St David's Day celebrations start early in Llanelli

By Robert Lloyd

Compere Garry Owen had it right: We’re ahead of the game in Llanelli. Ymlaen (Forward) Llanelli and all that . . .

It takes a certain amount of swagger and style to stage a St David’s Day concert well ahead of the actual event. But, Llanelli is a place brimful with ‘hwyl’ and making this concert work was never going to be a problem.

It flowed like a river in full flood. Dramatic, inspiring and surprising.

It was something of a surprise to learn that this was only the second appearance in Llanelli by the famous Treorchy Male Voice.

A surprise also to see ‘debut day’ conductor Ryan Wood guiding the 50-plus choristers through a challenging programme which set a high performance benchmark for the evening.

There were old favourites such as Calon Lan, Ar Lan y Mor and Myfanwy. But there were also plenty of surprises – the Xhosa/Zulu South African folk song Senzenina, a cheerful You Make Me Feel So Young and Roses of Picardy, which featured a spoken rendition of the World War One poem In Flanders Fields.

The ‘guys’ on stage received plenty of competition from the ‘girls’.

The Amman Valley Côr Lleisiau’r Cwm have an edge over most female choirs – musical director Catrin Hughes is supremely talented and her arrangements fizz with passion, energy and enthusiasm.

The singers of Côr Lleisiau’r Cwm take a very obvious delight in their singing. The joy shines through in everything they do.

The choir’s programme included the Karl Jenkins favourite Songs of the Plains, Deuwch i’r dyfroedd, Arglwydd Ior fe’th glodforwn (from Sister Act), Y Meysydd Aur and a very topical (well, this is a Rugby World Cup year) Byd Yn Un (World In Union).

Rising tenor star Samuel Morris, already something of a local hero in Llanelli, broke off from his studies at the Guildford School of Acting to join the Ffwrnes bill.

Llanelli audiences are accustomed to Sam’s commanding stage presence, but it was plain from the off that his months away in college have given him an extra edge, an extra ‘wow’ factor.

His first-half Anthem (from Chess) blew the audience away.

And there was further evidence of Sam’s growing maturity as a singer in the second-half of the show when he balanced Bring Him Home (from Les Miserables) with Pan Fo’r Nos Yn Hir (the Ryan Davies classic).

Talk about testing your range from high notes to low notes. It was a challenge, but Sam met it head on, much to the delight of his ‘home fans’.

The evening closed with Sosban Fach, featuring both choirs and Sam. But this was no ‘same old’ arrangement. Under Ryan Wood and accompanist Helen Roberts, Sosban Fach was given some Russian polka folk dance dressing – a fitting touch of swagger and style to close the show.

As we have come to expect down the years, BBC Wales and BBC Cymru presenter and journalist Garry Owen was a excellent host for the evening.

The ‘tie’ change to ‘Armani’ in the interval added to the fun. Perhaps next time, Garry, will borrow Ryan Wood’s bright red shoes? Who knows? But we certainly look forward to the next time!