Some singing

treesparrow

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
Any expression of national pride is probably frowned upon these days in certain circles (with the woke folk for instance).
The singing of one's national anthem is a major way of showing this - and it's no doubt debatable as to which are the world's best.
Perhaps a better way of looking at it is who can sing their anthem exceptionally well - with vigour, passion and a true, vivid sense of communal involvement?

With that criteria in mind here are 70,00 Welsh people singing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land Of My Father) before a rugby match against England in 2013.


Did that stir anything in you?

Not for nothing is Wales known as the Land of Song.
 
That was rousing. A friend of mine from Kent, England, remarked when he visited Wales that he couldn't understand why the Welsh had such deep voices. I'm just wondering if that is vagus nerve related? If you talk/sing from the belly you carry more resonance in your voice.
 
Welsh folk singer Dafydd Iwan leads 30,000 crowd singing with great emotion his song Yma o Hyd (Still Here) - its like a second national anthem. Rousing, spine-tingling rendition.


Btw, the Welsh language is derived from an ancient British one (Brythonic) which was once spoken all the way up to the central lowlands of Scotland. This is maybe why historically the Welsh regard themselves as the descendants of the true British (before the Anglo-Saxons moved in circa 6th century.)

Translation of lyrics -

You don’t remember Macsen.

Who was he? You don’t know?

One thousand and six hundred years

Is far, far too long ago.

When Magnus Maximus left Wales

Three eighty three was the year;

He left us as a whole nation

And today — look, we’re still here!

Chorus:

We’re still here today! We’re still here today!

Despite everything and everybody

We’re still here today!

Let the wind blow from the east,

Let the storm from the sea roar,

Let the sky split with lightning,

Let thunderbolts shout encore;

Let the fainthearted keep wailing,

Let the serfs grovel and fawn;

In spite of the darkness around us

We’re ready to greet a new dawn.

Remember that old Prince Macsen

Left our country as one;

Let’s shout out to all the nations,

‘We’ll be here until Kingdom come!’

Despite all the collaborators,

Despite Maggie’s gang, we’re alive,

We’ll be here for ever and ever,

The Welsh language will survive!
 
Who was he? You don’t know?

One thousand and six hundred years

Is far, far too long ago.
In his book The Golden Bough, J.G. Frazer hypothesizes that mankind has evolved intellectually and psychologically from superstitious belief in magicians, to superstitious beliefs in priests and gods, to an enlightened belief in academic science. However, despite changes in the subject of faith, faith itself remains unchanged, as does its overarching goal - the continuity of existence and the search for what is permanent and imperishable. In the past, what was to ensure this continuity were various rituals and esoteric knowledge, then fervent faith, and today human hope is hidden primarily in the achievements of science or the development of medicine.

"Who was he? You don’t know?

One thousand and six hundred years

Is far, far too long ago. "

Human life is too short to observe the changes that will take place over thousands of years, not to mention Septyliards. We count the decades.

We pay attention to details. We forget what we wrote thousands of years ago without being in the body.

We come back here and we don't understand where our current life is coming from. And yet we create and feel that there is something outside the known world. It shows in the emotions in this song.

The voice breaks and breathing stops. This is the most beautiful thing about it. As a graduate of the Academy of Music, I believe that vocal purity is overrated.

Only what is hidden in the heart and soul is important.

I would like to tell you that 1600 years means nothing. Only eternity matters.

What matters is what comes after the answer to the question about the nature of time. This is where all the values are.

(written in a state of deep emotion).
 
Thanks for the shares. Amazing how powerful it can be when ten thousand voices know the same song, and join in unison.

Have you heard of the Singing Revolution, celebrated every year in Estonia? Here is a very dramatized trailer that will give you the gist:

The claim is that the Estonians sang their way to freedom from the Soviets! I don't know enough about the Singing Revolution to gauge its authenticity.

And speaking of authenticity, that reminds me of the book, 'The Invention of Tradition' by Hobsbawm and Ranger, in the recommended reading list. In this book, I learned that tradition is often invented - and not just religious traditions, like contemporary evangelical Christianity - but also folk traditions. These invented traditions often arise in times of cultural decay, confusion, or stress.

For instance, chapter 1 describes how the Scottish kilt was not an historic cultural garment. It was created 'whole cloth', if you'll excuse the pun, by London industrialists and a few home-grown charlatan historians! And the author makes the claim that the Scottish clan system was also created at this time, too. He says that the whole of Scots 'Highland culture' was invented, then retrojected backwards as 'ancient'. Crazy stuff. Or maybe not so crazy on 3D earth. This apparently happened in a time when Scots were facing pressures from the Southerners, and as such, a loss of their identity was apparent, which lead to two main cultural productions, or 'invented traditions' - the kilt and the clan system.

I hesitate to suggest it here, but chapter 2 focuses on Wales as 'the land of poetry and song', with some equally surprising insights. The reason I hesitate is because I don't wish to insensitively trod on anyone's feelings for their homeland, fellow folk, and whatever traditions may be in place at this time. But at the same time, there's good information available that can be networked with regards to this topic, and in particular to the first two videos shared above.
 
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