There used to be this character an old bloke that always wore a trilby hat and zoot suite. He used to go down the Jazz and have these cocktail sticks coming out of his hair and he was the most amazing dancer. He used to just stand in front of the jazz and the band used to play in the Lions Den under G.W's and he used to dance to the band. I saw him in town the other day and someone was busking and this guy was there and he just started dancing.