Cwmbach Choir Centenary Film
100 Years of Song
2021-2022 is the centenary year of Cwmbach Male Choir and they thought it’d be a good idea to create a film looking back at their century of success.And there is a lot of success to celebrate.
Not only multiple wins in Eisteddfods and performances with Hollywood stars but also singing the national anthem at rugby internationals and television appearances. There’s so much to choose from. Cwmbach Male Choir approached us with their idea and we jumped at the chance to help. Why wouldn’t you?Â
Therefore to tell the story we used a range of techniques. We filmed the choir in action at the newly renovated St Elvans Church in Aberdare, shot interviews and used archive home video and photos. It was awesome!
There’s something about the sound of a male voice choir. It makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. Capturing them on film was even better. A hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience.Check out one of their performances here.

The Land of Song
Wales is known as the land of song, and our own Cynon Valley (Aberdare in particular) played a big part in making it so. Because of a rich and vibrant musical tradition, the Cynon Valley has long been the nucleus of a thriving music scene in South Wales. At the present time there are many significant, contemporary bands performing a myriad of musical styles.
This isn’t a recent phenomenon, it has long been the case.Griffith Rhys ‘Caradog’ Jones was a Welsh conductor born in the Cynon valley in 1834. He is remembered for being one of the most successful choir masters in the National Eisteddfods of the era. His main contribution came in his victories in the Crystal Palace Challenge Cupchoral competition in 1872 and concurrently 1873. He put together a 450 strong choir for competition, made up from people across South Wales with Aberdare being the main hub.Â
A train with 18 carriages was needed to transport the choir members to London. They won first prize and were given a tremendous welcome when they returned home to Wales. As a result, they firmly established Wales as ‘The Land of Song’.The film will be released online on Friday March 4th at 1pm.What’s more, it will be available as a commemorative DVD with special extras.
