Challenge to watch this without getting a lump in your throat

[edcantor]

18. I have followed them for months, my friend.

Last edited Sat May 19, 2012, 08:12 PM - Edit history (1)

I was fascinated with hearing their first audition in Manchester, UK in March. I thought they should rise to the top of the heap of talent in that show, of which America has a similar kind of set-up, I guess. (Unfortunately a woman and her trained dog made first place in the finals!!?! What do the English know about history of their culture, good quality community activism for youth, and choral singing in what is a foreign language to the Brits?).

These guys live in about 10 small towns in the southwest valleys of Wales, about 20-50 miles from Cardiff and/or Swansea, spectacular rolling hilly country in the west of England. The roughly 10 groups practice separately for weeks and come together only for final rehearsals and performances at various civic events. There is a church sponsorship of each of these groups, although they are not religious choirs as such.

Wales is not really a separate country in the UK, although the relationship with Parliament and London has had various forms and ups and downs since about 1200 AD. However, the Welsh language pre-dates modern English by 300-500 years at least, perhaps thousands of years. Some cognates exist in both languages, (a cognate is a word that sounds and means the same, roughly, in both languages). One example of a cognate you will hear in this song is the Welsh word "onest":: English: "honest". Other influences upon the Welsh language come from both forms of Gaelic, Irish and Scottish, Gaelic being distinct from Welsh, yet Gaelic having Irish and Scottish major dialects. Scholars today are still mystified as to the exact origins and influences that brought about the Welsh language, distinct from Aglo-Saxon and French roots of modern English.


Wales was once famous for coal and mineral mining, as well as farming and herding, but much of the more modern mining techniques have led to most mines being exhausted of ore. Sheep farming and other forms of agriculture still survive and predominate, along with a few regional industries, and tourism these days, when much of southern Wales is but a 3 hour drive out of London. Some of the stone for the Stonehendge comes from northern Wales.

The Wales section of Great Britain has been the location of discoveries of human skeletal bones dated back about 30 thousand years, so Wales has been occupied by humans for a long long time. At certain periods in history, as today, the gulf stream made Wales a relatively moderate climate compared to equal latitudes in Europe or elsewhere in the British Isles. Thus the foundations of the Welsh language may be contain some of the oldest phonemes (sounds) in all of the European language group. Listen to the first soloist, as he pronounces his "R"s in a rather spectacular way, along with the "OI" (as in oil) frequently appearing before another hard consonnant. Welsh may have been the foundation of many modern sounds in English that are not present in Germanic or Romance languages. (like the "TH" in The, and oi in oil or the British rugby cheer expression "OY OY!)