Our Place
Most of the choir lives in Borth, a small coastal village in Mid/West Wales, and a few more live in Taliesin, which is just across the bog (y Gors).
The Music
Nick creates all of the music especially for the choir. The singers and musicians, their voices and personalities are always part of the composition. There are no cover numbers or rearrangements of other people's work. So it is self contained. Much of the work is quite challenging to sing and demands that the singers continually increase their skills and musical understanding. During rehearsals they try out new ideas and then adjust and develop things as they go. It is truly living and breathing music.
The lyrics are mostly about people, their places, memories, families, the thoughts and feelings that they share and how they interact with others. Specific subject matter is diverse  from old age to mental health, stormy weather to spirituality, being an outsider to getting tattooed, and from romantic love to sleeping. They are sometimes humorous, sometimes soulful. Although Côr y Gors has a handful of fluent Welsh speakers and is an international group with 8 languages spoken, most of the songs are written in English at present. There is, however, a strong desire to sing more songs written in Welsh.
Choir History
Over Christmas 2003 an informal group from Borth did their usual Christmas caroling pub crawl to raise money for local charities. But this time they wanted to continue singing together throughout the year. One of them, Nick, was asked to lead the group. He agreed on the condition that everyone was happy for him to write the songs too. They were, and so he did. A year on the choir had a repertoire of about 15 songs, with new ones being learned all the time.
A small number of them have worked quite extensively as professional musicians and singers. Several more have some experience of playing or singing with local bands and choirs. But when formed, many of the choir hadn't sung for years and most had never performed before. The group ranges in age from sixteen to fifty-something and they're in all kinds of professions from curator to carpentry, medicine to management, painting to production, and teaching to tree work (and going to school). Many of them have been friends for up to 30 years and so there is quite a family feel.
We now have an album for sale at £9.
Visit our website to order.
