For the last 50 years at least the Welsh choral tradition has been increasingly associated with male choirs, not least through the annual festivals and the popularity of recordings.
And yet nearly two-thirds of the male choirs throughout Wales date their formation from the 1950s onwards. While in some villages - such as Treorchy - the male choir tradition dates back to the 1870s it is often not a continuous tradition, interrupted not least by two world wars and economic depression.
It is significant that male choirs - like all amateur music activity - flourish best where there is full employment, and not enforced leisure. Sentimental American film portrayal of miners, 'fresh' from a gruelling shift below ground, spontaneously bursting into song are difficult to marry with the exhaustion that miners actually felt at the end of that shift; but the perception of 'comrades in arms' is true enough, as any visit to a male choir rehearsal and the social gathering after will affirm.
And of course the average male chorister was a little younger 60 years ago - the relatively low average life expectancy of miners and steel workers ensured that. While 65% of the 5,000 Welsh male choristers are over 60, the figure has changed little in the last 25 years; the choristers just keep on singing longer!
...we have still today well over 200 mixed or male choirs throughout Wales in addition to the numerous and often young 'ad hoc' choral groups...
And what of today? Chapel choirs, together with the congregations that supported them, have largely disappeared, though notable exceptions such as Ebenezer Trecynon (formed in 1849), Tabernacle Morriston (1876) and Penclawdd remain.
The move to establish choral societies independent of the chapel gathered momentum in the early 20th century, such that we have still today well over 200 mixed or male choirs throughout Wales in addition to the numerous and often young 'ad hoc' choral groups that exist primarily to compete at the National, Urdd and local eisteddfodau.
The average mixed choir or male choir in Wales now consists of around 60 choristers - far smaller than the gigantic Corau Mawr of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet the repertoire of these smaller choirs of today is arguably more varied and interesting, and the formation of small chamber choirs by young conductors is encouraging.
While choral singing in schools is threatened by lack of expertise, logistics, and, above all, pressures of time and the national curriculum, there remain pockets of excellence. The formation of the , the , and the success of the Fron Choir and Only Men Aloud! promise well for the future.
Words: Keith Griffin
