Choir keeps alive Cornish tradition

Listening to an all-male choir with its deep richness of sound is thrilling.

Listening to one that has an almost spiritual connection to a choir of male voices that sang about 125 years ago is even more thrilling.

While the Grass Valley Male Voice Choir sings a little bit of anything and everything such as show tunes and sacred music, Director Eleanor Kenitzer said, their specialty is Cornish music, the tradition of singing that the miners brought with them from Cornwall in the 1800s to make their fortunes in Grass Valley's gold mines.

Fast forward to 1993, when the Grass Valley Cornish Choir, comprised of 30 male and female voices traveled to England for a singing invitational. "When in Cornwall, we heard the Cornish male voice choirs," Kenitzer said, "and that ignited a fire for the men in our choir."

Up until that time the choir had been a pretty relaxed experience, she said.

"I promised to direct them only if they were willing to commit to once-a-week rehearsals all year long. Fifteen men boldly stepped forward and we had our first rehearsal."

It was a shaky beginning - "We sounded awful, though we thought we were good," Kenitzer said - steady practice and some great voices have elevated the choir to the ranks of near professionals, according to those who have heard them.

They sing at functions year -round with most performances clustered around Christmas. Their next concert takes place Saturday.

One of their most important contributions has been keeping Cornish song alive, not only here in Grass Valley, but also in Cornwall, England.

It seems that Cornish is a dead language, only recently being revived as the Cornish struggle for their own identity. So when the choir sang The Lord's Prayer in Cornish (Pader Agun Arluth) before 1,000 people in a football field in Cornwall, "There was dead silence when we finished," Kenitzer said, "then they erupted in a standing ovation. Some had never even heard their language spoken before. They were so touched and deeply moved that we did this."

It wasn't easy, though. First, Kenitzer received the piece from its composer, a Scottish woman named Priscilla Milne. Then the choir, with the help of a recording produced for them by the composer's daughter, a Cornish language expert, started a year -long process of learning the words as well as the challenging music. But learn it they did, and in the process scored a triumph.

"It put us on the map," Kenitzer said, "as people who are seriously maintaining Cornish traditions and keeping connections alive."

It also propelled Kenitzer herself into the rarefied atmosphere of Bardom, as she has been elected into the Gorsedd of Cornish Bards, a society that traces its roots back to the days of the Druids. She is one of only six Americans who have been so honored.

She also leads a workshop every other year for the Cornish American Heritage Society that attracts more than 500 people from all the Americas who delve into Cornish music, language, pastie making and genealogy.

From modest beginnings the choir has now grown to around 40 men between the ages of 35 and 85. While one doesn't have to be Cornish to join (indeed, only two today trace their ancestry to Cornwall, including the oldest, Joe Day), prior choir experience and a good ear is essential, and ability to read music a plus.

"I'm not teaching them," Kenitzer said. "I hold them to a higher standard."

The Grass Valley Male Voice Choir will sing an all Americana concert at Sierra Presbyterian Church, 175 Ridge Road, Nevada City, Saturday, May 31. 6 p.m. All donations will go to buy much-needed thermal imaging equipment for the Fire Department. For more information call Eleanor Kenitzer at 274-4331.

KNOW & GO

WHAT: Grass Valley Male Voice Choir All-Americana concert

WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Sierra Presbyterian Church, 175 Ridge Road, Nevada City

INFORMATION: Call Eleanor Kenitzer at 274-3431. All donations will go to the Grass Valley Fire Department to buy thermal imaging equipment.