Kaptin barrett
Advisor on music, festivals and culture. Hip-hop Coordinator at Amgueddfa Cymru / Museum Wales. Established DJ and all round purveyor of uplifting sounds.
Like many of you, music for me is a way to connect to the world and to discover things about myself. I love the way it can inspire change and bring people together and for over 20 years I’ve been making full use of that fact as a promoter, curator, DJ, radio presenter and rapper amongst many other things.
After a lifelong passion that I never for one second thought would become a full time career when I left school at just 14 years old, I found myself through a mixture of hard work and good fortune, as manager of a record store in the late 90s. From there I got my first DJ residency at the Toucan Club in Cardiff and started putting on nights such as Higher Learning and Secret Garden (amongst many others) with some close friends. Alongside that I organised music workshops, and performed with hip-hop group the Potato Skinz, which led to performing at Glastonbury Festival in 2004. That changed everything for me.
As to what happened over the following decade or so, there’s probably too many things to cover right now but it involved an Inflatable Church, lots of parties and festivals, DJing around the world, radio shows, guest mixes for BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra and BBC Radio Wales and our own venue, Cardiff Arts Institute.
Eventually I found myself in the middle of an incredible new and exciting immersive festival, which became the nation’s biggest independent, and I was Head Of Music at Boomtown from 2012 to 2022.
In my time at Boomtown, the festival grew from 20,000 to 75,000 capacity and the music grew from a largely Punk, Reggae, Ska, Rave and DNB affair to include Jazz, Folk, Metal, Disco, House, Techno, Rap and many other styles from around the world.
I also worked with various other events and organisations helping them with their music programming. These include Glastonbury, Wilderness, Big Love, St Paul’s Carnival, Bath Carnival, Festival Of Voice, Focus Wales, Brothers Cider, Torchlight, Lost Horizon, amongst others.
Although I still advise on events, and have delivered guest lectures for University Of South Wales, University of Gloucester, BIMM and Tileyard, I left the programming world in 2023 to concentrate on a new role in Wales as the Hip-hop Coordinator for Amgueddfa Cymru / Museum Wales. A position I currently still hold.
However, I wanted a separate space where I can explore more, communicate more and ultimately give more from my experiences and insights that I’ve gathered over the years.
I also wanted a platform where the friends and peers I look up can offer help and advice for navigating these difficult times and building a better future.
So welcome to kaptinbarrett.com and please explore, engage and support. Big Love!