Canfod y Gân during 2022-2024
Here’s a look back over the Canfod y Gân Newsletters released during 2022-2024.
Funding for us to continue to “Discover the Song”
We are very pleased to announce that we have received a grant from the Steve Morgan Foundation to continue with the work of Canfod y Gân (Discover the Song).
“Founded in 2001 by businessman and philanthropist, Steve Morgan CBE, we provide funding, support, expertise and best practice to the charities and organisations we support. By harnessing the power of working together, we address a range of areas including poverty, homelessness, health and wellbeing, and education and training, and have helped to improve the quality of life for more than four million people.“
To learn more about the Steve Morgan Foundation’s work go to their website: stevemorganfoundation.org.uk
Merry Christmas 2022
Merry Christmas from Canfod y Gân. The Harlech crew have been very busy writing an original new Christmas song. The song is a combination of the members’ favorite things about Christmas, from Christmas lights to delicious gravy. To go with the song we filmed a music video – you can watch the video below!
Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!
Behind the Scenes: Canfod y Gân Christmas Song
We started by writing down all our favourite things about Christmas and we worked on putting them into verses. In the next session we recorded the sog with instruments and singing.
The final step was to film a music video to go with the song, so we all dressed up in our Christmas clothes and danced and sang along with the music.
Canfod y Gân Celebration, Neuadd Dwyfor Pwllheli (2 September)
The Canfod y Gan crew had a very special day on the 2nd of September 2022 at the official Canfod y Gan Celebration in Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli.
After 3 years of running the project, it was about time we celebrated all the hard work the members, tutors and everyone who has been part of the project has put into Canfod y Gan!
Each group had the opportunity to perform some of their favorite songs for us as part of the celebration. We heard a variety of different music ranging from well-known songs such as ‘Ceidwad y Goleudy’ by Bryn Fôn and ‘The Wonder of You’ by Elvis Presley to some original songs written by Canfod y Gan members such as ‘Can Adra’ which was written by the Harlech group and ‘Running Around in My Mind’ which was written by a member of the Caernarfon group.
It was a great opportunity for us to be able to celebrate all the talent that can be seen in the Canfod y Gan sessions, and everyone in the audience seemed to be delighted with the feast of music that the crews had prepared!
We finished the performances off as the 3 groups came together to sing an original song called ‘Can Cadw’n Positif’ – but the fun wasn’t over yet…
To the surprise of all the members, Dafydd Iwan walked into the room, clutching his guitar, ready to finish the performance off by singing ‘Mam Wnaeth Got i Mi’ and ‘Yma o Hyd’ with the members!
After that shock, and after everyone had the chance to take a photo with the special guest, we had a small tea party to celebrate the success of the event, as well as to celebrate the success of the last 3 years of the Canfod y Gan project!
A day to remember for all who took part, I’m sure!
Eisteddfod Tregaron Performance (30 July)
We had a very special day at the National Eisteddfod in Tregaron on the 30th of July.
We heard great performances from the Meirionydd and Arfon groups, with a set that was a perfect mix of original songs written by the groups, and performances of well-known Welsh songs such as ‘Harbwr Diogel’ and ‘Mam Wnaeth Got i Mi’.
The audience seemed to love the feast of songs that were performed, as they enjoyed singing along with us!
A huge thank you to the National Eisteddfod for the invitation, and a huge thank you to our members from the Meirionydd and Arfon groups for their fantastic performance!
Hijinx Unity Festival, Pontio Bangor (29 June)
Our Arfon group were invited to be part of the Hijix Unity Festival (an intergrated theatre group) in Pontio, Bangor on 29 June.
The group performed a mix of popular songs including, Ysbyrs y Nos by Edward H, What About Now by Westlife and Love Yourself by Justin Bieber. Cân Canfod y Gân was performed, composed by the group during the first year of the project and an improvisation on Elin’s tune on the glockenspiel. In addition, Matthew performed his New song ‘Running Around in My Mind’, a song which he has released as an EP Bandcamp. The set was finished with the “crowd pleasers” Sosban Fach and Mam Wnaeth Gôt Imi where the audience joined in with us!
Thanks to Hijinx Theater Company for including us in their very special festival!
Dementia Tea Dance, Pwllheli (22 June)
The Dwyfor group was invited by the Dementia Service to be part of a Tea Dance which was held in Capel y Trindod, Pwllheli in June.
There was plenty of dancing, singing, cakes and cups to keep the group going throughout the afternoon. Our member Merfyn performed a composed song about Finding the Song, these are the words:
A new group was formed,
A brand new group,
There isn’t one similar anywhere else,
It’s cheerful and unique
There’s lots of different instruments,
For everyone, no matter who you are,
To play and to have fun,
And create all types of song
The group performed music that the audience could ballroom dance to and join in with us.
Thanks to the Dementia Service, the students of Coleg Meirion Dwyfor and to Edwin for the invitation.
Merched y Wawr Performance, Rhydymain (May 2022)
Members of our Harlech group were delighted to be back performing live on stage for the first time since 2019 on Saturday. We had a wonderful Saturday morning taking part in the Merched y Wawr conference in Rhydymain on the 14th of May.
We heard a great performance on the Cellos by Debbie and Elin to start the morning, before the group moved on to perform a few Welsh classics such as ‘Ar lan y Môr’ and ‘Ceidwad y Goleudy’, before we finished with an original song by the Canfod y Gan crew called ‘Lockdown song’.
Many thanks to the Merched y Wawr for having us there – we had a great day!
Wishing everyone all the best over Christmas
It has been a challenging year due to the pandemic but we are delighted that we have been able to re-start our face to face sessions since September. Thank you to everyone for their support. We look forward to a 2022 full of music making. Here’s a special performance by our members to wish everyone a Happy Christmas.
It’s important to stay positive. Keep going
Back in January after the shock that came before Christmas that we were in another lockdown. It felt different this time. Wouldn’t this Christmas be the same, and how long will this lockdown last? We were all facing an uncertain time again. When we got back together after Christmas, it was very important for us all to help each other. Terry, one of our members, said:
“It’s really important for us all to stay positive and keep going. Coming to Canfod helps me, and getting creative ”
Inspired by Terry’s words, we asked everyone what they were looking forward to doing once things got better. Everyone was full of ideas.
Here are some of our ideas:
- Working at Café Cei
- Playing football in Caernarfon with Tony and Mark
- Have a cuppa and a cake at a cafe
- Ride a bike and run far
- Swim and feel the water
- Go for a trip to the seaside and have a picnic with everyone
- Getting a real hug is better than a virtual hug
- Go back to Canfod y Gân again
- Sing in the same room as everyone else
The group were thinking of heart-warming messages. ‘A better day will come’ was a very important message to everyone. Many of our members also attend Clwb Enfys through www.llwybraullesiant.cymru so we decided to work with the club to create positive messages and colorful artwork to include in our video. Thank you to the club members for contributing to our video, your artwork was fantastic, so positive and colorful!
One of our tutors, Elin, put everyone’s ideas together. And that’s how we got the new ‘Keep the Faith’ song. We were busy recording ourselves playing together. We had all kinds of videos from the mouth organ to bells and the cello. Mared also blew the dust off her flute to perform with the crew.
Enjoy our song!