Special Music

We're back home after attending the 84th North American Festival of Wales. Cynthia and I have attended nine of the events together. We usually forgo the seminars and tours -- we go for the singing, with close friends and a few hundred others who share our passion for singing Welsh hymn tunes in four-part harmony.

Most of the singing is in the afternoon and evening sessions of the traditional Gymanfa Ganu on the last day -- twelve or fourteen hymns per session -- but that's not enough. Most evenings, people gather for informal singing, sometimes past midnight.

The formal Gymanfa hymn-singing is broken into four groups interspersed with "Special Music", typically a soloist, a guest choir, and sometimes a harpist. There's also an organ prelude and postlude.

We had two soloists this time. The one I blipped is soprano Gwawr Edwards, a well-known performer in the UK, who also sang a duet with her father. She has a great voice, and her wardrobe isn't too shabby.

The guest choir was Côr y Penrhyn Male Voice Choir -- traditionally it's always a male voice choir. They were great!

We agreed that this festival was one of the best we've been to.