Carols fill the air for songs of Praise

xbons

A further article in the Shropshire Star following last night's recording of Songs of Praise:

Carols fill the air for songs of Praise

"...More than 800 people sang their hearts out at St Chad’s Church, in Shrewsbury, to film a Christmas edition of the BBC’s popular Songs of Praise, presented by former choir boy Aled Jones..."

Source: Shropshire Star

For the full article and photographs please CLICK HERE Two of the photos are also in Aled's Gallery

The programme will be shown on BBC 1 on December 21st

xbons

Molly · Joined: Jan 14, 2006 Posts: 655

Thanks xbons.

Looking forward to watching this on tv - looks lovely - makes my Christmas to be able to have a programme of carols.

Do you know if Aled sang a solo? Fingers crossed - I hope he did.

Love Molly xx

xbons · Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 2:49 pm Post subject:

No I'm afraid not, Molly. I know 2 people who were at the recording and according to them he 'only' presented, and even then was only there for part of the evening. (Maybe he beetled back to London?!) However, I do know that the Songs of Praise programmes take 2 - 3 days each to film (for a 35 minute programme!) and Aled was presenting two. He had already been up in Shrewsbury for 2 days and would be there for the next 2 days also. So it is just possible (but unlikely I suspect) that they could record Aled singing a solo on another day and fit it in.

However - all is not lost! The Christmas part of 'The Big Sing' from the Royal Albert Hall (recorded September 14th) will be shown on Sunday 14th December. If you count one verse as a solo, Aled sang a solo in that! My notes on that say:
We finished with “We Three Kings of Orient Are” - where our gold crowns proved their worth! They were mentioned, people started to put them on, and Aled said in a strict teacher’s voice “Take your crowns off! And put them on at the appropriate moment. Keep up, please!” A crown was brought in on a cushion and presented to him, and then All Angels, Blake and Ruthie Henshall all came onstage, all crowned. The soloists each had their own verses – Blake and All Angels “brought” the gold, Aled the frankincense, backed by Blake and All Angels, and Ruthie “brought” the myrrh.
It was very well put together, with the stage choirs and soloists combining for the last verse and all of us joining in the chorus. At the end, the soloists all lifted their crowns and bowed!

Also Aled told us recently that he was out in Belgium filming something for a Rembrance programme, so maybe this will be slotted into the Remembrance Day SOP mentioned in the earlier Shropshire Star article - see "Aled in Shrewsbury tonight". Watch and see!! That would be very touching if so - by far the most moving version of "Lead Kindly Light", in my opinion, is the one he sang at Auschwitz, standing between the railway lines at Birkenau

xbons

xbons · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 8:35 am Post subject:

For a short clip about the programme, including a brief appearance by Aled, CLICK HERE

Molly · Joined: Jan 14, 2006 Posts: 655

Thanks very much for the link Xbons. Dont you just love Aled. I loved his bit about getting the right prenounciation for Shrewsbury. Smile

I'm looking forward to all 3 programmes.

And I love the sound of We Three Kings - and especially Aled's verse.

xbons · Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:37 pm Post subject:

Hi Molly

I'm glad you enjoyed the snippet of my report on "The Big Sing"! (I should have explained that we all had a gold paper crown ready in our programmes!)

xbons

Molly · Joined: Jan 14, 2006 Posts: 655

That's even funnier xbons - thinking of him telling the whole audience:

Take your crowns off! And put them on at the appropriate moment. Keep up, please!”
Very Happy

I love Aled's singing voice - always have - he has such a beautiful sound - but I love his humour so much too. He has great personality and it's always a joy to listen in to him.

Im looking forward to all 3 shows.

Love Molly xx