Imagine being a visitor in another country when that country suffered a horrendous terrorist attack. That was the experience of the Llanelli Male Voice Choir on the morning of September 11, 2001.
The choir woke up on the morning of 9/11 in Kansas City as the horrendous tragedy unfolded in New York. We seemed to be walking around in some unreal world, and very uncertain as to what was happening around the next corner. We were due to sing in a concert in near-by Independence, Missouri in the evening, and the organisers were adamant that the concert should proceed. The concert was held in the modernistically-beautiful "Temple of Peace", and the emotionally-charged atmosphere of the occasion and reception will be forever in our memory.
The choir had a group photo taken in the World Plaza of the Temple and used it as the cover photo on their web site for several years.
I was in the audience. It was emotionally-charged. And also somewhat surreal. I remember a feeling of stillness, of almost being frozen in time. In my memory, there was a vast empty space between the audience and the choir and it was as if we were trying to reach each other across that expanse.
I thought the choir was very brave to go ahead with the concert. It must have been difficult to get up and sing in the state of shock and fear we were were all feeling, but it was probably inspiriting also.
I don’t remember what the concert program was composed of and though they did not perform it on that occasion, I can’t think of a more appropriate piece to showcase the choir than Dafydd Iwan’s “Yma O Hyd”.
“Yma o hyd” means “still here”. The complete English translation of the lyrics can be found on this web page.