Rhos Male Voice Choir -- Music From The Welsh Mines 1957

[sheiladavies11]

Sung fronm the heart, so meaningful as only the Welsh can do, very moving to listen to.

[TomekHujek631]

Just Great nice vid man

[injamaven]

This is the ultimate. The descant breaks your heart.



[emilebradford]

Everybody on Youtube isn't as sympathetic to those four brave miners who died in their mine in the village of Cilybebyll as the rest of the UK is,

put "Margaret Thatcher leaving Number ten for the last time" in the search box and see what 'RichardElden' has said.

This another moron who should be prosecuted for his hate filled words.

[redips59]

And they still,do it.

[mashmegan]

My uncle was in this choir for over 40 years and loved it its all he used to talk about, he died in april but he had the best life traveling with the choir to places i will never see. they sound amazing, just cant beat a welsh male voice choir.x

[andrebishop22]

The only philistine is a person who does not believe in Jehovia. Who worships his hands and espeically money.

[BlaiddDrwg2009]

I might be part Welsh, part Scottish, part English and part Russian, but it's the Welsh part I value the most. <3 Wales.

[placesNspaces]

@BlaiddDrwg2009 Why part? Learn to value self, and be whole.

[colinfowler1]

Love it.The old ones are the best,coal miners see

[VermontKitsune]

Gorgeous -- I try to collect current CD's of Welsh choirs -- this is one of the few old choirs I have heard. It has a certain tone, doesn't it? Diolch yn fawr.

[daisharkey]

Thankyou for this rare recording. The valleys are still God fearing, passionate places to be, as is all of Wales.

[rrmjvand]

My mother's father came to the US from Swansea, Wales. When she was a teenager she took him to the movies to see, How Green was My Valley." If you have never seen it, by all means, treat yourself. A Welsh mining family's life and struggles working in a town where mining was central to life. God was very much honored there. Beautiful music too!

[injamaven]

This is MUSIC! ranks w any of the greatest composers.

[injamaven]

this is slightly warped, but still my favorite heart-breaking hymn.

[flamencoexpress]

This breaks my heart. A combination of Puccini and the deepest southern Blues - which isn't surprising since the slaves were often Baptists or methodists of some kind. Just like these other black people who had no lives of their own.

[acefreaky]

o Iesu mawr _Oh great and wonderfull jesus come unto me -no greater cry from the human heart , when as now things are dark and fearfull and the future uncertain to reach up to god only to find that all along he was reaching down his hand towards my hand .....Amen

[enaj78]

This hymn was in the end of "How Green Was My Valley." A wonderful movie from the forties.

[dravidwake]

LLeff - in English "Thou gavest" Oh mighty Lord, give thou thy hand...

This is a wonderful recording - the quality of the choir is rugged and I have not heard it sung better. My dad worked down the mines in Yorkshire...and there are still some great Yorkshire Male Voice Choirs...

[SuperGoodGary]

My grandfather, Joseph, I still think of you.

[Tintearluin]

I adore this music, it seems as though it moves something in my blood that I can't put a finger on. My Grandfather was a winder at Hafod colliery in the Rhos area and was such a graceful, strong man. He passed away last year aged 93. "Welshness" is something deep, and this is what it sounds like.

[griffcats]

some fine tenors in that choir, they really soar on some of the phrases, a beautiful touch. Wish we had better recordings, this one barely touches what the original must have been. The Organ struggles for Clarity in this old recording. The third selection BRYN CALFARIA (Hill of Calvary) is the most majestic, Llef is often sung at funerals; I never heard the 2nd tune before.

[strictBaptist]

one Sunday memory form my childhood is my grandparents always having the welsh hymn singing on the radio at tea time

[3tangle3]

I am currently in the process of uploading about 30 classic welsh tunes such as blaenwern and gweddi dros gymru...please see my channel for more...5 so far :)

[aaauuuummm]

I love this. It gives me goosebumps. My grandfather, uncles, their fathers and brothers all worked the mines in Wales. My father told me wonderful stories of listening to them sing on the way to the mines, on the way home and in church. God blessed this music and these voices.

[lambster51]

bersham pit where some of these guys would have worked had a seam height of about 2ft..

[TBOBINA41]

Thank you so much for posting this. I have been looking for these songs on line for quite some time. I thought that the first one was called Penpark? guess not. I was not born in Wales but my whole family is Welsh, though I think I am the most proud and love to sing in Welsh, it runs in my blood.

[steftrebleclef]

I remember the choir as a child in the early 60s when Colin Jones took over as conductor. What a choir they were. We all sang from a very early age. Why do Rhos people have great voices? I believe it's down to the unique accent and dialect i.e. the way we all spoke welsh - also culture and tradition. The chapel and the school trained us to sing from very early on and we sang at home - I remember John Tudor Davies - the organist on this recording - what an accompanist - A fantastic recording.

[injamaven]

I'm not Welsh, but what can we do to keep this powerful music alive? Nothing I've

heard packs such a wallop.

Injamaven

[injamaven]

This is the real deal. Their brothers, sons, fathers, died in these mines. THere's nothing like it." Leff" & 'Tydi Rodaist' tell it all. Are there any voices finer than this?

[mpc999STEP]

It is so sad when your children despise you.

[revpgesq]

thank you for info injamaven... 5 of my 8 great-grandparents are full Welsh blood, but i loved this music before i even knew all that!

[TheRodeo1mom]

Pugophile, many Welsh songs would certainly sound wonderful with a full choir. But a melancholy hymn like these just sounds more heart-throbbing and plaintiff with a male choir. Go to Cwm Rhondda (God of Grace) with a full choir and that will lift your spirit like no other hymn.

[injamaven]

This is the Ultimate. Created a love for Welsh Hymns. The Descant is a killer.

[chriswynevs]

@pugophile. I completely agree!!!! But these are the voices of the men who fueled the British empire, from the pits of the earth. As did the men in Yorkshire and the north. This is a testament to the men who fought on though prejudice and kept their language culture and heritage. I do apologize if i offend but I'm feeling a bit patriotic at the moment!! Bit of hiraeth like!!!!

[injamaven]

@chriswynevs

Do you know the "Hiraeth" hymn? it's short, simple, perfect.

[chriswynevs]

@injamaven I do indeed. Fantastic it is. If you like a good Welsh tune then check out Suo Gan. There are a few versions of it so i suppose you can have a browse for you favorite one. Enjoy.

[G3org3Master]

@chriswynevs its rubish

[chriswynevs]

@G3org3Master whats rubbish?



[julesbenjamin]

Absolutely beautiful.

[Pugophile]

Call me a Philistine if you will, but wouldn't these hymns sound so much better if there were women singing, too? A choir without women's voices is like tonic without gin.

[julesbenjamin]

@Pugophile You're a Philistine!

[revpgesq]

all three selections i like, but the final one is spellbinding, or spellbreaking better yet, and is Otherwordly in the best and most inviting sense of the word.

thank you for posting this.

[injamaven]

@revpgesq The third one is called , "Tydi A Roddaist" by Arwel Hughes, if you want to find it.

[phil7seven]

Three of my mum's family sang in Rhos Male Voice. The standard of the choir then seems far superior to those you hear these days (even though they're not bad), but they were much larger - around 120 in Rhos apparently, and all drawn from the Rhosllanerchrugog area

[KickazzRedhead]

I just watched the 1941 movie "How Green was my Valley" and was BLOWN AWAY by the miners' choir! AMAZING VOICES! :O Never knew this music existed before & am THRILLED I found it! :)

[booniecap101]

@KickazzRedhead I'm with you... I have done some research on my genealogy and found that my family came over from Wales. I never knew! It's amazing the rich cultural heritage and beautiful music that I never even knew existed.... Glad to see that I'm not the only one discovering this great stuff! :-)

[TheMasterOfDisaster8]

So sad and beautiful! this music is so extremely powerful! I love it!

[ruckrover8]

diolch yn fawr am hyn

my grandfather was a welsh speaking welsh tenor with a golden voice. now I'm learning the language.

[westhoughtonian]

My Grandad Rogers was a miner in Wales and I feel so proud of him. He played the accordian too and was a staunch Methodist. We have lost so many things.

[helmuthoorn]

Makes you feel like kneeling down and pray the LORD for forgiveness and mercy.

The men who sang this had to put their life in His hands every working day.

And you hear it !

[dilwyn1]

@helmuthoorn Well said. I work with a chap who for many years was a face worker in the "Crank" seam at our local colliery. Crank seams were only 18" high !!!

[3tangle3]

@helmuthoorn forgiveness for what....my family slaved in those mines and dead young, i feel no need to ask for forgiveness ....great song though

[honeybabe68]

Magnificent indeed! Took me back to my childhood in Wales. Thank you.

[AlbertJBurton]

Beautiful!!!!