Gwalia Singers

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The Gwalia Singers (Swansea) is a Welsh male voice choir based in Swansea, Wales.

Wales Country in northwest Europe, part of the United Kingdom

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of coastline and is largely mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit. The country lies within the north temperate zone and has a changeable, maritime climate.

Swansea City & County in Wales

Swansea, is a coastal city and county, officially known as the City and County of Swansea in Wales. Swansea lies within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan and the ancient Welsh commote of Gŵyr on the southwest coast. The county area includes Swansea Bay and the Gower Peninsula. Swansea is the second largest city in Wales and the twenty-fifth largest city in the United Kingdom. According to its local council, the City and County of Swansea had a population of 241,300 in 2014. The last official census stated that the city, metropolitan and urban areas combined concluded to be a total of 462,000 in 2011; the second most populous local authority area in Wales after Cardiff.

Contents

History

The choir was formed in 1966 by Bryan Myles. They competed in their first serious competition in 1978 - the Welsh Brewers' Choral Competition, held in Carmarthen. The following year they won in the category for fewer than 40 voices at the Miners' Eisteddfod in Porthcawl. 1981 saw the choir record a single with the Cory Band. It was a cover version of Jona Lewie's "Stop the Cavalry". Although it failed to chart, it was regularly played by DJs in the United States and has been suggested as "probably the most popular song ever by an artist who never had a charted recording". [1]

Carmarthen county town of Carmarthenshire, Wales

Carmarthen is the county town of Carmarthenshire in Wales and a community. It lies on the River Towy 8 miles (13 km) north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. Carmarthen has a claim to be the oldest town in Wales – Old Carmarthen and New Carmarthen became one borough in 1546. Carmarthen was the most populous borough in Wales in the 16th–18th centuries, described by William Camden as "the chief citie of the country". Growth was stagnating by the mid-19th century, as new economic centres developed in the South Wales coalfield. The population in 2011 was 14,185, down from 15,854 in 2001. Dyfed–Powys Police headquarters, Glangwili General Hospital and a campus of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David are located in Carmarthen.

Eisteddfod type of Welsh festival of literature, music and performance

In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. The tradition of such a meeting of Welsh artists dates back to at least the 12th century, when a festival of poetry and music was held by Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth at his court in Cardigan in 1176, but the decline of the bardic tradition made it fall into abeyance. The current format owes much to an 18th-century revival arising out of a number of informal eisteddfodau. The closest English equivalent to eisteddfod is "session"; the word is formed from two Welsh morphemes: eistedd, meaning "sit", and bod, meaning "be". In some countries, the term eisteddfod is used for certain types of performing arts competitions that have nothing to do with Welsh culture.

Porthcawl town in Wales, Britain

Porthcawl is a town and community on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, 25 miles (40 km) west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles (31 km) southeast of Swansea. Historically part of Glamorgan and situated on a low limestone headland on the South Wales coast, overlooking the Bristol Channel, Porthcawl developed as a coal port during the 19th century, but its trade was soon taken over by more rapidly developing ports such as Barry. Northwest of the town, in the dunes known as Kenfig Burrows, are hidden the last remnants of the town and Kenfig Castle, which were overwhelmed by sand about 1400.

Musical director, Bryan Myles, left the choir in 1996 and was replaced by Simon Oram.

The choir were invited to perform at the christening of Alvin Stardust's daughter, Millie Margaret May, in May 2001.

Alvin Stardust English pop singer and stage actor

Bernard William Jewry, known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust, was an English rock singer and stage actor. Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately successful career in the pre-Beatles era, hitting the UK top 40 with four singles in 1961–62. However, he became better known for singles released in the 1970s and 1980s as Alvin Stardust, a character he began in the glam rock era, with hits including the UK Singles Chart-topper "Jealous Mind", as well as later hits such as "Pretend" and "I Feel Like Buddy Holly".

To celebrate their 40th anniversary, two special concerts were held during 2006. The first, in the Swansea Grand Theatre, featured guest performances from Mal Pope, Miss Daisy Blue, the Vivace Singers and The Storys. The second concert was held in the city's Brangwyn Hall. Later in the year, due to a move out of the area, MD Simon Oram passed the baton on to Deputy MD Nick Rogers.

Swansea Grand Theatre theatre and former cinema in Swansea, Wales

Swansea Grand Theatre is a performing arts venue in the centre of Swansea, Wales. The theatre stages plays, pantomimes and touring theatrical acts visiting Swansea. Swansea Grand Theatre was the base for the UK's only Russian ballet company, the Swansea Ballet Russe.

Maldwyn "Mal" Pope is a Welsh musician and composer, who is notable for his contribution to music theatre portraying Welsh national identities and themes. He lives at the village of Mumbles, Swansea.

The Storys

The Storys were a Welsh rock band from Swansea, Wales, which formed in 2003. Their main influence is 1970s US West Coast bands in the country-rock genre. The band currently consists of Steve Balsamo, Andy Collins, Rob Thompson, Brian Thomas, and Alan Thomas and formerly included Dai Smith, who sang and played guitar until August 2008, when he left. He was replaced by Rosalie Deighton.

2007 saw the choir performing in Mannheim, Germany, to mark the city's 400 years of history. This coincided with the 50th anniversary of its twinning with Swansea. The Deputy Lord Mayor of Swansea, Ioan Richard, presented Mannheim Oberburgermeister Gerhard Widder with a dragon memento cut from Welsh slate. 2007 also saw the choir increasing its size to 44 members.

Mannheim Place in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Mannheim is a city in the southwestern part of Germany, the third-largest in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart and Karlsruhe with a 2015 population of approximately 305,000 inhabitants. The city is at the centre of the larger densely populated Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region which has a population of 2,400,000 and is Germany's eighth-largest metropolitan region.

Germany Federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

Slate A fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, weakly metamorphic rock

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. Foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering, but instead is in planes perpendicular to the direction of metamorphic compression.

The choir was chosen to participate in the 2008 St. David's Celebration held at the Disneyland Resort Paris. They provided four performances for the resort visitors on 1 and 2 March. The choir has returned for the celebration in subsequent years and performed for the fourth time in as many years in March 2011.

The choir's President from 2005 to 2010 was singer/songwriter Mal Pope. He was succeeded in 2011 by former Wales international rugby union rugby player Geoff Wheel.

Alvin Stardust's funeral took place at St Thomas Church in Swansea on 5 December 2014 at which the Gwalia Singers sang Calon Lân, a Welsh hymn which was a particular favourite of his. [2]

A performance of "Stop the Cavalry" was recorded by Fresh One Productions and a clip was included in the documentary "Rewind the Christmas Hits" which was broadcast on Channel 4 on 20 December 2014.

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References

  1. ↑ "MR. MUSIC". Protected.ehost.com. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "Stardust to receive Swansea send-off with Wales funeral - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-07-19.


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