
The Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice
Choir celebrated its silver jubilee in 2003/04, having been founded in 1978. Wales is known
worldwide as “The Land of Song” and singing is an inseparable part of Welsh
culture. Almost every small town and village in Wales has a
choir of some kind. Some are rightly world famous, like the Treorchy, others
are less well known, but nevertheless provide a musical outlet for Welsh
male energy. Overseas, Welshmen are known for their predictable behaviour:
one Welshman will start a chapel, two a committee, three an exiles’ group
and four a choir. Hong Kong is no exception
to this rule. Although its founders were Welsh, today's Hong Kong Welsh Male
Voice Choir truly reflects the city’s cosmopolitan nature, its ranks include
a number of local Chinese members as well as expatriates from some 12
different countries.
Many of them long-term Hong Kong
residents who have established families and businesses here. about half of
the choir’s 70 current members can still claim Welsh roots, thus maintaining
its fine traditions and enabling it to include many popular Welsh language
songs in its repertoire.
Over the years, the choir has established a fine reputation for the quality
of its performances. The legendary former Welsh rugby player Cliff Morgan,
who is also President of the London Welsh Choir, commented during a recent
visit that the Hong Kong choir not only
matched the very best for quality. but also showed the most exemplary spirit.
The choir appears regularly at events as diverse as the St David’s Society
Ball and the Hong Kong Folk Festival, as well as staging its own popular
show once a year. It has also entertained guests on visiting cruise ships
and receives annual invitations to perform in
Thailand
and Vietnam,
usually singing on board the flights as well as at the overseas concerts
themselves! And at Christmas time, the choir is much in demand for carol
concerts at different venues around town.
In their daily working lives, the choir members have as diverse a range of
backgrounds as their nationalities; they include members of the judiciary,
bankers, teachers, lawyers, writers, engineers, policemen, consultants and
students. However, the one thing that binds them is that they all love to
sing, and are quite likely to break into song at every available
opportunity.