Home
News
Opinion
Sport
Your area
What’s on
Send your story
Public Notices
Jobs
Subscription
More
One of the many strengths of the National Eisteddfod is the way in which it stimulates singers to take part chorally, and often to continue afterwards in new formations that play a vital part in the life of their communities.
So it was with the creation of Dolgellau's Côr Bro Meirion, after Bala 2009.
Anglesey 2017 was the spur for Branwen Haf Williams to bring together a group of young male singers from Llanuwchllyn and its environs to compete as Eryrod Meirion; their success was immediate, and has persisted.
They were on top form when they entertained Dolgellau Music Club in Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor on Friday, 4 April.
As Gruffudd Antur, the evening's congenial MC, pointed out, Eryrod Meirion are strongly rooted in their community, with many members having made a considered decision to stay and raise families in the area. A strong sense of optimism, perhaps deriving from this, permeated the programme – and not just in the folksong Moliannwn, with its refrain 'Mae amser gwell i ddyfod, haleliwia!', 'there are good times ahead!' The 'theme song' Eryrod Meirion (also the title of their excellent 2022 CD), to words by local writer Haf Llywellyn set by choir member Osian Huw Williams, urges the listener not just to mourn the ruins of Carndochan (a C13 castle west of the village), but to wake up and hear 'a new song' – embodied in the wonderful part-singing (in this item unaccompanied) and hwyl of the choir itself, skilfully coached and led (often from the piano) by Branwen Haf.
As well as folksongs (three of the four subtly arranged by Osian), a key strand was songs from contemporary Welsh musicals, which gave opportunities for individual voices to shine. Pwyll ap Llyr Edwards was moving in O Dad, daeth yr awr from 'Myfi Yw', the remarkable Cwmni Theatr Maldwyn setting of the climax of St John's Gospel (appropriate near to Easter), the disciples represented by a background chorus as the soloist prays "O Dad, cadw di hwy", 'keep them safe'. Meilir Rhys Williams and Steffan Prys Roberts were eloquent in a lyrical duet from 'Hwn yw fy Mrawd', the 2018 show about Paul Robeson. There was also a beguiling solo with chorus from Elis Garmon Jones in the Brigyn lullaby Dôl y Plu, 'the meadow of feathers'.
Community spirit was vividly to the fore in Tawel yma heno from 'A Oes Heddwch' ('Is There Peace'), the 2017 show by Aled Wyn Hughes and Guto Dafydd marking the centenary of the death of Trawsfynydd's Hedd Wyn, with soldiers at the front weary and longing to return home. Strongest of all perhaps from the community angle was the final number Geiriau gwag from the magnificent Cwmni Theatr Meirion show 'Er Mwyn Yfory' ('For Tomorrow') created for the 1997 Bala National Eisteddfod, which tells the story of the late C19 struggle against the church imposition of tithes and general oppression by 'y gyfundrefn', 'the system'. 'Heddiw mae'n rhaid i mi herio' – 'today I must challenge'; 'y balchder yn deillio draw', 'pride is flowing'. This was an uplifting note to end on, and would normally have been the end of the season; there remains however the piano recital by Ignas Macknickas postponed from January, on Friday, 30 May.
More About:
Comments
Contact
Follow us
Further Links
Owned or licensed to Tindle Newspapers Ltd. | Independent Family-Owned Newspapers | Copyright & Trade Mark Notice & 2013 – 2025
Llanuwchlyn choir triumph at music club event – Cambrian News
