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Sometimes referred to as ‘the land of song’, Wales has a very strong and distinct tradition of folk music. The harp, especially the triple harp, is very popular and is especially traditional; along with the crwth, a stringed instrument similar to the fiddle. Although Welsh folk music is now very popular, for many years this kind of music had been hidden, thanks mainly to the Act of Union which supported and upheld the English language and the Methodist Church in the 18th and 19th century. During this time traditional folk music became associated with drunkenness and immortality. Instrumental music was being replaced by choral singing and secular music was replaced with religious music.
However, in the 1860’s, there began a revival. With the foundation of the National Eisteddfod Society and the London-area Welsh Societies at this time, people once again found an interest in Welsh folk music. The 1890’s brought the publication and release of Nicholas Bennett’s ‘Alawon fy Ngwlad’, which was a collection of traditional tunes that once again generated interest in Welsh traditional music.
The Welsh Folk Song Society was founded in 1906. The society was derived from movements at the end of the 19th century that attempted to obtain national institutions for Wales, such as the National Museum, University and Library of Wales. It is no surprise therefore that many of the patriots that were key members of this movement were on the early list of officers and members of the Welsh Folk Song Society.
As far as setting up a folk song society Wales was only slightly later than England (1898) and Ireland (1904) in being founded. However the English had been collecting their own traditional music for far longer with some tunes dating back to the 16th century. So why was Wales so late and far behind England in collecting their own folk music? Well, one must remember that Wales for a long time was not considered its own country. It was merely a part of England. So in this case whatever music was composed in Wales it would just be considered English. Also, as mentioned earlier, The Act of Union tried to abolish folk music and replace it with religious choral music. George Thompson was another reason. Thompson came to Wales and collected masses of folk tunes. He then asked Haydn and Beethoven to arrange these tunes. The words were changed to English and played across Europe. These tunes proved to be very popular but because of the translation into English nobody considered them to be Welsh folk music.
Major composers had been using folk tunes in their works for centuries. Wales, at the turn of the century, with the formation of the Welsh Folk Song Society had only just started collecting their own music. Around the same time major composers such as Bartok and Kodally were using folk tunes of their native country that they had collected previously in major works. This is where Wales had a lot of catching up to do – they had never previously collected their own folk music.
The Welsh Folk Song Society made its aims clear from the beginning. This is taken from its first ‘Journal’ in 1909.
‘The Society has been established for the purpose of collecting and reserving Welsh folk-songs, ballads and tunes, and of publishing such of these as may be deemed advisable; in short, to carry out for Wales the work that is already being done by the Folk-Song Society for England and by the Irish Folk-Song Society for Ireland.’
Although Welsh harp tunes have been saved since the middle of the eighteenth century, folk songs were very rarely documented and not written down. Songs would be composed but would hardly ever be written down. These songs would be passed down through the generations orally and this was the reason that lots are lost forever. Pennillion singing was a very popular pastime. This would consist of only one verse to begin but then people would take it in turn to add their own verses, and the songs would grow in this way; but again were never written down.
It was, in 1906 at the Caernarfon National Eisteddfod, that the Welsh Folk Song Society was established in a meeting that was orchestrated by the Society of Cymmrodorion. The collecting started immediately and proved to be very successful although there was a prejudice and fear of Welsh Society at this time. Most of this collecting was done in the north-west. On the second of September 1908, at the Llangollen National Eisteddfod, the first general meeting of the Welsh Folk Song Society was staged. This general meeting finally confirmed the Society’s existence, and the advances thereafter were substantial. By the year 1912 the Society had collected hundreds of songs. This was thanks to people like Dr J Lloyd Williams, who was one of the key members in the Society and also lecturer at the University College Bangor; Mrs Ruth Herbert Lewis, Dr Mary Davies, Mrs Grace Gwyneddon Davies, Mr Soley Thomas and Miss Jennie Williams. Dozens of the works collected in this time had been recorded on to phonograph cylinders and were then transcribed on to manuscript. By the year 1917-1918 the Society’s membership had grown to around four hundred. Concerts and lectures were now a regularity, and folk music was finally being accepted within concerts, the eisteddfod circuit and into schools. Mrs Herbert Lewis and Mrs Gwyneddon Davies both produced their collections in 1914; song leaflets were published from 1918-1919 onwards, and Schools Song Festivals began happening in the south in 1926. Although hope grew that a national school of composition would materialize the Society’s early momentum started to fade.
The 1930’s brought several difficulties for the Society and its progress started to decelerate. The earlier generation of workers, for example, were now getting older and during the year 1929-1930 the Society’s President, Dr Mary Davies passed away. This was shortly followed in 1933-1934 by the deaths of both the Secretary, Mr John Griffiths, and the Treasurer, Sir E. Vincent Evans. The comments made by the new President, Lady Herbert Lewis, in 1934 are noteworthy. She says,
‘We want new and younger workers…We welcome our new Secretary, Mr Gwynn Williams, of Llangollen, and hope that he may put new life into the Society.’
We can see from this significant statement made by the new President that the Welsh Folk Song Society in the 1930’s was in dire need of some new ideas and enthusiasm. And although the society has had a new Secretary, Lady Herbert Lewis states that she hopes that he will bring new life. The momentum that the Society had at the beginning of its existence, with its enthusiastic young and hungry workers, had almost halted to a stand still.
Another setback for the Society was the Second World War and between the years of 1944-1948 a short term report appeared which announced yet more deaths to officers and integral members of the Society. The new President, Lady Herbert Lewis, the Treasurer, Mr R Humphrey Davies, and the Editor Dr J. Lloyd Williams along with many other Vice Presidents and important members of the Executive Committee were to pass in this period.
Such was the catastrophe within the Society a whole new Executive Committee had to be formed in 1947. The Society’s Reports for this period seem to go from self belief to doubt. Optimistic signs occur every few years, and after the administrative transformation of 1947 there came a great surge of song collecting. This meant that the Journal was once again published, having not done so since the interruption of the Second World War on the Society’s work in 1941. Mr W.S. Gwynn Williams, the new Editor with the Welsh Folk Song Society, in 1954 commented on a fresh new life within the Society which it was in desperate need of. He also commented on the Folk Song School, lecturing, broadcasting and the high standards at the eisteddfod competitions.
The Welsh Folk Song Society, in 1958, celebrated its fiftieth birthday. Celebrations were held at Llangollen and this generated a fresh new energy and also a boost in membership, as well as the Folk Festival being founded. In the period between 1961 and 1963 came two volumes of ‘Caneuon Traddodiadol y Cymry’ which included selsections of entries from the Society’s Journal. Mr W Emrys Cleaver, the Society’s Treasurer, and his prudence was to thank for a crucial development in 1963. Mr Cleaver developed the idea of a Weekend Course that offered a programme of lectures and singing lessons. This was very successful and motivated fresh research into Welsh folk music.
There was, on the other hand, a very negative side to progress being made at the Wesh Folk Song Society in this period with reports often containing an ever looming weakness. The song collecting that happened in 1947, as mentioned earlier, hardly proliferated further than a few very dedicated officers and members of the committee. After the release of the Society’s Journal in 1957, there was a gap of eleven years until the next one was released in 1968, and then another gap o three years for the next one in 1971. Because of the drop in the number of people that were members of the Society the cost of producing the Journal was proving to be some what of an inconvenience. The difficulty for the Welsh Song Society in the 1960’s was once again attracting young people. Despite the number of members rising to about 250 at this time, hardly any were young supporters of the Society. By the seventies the membership amount seemed worryingly small.
In 1946 the Welsh Folk Museum was opened at St Fagans. Because of the museums hunger to reproduce anything and everything that was traditionally Welsh it went hand in hand with the Welsh Folk Song Society, as music played a major role in Wales. The two institutions grew to a close association in 1963. This was when the real collecting started and lots of traditional Welsh tunes were found including a Rhondda rebel song from 1927 which were lyrics discovered from first hunger march in Wales. In 1968 the Welsh Arts Council supplied its first grant in aid to the Welsh Folk Song Society which helped the publication of the Journal. Their financial backing proved to be imperative.
From 1976 the Welsh Folk Song Society progressed and advanced like it never had before. A new Chairman and Editor were appointed in 1976 to replace the ageing Mr. W. S. Gwynn Williams and Mr. W. Emrys Cleaver. Also Mrs Buddug Lloyd Roberts was appointed as the Society’s new Secretary.
Since 1977 there has been a massive increase in the Society’s publications. It’s Journal has appeared annually (under the different name of ‘Folk Song’ from 1978). Throughout this phase in the Society’s development there were also issued many other volumes: two compilations of Canu’r Cymry, Caneuon Gwerin I Blant, five volumes of Lleisiau’r Werin, reprints of both classics – Ancient National Airs of Gwent and Morgannwg and Lady Herbert Lewis’s Second Collection of Welsh Folk Songs, and Hen Alawon (Carolau a Cherddi). In addition to this the Society released two LP recordings titled ‘Canu’r Cymry’ and ‘Caneuon y Siroedd’. In 1982 the Welsh Folk Song Society celebrated its 75th birthday.
The Society received a sizeable donation after the death of Lady Amy Parry Williams in 1990. They established a Memorial Lecture in her honor which would be delivered each year at the National Eisteddfod. The Journal publishes the products of this event as well as the residential course which still happens annually. The Society still has a good, long standing relationship with the Eisteddfod. This is thanks to recommendations of competitions and adjudicators for the Folk Song Section. The Society in 2004 started its own website and the number of members which it retains has been at around 250 for a while.
Celebrations for the Society’s one hundredth birthday in 2006 started with three one-day conferences. These conferences were held in three places hat played a major role in helping the Society’s studies. These were the National Library of Wales, University of Wales Bangor and St. Fagans National History Museum. A celebratory meeting was held at the National Eisteddfod which was held in Swansea.
It is very important to remember that the Welsh Folk Song Society is a totally voluntary service and before 1968 it wasn’t even funded by the Arts Council, Government, University or Education Authority. Almost during its whole lifetime the Society has been in partnership with the Eisteddfod tradition. Even so, the Society, with the future an mind, have prioritized their time to introducing folk songs to young children in schools.
Has the Welsh Folk Society been a success? Although the Society has witnessed its ups and downs throughout its one hundred or so year history the Society has definitely been a success. For one thing it’s kept Welsh traditional music alive. If the Society wasn’t founded when it was it might not ever have happened, and folk music would have been lost forever. It’s also regenerated interest in the traditional music of Wales with its schools programme and association with the Eisteddfod. Also a measure of its success is the fact that is still going strong after over a hundred years of existence. Another thing that determines the Society's success is the coverage it gets – for example the magazine ‘Taplas’ (‘The Voice of Folk in Wales and The Borders’) has appeared on a bi-monthly basis since 1982.
Another thing that shows how successful the Welsh Folk Song Society has been is the sheer number of other groups or societies that have been founded much more recently than them, but are going strong thanks to the interest generated in Welsh folk music by the Folk Song Society. ‘Clera’ and ‘trac’ are recently founded groups that also deal in folk music. Also festivals such as the Eisteddfod are still as popular as ever and the opening of ‘Canolfan Siamas’ which is a national for folk traditions shows that people are still very interested in Welsh folk music. Recording labels such as ‘Tradd’ and ‘Sain’ also show that the Folk Song Society has been a major success – this shows the demand for Welsh folk music. Also academically there is a course at the university of Wales Bangor that that studies Welsh traditional music.
So the success of the Welsh Folk Song Society has been phenomenal. But the society can’t rest on its laurels because the hardest thing for them now is to sustain this incredible success into the future and preserve Welsh folk music for years to come.
