Tales of singing in Ireland and Wales and creating Gemütlicheit.

I had the good fortune to visit Ireland, Wales and England on May 13-22, 2018. I traveled with the University of Northern Iowa Varsity Men's Glee Club. It was my 13th trip to Europe—12th with the Glee Club, both as a student and alumnus. It was an interesting time to be in Europe. And this tour was one of the best ever.

Driving 300 miles to sing with the Glee Club
Our first formal concert of the tour was in the beautiful Hyde Park Union Church, on Chicago's south side. We had a fair number of alums in the audience for our performance, including Andy Green (UNI '09), who drove 300 miles from Indianapolis to attend. The alumni joined the Glee Club on stage to perform 'Brothers Sing On!', and I could tell by Andy's expression that it was well worth the drive. We commiserated over the best Chicago-style pizza at Giordano's, and fortified ourselves for the flight to Ireland with a hearty breakfast at Eleven City Diner the next morning.

Celebrating Ireland's greatest exports: Guinness and music
Our group took a tour of the Guinness Brewery at St James's Gate in Dublin. I must state for the record that I am not a big beer drinker. However, music and drinking go together in Ireland like bangers and mash. The Irish have enjoyed Guinness since 1759, and they've got this figured out. If you've never experienced a pint of cold Guinness, properly pulled from a tap in the city where it is brewed (they actually teach a course on the right way to pour a Guinness), then my friend, you haven't truly lived. In fact, Guinness is so good, it has single-handedly ruined my taste for mainstream American beer, which tastes like the by-product of said beer to me now. At the end of the tour, we climbed to the 7th floor of the brewery, and enjoyed a free pint while taking in a panoramic view of the city. The place was packed, so the Glee Club took this opportunity to sing a boisterous version of 'Brothers Sing On!'. We didn't even mind that the head bartender announced that we were a choir from the University of Northern Ohio.

Gemütlichkeit in the Irish capital
Our first formal concert was a shared performance with the Dubliner Welsh Men's Choir. As both groups were warming up, I went over and introduced myself to one of the Dubliners. "My name is Paul. I'm the oldest member of our group." The gentleman shaking my hand said, "My name is Tom, and you'd be the youngest member of ours." He wasn't joking—the average age of the Dubliners was 65. After the concert, both choirs gathered at a nearby teachers' club. I talked with Peter O'Leary, a long-time tenor in the Dubliner Welsh Men's Choir and a retired printer. We talked about politics (a vote to repeal an abortion ban in Ireland was scheduled for May 25), and we lamented the demise of the printing industry by the computer. 

The Glee Club and the Dubliners shared more music. One of the most memorable moments came when Colin Mattox, (UNI '18 English, and proud Irish-American) and I sang our best rendition of "Men of Erin." (Erin means 'Ireland' in Gaelic) This is a ballad performed by the American-Celtic folk rock group, The Elders. We led our small band of glee clubbers with the lyrics '...As you go brave men of Erin, faith and love by your side, I will dream of your peace in the night." Our singing was very warmly received, partially because our hosts were so gracious, but also because they had never heard the song before. Since it was written by an American group, this made sense. When we finished singing, they applauded, and one of the Irish singers looked up from his iPhone and happily proclaimed, "I found it on Spotify!" 

The Germans have a word for this phenomenon: Gemütlicheit. Roughly translated, it means 'good feelings between people'. We had successfully introduced our Irish hosts to a new song about their homeland. I hope they will love singing it as much as we did.

Give a listen to the original:

Bangers and Mash at the oldest pub in Ireland

It was a bit of a hike, but a small band of glee clubbers found "The Brazen Head", the oldest pub in Ireland. We had lunch in 'The Library', which was decorated with police and fire department patches from cities all around the world. The food was exceptional. Occasionally places like this can be tourist-trappy, but The Brazen Head was the real deal. James Joyce wrote about it in Ulysses "...you get a decent enough do in the Brazen Head". The pub started out in 1198 as a hostelry, and the present building dates back to 1754. It got it's name from a 13th century legend of a bronze or brass head mounted on marble that could predict the future. The head would answer any question put to it. The problem was that the head could only answer with "yes" or "no", so questions had to be very carefully phrased. Our big Iowa boys had to be careful navagating the old pub, as some of the doorways seemingly were built for leprechauns.

The Irish Sea was calm for a 3-hour tour

Our group boarded The Stena Adventurer, an ocean-going ferry at the Port of Dublin, for the 3-hour ride to Holyhead, Wales. As we took to the Irish sea, we stood on deck and sang 'Brothers Sing On!' It was smooth sailing, unlike 12 years ago when a bunch of students got seasick on the very same ship.

Karaoke in a 120-year-old Welsh Pub

Our formal concerts were wonderful, and well-attended. But some of our most memorable singing happened in unlikely places. For decades, The Glee Club has been known to sing anywhere, at the drop of a hat. The summit of Mt Snowden. Anfield Stadium in Liverpool. And for a small group of glee clubbers, Karoke night at The King's Arms, a 120-year-old pub in Llandudno, Wales. This place was a classic pub—polished wooden bar, lots of locals and inexpensive brews. The guys talked me into singing karaoke. I told them I would do it, but they had to sing with me. Someone suggested the 80's classic "Take On Me" by A-ha. I agreed. We put in our request, and waited. The pub was supposed to close at 1:00 am, and I was beginning to think my European karaoke debut wasn't going to happen. After the DJ worked out some technical difficulties, at 12:55, we were ready. Ours was the last song of the night. Somebody handed me a mic, and suddenly we were belting out "...Take on me... I'll be gone... In a day or...two!" I soon realized that everyone in the pub had joined us on the floor, singing and dancing. Just another magical moment brought about by music.

Singing your heart out in a place known for singing one's heart out

The country of Wales is known world-wide for quality men's choral singing. For generations, every small Welsh town, coal and slate mine had it's own men's choir. It seems that Welshmen sing with more gusto than just about anyone on the planet. Knowing this made the standing ovations we received at the end of our last two performances in Wales even more gratifying.

The song that got everyone excited in Wales was "Cwm Rhondda". It is difficult to put into words how important this song is to the Welsh. It's bigger than their national anthem, and more spiritual. Our director, Dr John Wiles, made sure we learned the first verse in Welsh. Not an easy task.
Give the first verse a try:
"Arglwydd, arwain trwy'r anialwch, 
Fi, bererin gwael ei wedd,
Nad oes ynof nerth na bywyd
Fel yn gorwedd yn y bedd:
Hollalluog, Hollalluog,
Ydyw'r Un a'm cwyd i'r lan.
Ydyw'r Un a'm cwyd i'r lan"

There is something quite magical that happens when you sing with people from foreign lands—especially if that music is deeply meaningful or spiritual. A bond is created. Souls are uplifted and perceptions change. This is something that the Glee Club has done very well over the years. I will never forget the elderly man in Austria who was moved to tears because the Glee Club sang "Die Nacht" (The Night) in his native German, back in 2004. He had been a soldier in the German Army during WWII, and his platoon had been decimated by American troops. He admitted after our concert that he did not think highly of Americans. But when he heard a group of American college men singing of the beauty of the night, in his language, his attitude towards Americans was forever changed. There were similar moments on this tour as well. 

We sang our hearts out, and I believe our Irish and Welsh audiences appreciated the effort. We performed 'Cwm Rhondda' with our host choirs at the end of our concerts, and many of us got misty-eyed as we harmonized together. We sang the last 2 verses in English, and we all belted out the final stanza: "Songs of praises, songs of praises, I will ever give to thee. I will ever give to thee." That's Gemütlicheit.