- Gwalia Singers (Swansea)
The Gwalia Singers (Swansea) is a Welsh
male voice choir based inSwansea ,Wales .History
It was formed in
1966 by Bryan Myles. They competed in their first serious competition in 1978 - the Welsh Brewers' Choral Competition, held inCarmarthen . The following year they won in the under 40 voice category at the Miners'Eisteddfod inPorthcawl . 1981 saw the choir record a single with theCory Band . It was a cover version ofJona Lewie 's "Stop the Cavalry ". Although it failed to chart, it is regularly played by DJs in the USA and has been suggested as "probably the most popular song ever by an artist who never had a charted recording" [ [https://protected.ehost.com/jerryosb/12-12-05.htm Ask "Mr. Music" Jerry Osborne] ]Musical Director Bryan Myles left the choir in 1996 and was replaced by Simon Oram.
The choir were invited to perform at the christening of
Alvin Stardust 's daughter, Millie Margaret May, in May 2001.To celebrate their 40th anniversary, 2 special concerts were held during 2006. The first, in the
Swansea Grand Theatre , featured guest performances fromMal Pope , Miss Daisy Blue, the Vivace Singers andThe Storys . The second concert was held in the city'sBrangwyn Hall . Later in the year, due to a move out of the area, MD Simon Oram passed the baton on to Deputy MD Nick Rogers.2007 saw the choir performing in
Mannheim ,Germany , to mark the city's 400 years of history. This coincided with the 50th anniversary of itstwinning with Swansea. The Deputy Lord Mayor of Swansea, Ioan Richard, presented Mannheim Oberburgermeister Gerhard Widder with a dragon momento cut from Welshslate . 2007 also saw the choir increasing its size to 44 members.The choir was chosen to participate in the 2008
St. David 's Celebration held at theDisneyland Resort Paris . They provided 4 performances for the resort visitors on 1st and 2nd March.External links
* [http://www.gwalia-swansea.co.uk Gwalia Singers website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/sites/music/pages/choir_gwalia.shtml BBC Wales profile]References
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