Geraint Jarman was born on 17 August 1950 in Denbigh, North Wales, but grew up in Cardiff, the city that would become the backdrop to his life's work as a musician, poet, actor and television producer. He began his career as a poet and songwriter in the 1960s, writing for the singer Heather Jones and performing alongside her in the group Y Bara Menyn, before establishing himself as one of the most significant figures in modern Welsh-language music.
Jarman became known above all as a pioneer of Welsh-language reggae, developing a love of the genre after spending time at Cardiff's Casablanca Club in the city's docks during the 1970s. Fronting his band Geraint Jarman a'r Cynganeddwyr — a name that plays on the traditional strict-metre poetic technique of cynghanedd — he released a string of influential albums beginning with Gobaith Mawr y Ganrif in 1976 on the Sain label, fusing dub reggae rhythms with Welsh-language lyricism in a way no one else in Wales was doing at the time.
Beyond his own recordings, Jarman was a mentor and influence on generations of Welsh musicians, shaping bands such as Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Ffa Coffi Pawb, and directing a documentary on Super Furry Animals' first world tour in 1997. He published his autobiography, Twrw Jarman, in 2011. Jarman died on 2 March 2025 in Cardiff, aged 74, prompting tributes from across the Welsh music and arts world, including from Gruff Rhys, who credited him as one of the defining architects of modern Welsh popular culture.