We Are The Men, Male Voice Choir
Wales (besides being the birthplace of our director) is a nation sometimes referred to as “Gwlad y Gân”—the land of song. It is a well-deserved description because Wales has a strong and distinctive tradition of folk music most commonly associated with male voice choirs.
Musical historians trace the roots of this tradition back to the men laboring in the mines. While walking home to their village after a very hard day’s work, someone in the group would start to sing, soon to be joined by the others often in four-part harmony. And it would not be uncommon to hear them vocalize church hymns, folk songs, songs of religious comfort, and songs of longing and unrequited love.
This rich musical tradition was brought forward by our director, Chris Roberts, when in 2002 he assembled a male voice choir from a Cape Cod choral group for a special concert they were performing. He then arranged a trip in 2004 where close to 40 choristers traveled to Wales to experience, first-hand, singing with a Welsh male voice choir and to perform with two well-known Wales choirs—The Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir and Choral Variations.
With that seed planted, in 2008 Chris again formed a male voice group for another special concert and the rest is history. The guys were so enthusiastic and impressed by how they sounded that We Are The Men, MVC was formed. (MVC. It stands for Male Voice Choir and is used by many male-voice choruses worldwide-wide).
Fast forward 10 years, after a successful decade of delighting audiences, to 2018. That was the year we traveled to London, England in October to join 800 like-minded vocalists in the 26th London Welsh Festival of Male Choirs at Royal Albert Hall and to sing before an audience of some 6000 or so truly enthusiastic attendees. We had the privilege—as the only choir from the US—of joining with choirs from England, Australia, Norway, Sweden, and—of course—Wales in a spectacular program of choral selections backed up most capably by The Band of the Welsh Guards. It truly was a “once in a lifetime experience” and one where we felt highly honored to be contributing to a very long tradition of music produced by men whose common bond is song.
Today, we continue to rehearse, explore new music, perform concerts, and simply sing, raising our individual voices in a blend of sound that is both unique and inspiring. In the sections that follow you’ll find information on our director and accompanist, upcoming events, booking information if you’d like to hire us (yes, it’s possible), information on how to join us (yes, that’s also possible), some sound clips we hope you’ll enjoy, and a brief request for support if you are so inclined (we hope you might be).
Diolch yn fawr & Dymuniadau gorau!
(Thank you very much & best wishes!)
From all of us at We Are The Men, MVC.