December 2017

It was the last session of 2017, so there had to be at least one Christmas song - and there was!

Here is the link to December's recordings: a Native American chant, an Easter song (don't ask!) from Malawi, an English wassail and a song of peace from Hawaii.

There are four MP3s, one for each of the songs we learnt. Although we didn't have time to record our version of Imaweni, there is a version by Chris's first choir WorldSong from their 2005 CD.

There is a bit of blurb in the Description section of each song including lyrics and a translation.

Enjoy!

All of us here at SingWiv wish you a very merry Christmas and a super Happy New Year.

We hope to see you in January when we're back at the Scout Hall on Saturday 20 January for a prompt 2pm start.

Click here to find all the dates for 2018.

New dates for 2019

The dates for 2019 SingWiv sessions are as follows:

19th January
16th February
16th March
13th April 
18th May
22nd June
then a holiday in July and August
14th September
12th October
16th November
and 14th December

Put the dates in your diary  NOW and we look forward to seeing you all.

November 2017

This month we started off with a simple, but effective swing-like warm up song with the inspiring words of "Do be do be do". This was followed by an Alleluya from Honduras (at least the words were easy!) and then we moved onto quite a tricky piece by William Byrd from his "Mass for 3 Voices" written in 1591-2. You can't say we don't have variety each month!

You can hear a version of Byrd's Kyrie here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUgVYxiU52I

Here is the link to November's recordings.

October 2017

Autumn is slowly settling in!

This month we did a song that was originally learnt from a musician from Togo: Ayele mama. It's supposed to be a call to a young girl who's lost. Then onto an upbeat spiritual "Let your little light shine". And finally an arrangement by Nickomo of a section of Eric Clapton's song "Let it grow" which proved to be quite tricky!

Here is the link to October's recordings.

September 2017

We're back after our summer break - yippee!

We were so happy to be back that we sang a round called "Great is the joy" :

Great is the joy we can know in each day
When we can serve others in some small way
For we shall know the gift of life.

Then we moved onto a slow shanty "Lowlands away" before ending on a high with a South African song about divination: "Siya wa shia."

Here is the link to September's recordings.

June 2017

It's June, last session before our summer break. And what better way to celebrate summer than by singing a version of a South African penny whistle song? It's called Tom Hark and you may know it from a version in 1980 by a band called The Piranhas.

We also did a gentle Native American chant "Hey Yana", a farewell song from Poland which works as a round, and Chris's arrangement of part of George Michael's song "Freedom".

If you don't know George Michael's "Freedom" you can find it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diYAc7gB-0A

Here is the original of Tom Hark:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKz5kpqctV0

Here is the link to June's recordings.

May 2017

We only managed to get through two songs this month, but they're both corkers!

With such lovely weather we kicked off with an adapted spiritual "Great day".

Great day, great day and the sun is shining
Great day, the sun's gonna shine on everyone.

Then we tackled a rather trick Russian song "To ne veter vetku klonit". It's about a young man's lost love sung with typical Russian emotion:

There is no life here for me without my sweetheart 
With whom shall I go now to the altar? 
It seems that the fate of this young man 
Is to be wed to the grave.

Here is the link to May's recordings.

April 2017

Just two songs this month. One a love song from Wales and the other a song of peace from Zimbabwe.

"Ar lan y mor" is a famous Welsh love song variously translated as “On the Seashore” or “Beside the sea”

On the seashore are red roses; 
On the seashore are white lilies 
On the seashore is my darling 
Who sleeps at night and wakes by morning.

"Masibambane" is a traditional song from Zimbabwe in the Ndeble language.

Let us join our hands with one spirit to raise up our nation and be like doves

Chris has included a field recording (from the CD "Let's join hands") of Masibambane to give you a feel of how it's usually sung in Zimbabwe.

Here is the link to April's recordings.

March 2017

What beautiful weather we've been having lately! We still managed to persuade some singers to come indoors though and learn some great songs.

This month was a real mix: Chris's arrangement of Melanie Safka's song "What have they done to my song, ma?", a Christian song from Malawi, and a Hawaiian song in praise of the fire god Pele.

Here is the link to March's recordings.

February 2017

There's a definite feel of spring in the air at last!

We had a great time singing this month and managed to get through three songs, none of which were straightforward.

"Wangari" was written by Polly Bolton to celebrate Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), the inspirational environmental campaigner and Nobel prize winner from Kenya.

"Yo, yo, yo" is a Nigerian lullaby which works as a round. Rough translation: "No matter how much I rock you No matter how much I kiss you You still will not sleep."

"Yonana" was written by Chrys Blanchard for her singing group in Abergavenny.

Here is the link to February's recordings.

January 2017

... and welcome back to SingWiv for 2017. We hope you all had a great Christmas.

For those of you who braved the cold this month we managed three fun songs.

A "Hallelujah" written by Natural Voice choir leader Pauline Down; a beautiful song by Ali Burns "Love that you were here with me" and Chris's arrangement of an REM song "It's the end of the world as we know it" (in honour of the Trump!).

Here is the link to January's recordings.