Music –

Wales is music.  Although it has every type of music – it is best known for its hymns.  In the 18th Century, there was a great Welsh Methodist religious revival,  Starting in the 1600’s, during he Baroque period, a new form of vocal music started to appear, this was four-part harmony.  At first was not for hymns.  Religious music was still a chanting style.  Folk music in the Celtic world did use harmony, but with the Welsh Methodist Revival, hymn composers started writing new religious music, sometimes adding religious lyrics to popular or folk tunes.  Folk music didn’t die out, but Welsh Hymns became to be the dominant vocal choice for most people in Wales.  The style of signing hymns was different in Wales.  It was sung with great fervor, and loud.  At the end of the church service if you weren’t somewhat hoarse, you hadn’t done well!  There is a Welsh saying “If you don’t know your part by age 3, then you are not a Christian!”  Wales produced many superior hymn writers.  Probably the most famous would be William Williams Pantycelyn who wrote the great hymn “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah, sung to the tune Cwm Rhondda.  This hymn is sung by many denominations.  The Welsh National Anthem was written by a father-son team, Evan and James James.

Examples of Welsh music are plentiful. Just query Welsh music on YouTube, and you can find many examples.

Each year, in many places in the world, those of Welsh descent gather together for an event known as a Gymanfa Ganu, (in English Singing Festival).  This is a religious service, but not in a format of any particular denomination.  When first conceived in Wales, it was a time when the different groups, Methodist, Congregational, Baptist, etc. got together primarily to enjoy singing.  It lives on today. The Welsh (usually a Welsh Society) rent a facility, a church or college chapel and have a Gymanfa Ganu (pronounced Gim-Ahn-Va Gahn-eee).  Because of COVID-19 in 2020, these live events were sometimes conducted on-line, especially in the U.S. and Canada.  The following Youtube video is one conducted by the Welsh Society of Central Ohio in October 2020  (of which your author is a member).