Happy New Year to you all! I hope this year brings you all that you want. Here at Risca Male Choir, we will hope to be able to perform more frequently this year to revive the music culture in this area among others.

Personally, I’m looking forward to bringing exciting music into our repertoire. The last 6 months, we have worked hard on some tricky music and I am certainly looking to keep this going, from Welsh music to the West End. Of course, the idea is to perform them to you in different venues, so let’s hope we can do more of that this year.

We have experienced loss a few times this year and I am hoping this will inspire us to work harder to ensure the hard work the choristers we’ve lost does not go to waste. We hope to make them proud every rehearsal, performance and event.

As it is a new year, I am changing the second section of my blog from Composers of the Month to…

Welsh Musicians of the Month - Cerddorion Cymreig y Mis

These will include 2 musicians/bands from Wales, 1 Classical and 1 Modern, and will be written in bullet point form with a link to a video of them performing on YouTube. So, to begin with we will go through some very famous performers.

Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, CBE 
(born in Caernarfonshire)

• Graduated from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1989, winning the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Award.

• In the same year, he came second behind Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the Cardiff BBC Singer of the World Competition, but won the Lieder Prize.

• Made his operatic debut in 1990 as Guglilelmo in Così Fan Tutte with Welsh National Opera, and later the same season performed the title role of The Marriage of Figaro. He made his English National Opera debut in 1991 with the latter role.

• He performed in the 1999 Rugby World Cup at the Millennium Stadium, singing ‘World in Union’ with Shirley Bassey.

• Also known to perform popular music - including CDs of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYLVGKxqIZ0 

Manic Street Preachers
(Blackwood)

• Formed in 1986 by cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (drums, percussion, soundscapes), plus Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics). Another member, Richey Edwards, (co-lyricist and rhythm guitarist) joined later.

• 14 albums recorded between 1992 and 2021, including Everything Must Go (won best album in the Brits 1997) and This is My Truth Tell Me Yours (won best album at the Brits 1999).

• Most successful songs include ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’, ‘Everything Must Go’ and ‘A Design for Life’ (nominated for best single in the Brits 1997).

• The band announced in March 2016 that they would be releasing a theme song for the Wales national team ahead of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament in the summer, entitled "Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ 

I hope you enjoy this new section, and do listen to these extracts if you find the time. Here’s to a great 2022 to you all!