The Biz
LOCATiON &VOCATiON
H
aving grown up in the
South Wales Valleys,
my connection with
music has always
been strong. Even
decades on, I still so vividly
remember the sound of our
small mining village waking
u p f o r w o r k e a c h
m o r n i n g . H u n d r e d s
upon hundreds of men arrived
over the mountains that
created the valley we lived
i n , b r i n g i n g w i t h t h e m
unmistakable and deep
choral voices that defined the
sound of this beautiful but
rugged part of the world so
well. Miners by day and
musicians by night, their talent
was abundant and the male
voice choirs they were part of!
built a substantial local
following thanks to the
amount of effort they put into
their performances at working
men’s halls across Wales. !
Jones were shaping a more
contemporary sound for
Wales, chasing commercial
stardom in ways inspired by a
very American youth
culture. A valleys-boy
himself, Tom had built a
g r e a t r e p u t a t i o n a s a
musician, locally, but to
achieve true commercial
recognition and a chance of
real work, Tom had to move
away from home and again,
towards London, if he was
going to make it. Should Tom
not be represented by
somebody on Denmark
Street (the heart of the UK
music industry in its infancy),
he might as well have not
been singing at all.!
!
The truth was, regardless of
the kind of musician, it didn’t
matter where the heart of a
sound was; that heart had to
travel to find business. !
And this was happening the
world over.
Swipe to read more!
!
Whilst it’s true to say that for
as long as a choir was at
h o m e , t h i s w a s n o t a
commercial operation
(and rather about community,
about camaraderie, patriotism
and pride), some of the finest
such workingmen’s choirs did
make it to London to record
and perform professionally.!
!
Not so far away in Cardiff,
musicians such as Dame
Shirley Bassey and Sir Tom
IMAGE
iSing | issue 1
isingmag.com
»