Wales, Land of Song
NICKNAMED the ‘Land of Song’,ย Wales has an historic singing tradition. As a nation, young Welsh men and women grow up singing in school, at parties, in church. Nowhere is Welsh singing more celebrated than the National Eisteddfod, the largest festival of competitive poetry and music in Europe.
Bryn Terfel, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Gwyneth Jones, Wynne Evans, Katherine Jenkins, Aled Jones, Bonnie Tyler, Charlotte Church and Cerys Matthews are among Wales’s headline stars in a nation renowned for its love of singing, especially choral.
So where does this passion for song stem from? In A History of Music and Singing in Wales, novelist and poet Wyn Griffith, who wrote extensively on Wales and Welsh culture, observed: “If you find a score of Welsh people, in Wales or out of it, you will find a choir. They sing for their own delight, and they always sing in harmony. They sing as naturally and easily as they talk.”
“Wales is known as a nation of music โ the ‘land of song’,” notes the Welsh National Opera (WNO). “Often connected with male voice choirs, it isโฆ recognised for its choral traditions which are rooted in the culture.”
That choral tradition is also firmly embedded in the sporting culture as illustrated below by emotional renditions – from players and supporters alike – of Welsh music at major sporting events and, of course, the national anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau [Old Land of My Fathers].
And who could forget Mary Hopkin flying the flag for Wales in the Eurovision Song Contest all those years ago.
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