One of Canada’s largest male voice choirs is coming to the ACT.
There are about 100 members of the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir. They were up to 120 members at one point.
Ninety two attended the choir’s last rehearsal and at least 70 members are expected to be singing in Maple Ridge in honour of St. Patrick’s Day.
“It’s just a nice blend of voices,” said Duncan Macdonald, a member of the choir, one of only four who call Maple Ridge home.
The Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir was formed 37 years ago in Vancouver.
However, the history of Welsh choirs is a tradition that goes back centuries. Choirs were formed in small villages in Wales, made up of mostly men who worked in the mines.
“It’s a four-part male voice harmony,” explained Macdonald of the Welsh choirs.
“I guess if you were to listen to a German choir singing, they tend to have some very high male voices, where as ours aren’t quite as high. So you can tell the difference between the two styles by the sound from the sections,” he said.
The Vancouver choir sings in TTBB tradition, meaning high and low tenor sections and high and low bass sections.
Macdonald joined the group in 1981 after being swept off his feet by the sound.
Now he travels once a week to Vancouver to rehearse. It’s a commitment, he concedes, but one he enjoys, especially for the social side. Recently the choir had a potluck dinner to introduce people who just joined.
They also travel extensively around the world. Members have traveled to England, Scotland, Wales, France Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Russia and Australia to perform.
“When you are on the buses, you sit down with somebody you don’t know from the choir and you get to know them that way,” said Macdonald.
It is not easy to join the choir. Those interested have to be auditioned and the auditioning process lasts several weeks.
“There is a level of good singing that is required,” said Macdonald.
The first couple of weeks the interested party simply attends a rehearsal and sits with somebody in the same section they are auditioning for. After a couple of weeks, they have their first audition to see if they can hold the pitch. At the end of the seventh week, the person is tested again and this time a judgment is made as to whether the person can stay in the choir or not.
At the Maple Ridge concert, two students from UBC in the process of auditioning will be participating.
Celtic Celebrations will include three major sections of music, Irish, Scottish and, obviously Welsh.
The choir will start off with a Welsh patriotic song called Men of Harlech. Another Welsh song they are going to perform is the hymn tune Rachie and Take Me Home, a mining song about how nice it is to be up from the mines and heading home.
Scottish tunes will include Loch Lomond, Will Ye Go Lassie Go and My Heart’s in the Highlands.
Down by the Salley Gardens, Star of the County Down, The Parting Glass and The Fields of Athenry will be some of the traditional Irish songs.
“The Fields of Athenry is kind of a sad tear-jerker,” noted Macdonald.
“It’s about a young man who’s got a wife and two little kids and he’s in Ireland. This is way back when they ship people out of the country just because the stole a loaf of bread or something like that,” he said.
Macdonald says that although at this concert the choir will be performing mainly traditional music, that is not always the case. They do sing in Latin, German and other languages and they also perform more current music like a Tom Jones medley they sang not long ago.
Macdonald loves the Welsh style of music.
“It’s very powerful. When you can hear a whole lot of bass voices singing way down low and you hear various levels higher up, it’s just gorgeous sound,” he said.