A choir from India will be competing at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod for the first time thanks to a special bond that stretches back over two centuries. 
As musical director of the festival, Eilir Owen Griffiths must obviously remain impartial, but he will be particularly interested to see how the Mizoram Synod Choir gets on at this year’s festival. It is the choir’s first visit to Wales and their first ever competition – and Eilir is thrilled they’re coming. Earlier this year he spent 12 days in the north-eastern state of India passing on the benefit of his musical knowledge and wide experience as a conductor to Mizo Choirs and their leaders. The story of how the 27-strong mixed choir came to Llangollen is a fascinating one, and one which can be traced back to the long-established links between Wales and the Indian state. It was in Mizoram that a Welsh Presbyterian minister the Rev David Evan Jones worked as a missionary in the late-19th century. He founded the Presbyterian church out there and over the years numerous Welsh men and women have worked as missionaries in the field. Among them was the Rev O.W. Owen, whose son, the Rev Aneurin Owen, who lives in Llansannan, was born in Mizoram. He has visited the region four times and four years ago was asked if he knew anyone who could help the Synod Choir improve. The choir comprises members of other chapel choirs throughout the region and Aneurin considered the matter in depth before approaching Eilir, whose father, the Rev Robert Owen Griffiths, is a Presbyterian minister in Colwyn Bay. “Eilir’s immediate response was positive and so things moved on from there, and in January he came out to Mizoram with me,” said Aneurin. Each day Eilir, who is a lecturer at Trinity College, Carmarthen, and is leader of the Cardiff choir CF1, held seminars with choirmasters and each evening worked with three different choirs. “It was hard work – really full-on – but they got on really well and there was a lot of banter,” said Aneurin. At the end of the week, and with just 15 minutes of rehearsal, the choir sang the popular hymn “Tydi a Roddaist” in Welsh. The fundamental difference between the Synod Choir and most quality choirs is that they could read only solfa, and before leaving Eilir gave them some hymnbooks containing musical notation. “I told them that when I saw them next I wanted to see them making use of notation, which they’ll have to do if they want to move up a level,” he said. It was while they were in Mizoram that arrangements were made for the choir to visit Wales, about which they had heard so much, for the first time. The visit will include a mix of competition, concerts and sightseeing, beginning with a performance at the Spirit of Llangollen concert in Cardiff’s Tabernacle Chapel on July 5. They will be appearing with American tenor Noah Stewart, who will be performing in Llangollen a few days later, and CF1, conducted by Eilir. In a true gesture of friendship in keeping with the spirit of Llangollen, the Indian choristers will be staying with members of CF1 and a football match will be held between the two choirs. By coincidence, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Wales is being that same weekend in Aberystwyth and the choir will attend on the evening of July 6 to join their Welsh friends in worship. Then it is on to Llangollen and the eisteddfod’s choral competition on Friday, July 11, when they will be based at the Presbyterians’ young people’s centre in Bala. “The choir normally performs only in concerts and services and never competed before, so both the competition and the atmosphere and excitement of Llangollen will be completely new to them,” said Aneurin. The choir’s stay in Wales will close at Llansannan where Aneurin has invited them to take part in special services. “It’s brilliant how everything has fallen into place at reasonably short notice and I know the choir is looking forward to coming. There’ll be a very warm welcome for them here,” said Aneurin. The visit to India and his work with the Synod Choir had such an effect on Eilir that when interviewed by Dewi Llwyd recently on Radio Cymru, and asked what his ideal birthday present would be, he replied: “Tickets for a flight back to India.” The curtain raiser for this year’s Eisteddfod will mark the return of opera superstar Bryn Terfel to Llangollen. The acclaimed bass baritone will be playing the lead in a special English-language production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He will be joined by the supremely talented tenor Wynne Evans aka Gio Compario in the Go Compare TV ads. This year’s Eisteddfod will also feature concerts by Dutch jazz sensation Caro Emerald and veteran British rockers Status Quo as well as a world premiere of a new work, Adiemus Colores, by top composer Karl Jenkins. He will conduct his Latin American themed work with American tenor Noah Stewart, Venezuelan trumpeter Pacho Flores and Latvian accordion player Ksenija Sidorova to the accompaniment of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod Orchestra. The Choir of the World competition for the Pavarotti Trophy on the Saturday night is the blue riband event of the week-long festival. To book tickets and for more details about Llangollen International Eisteddfod go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk
