Holly on BBC TWO Wales

[gareth]

Hi all,

I found this little snippet on BBC TWO Wales:

Scrum V Live
Fri 10 Feb, 6:50 pm - 9:00 pm 130mins

Wales U21 v Scotland U21: Wales's first home match in the Six Nations under 21 game against Scotland, at Rodney Parade, Newport. Presented by Graham Thomas. Kick off at 7.10pm.

You may ask - well what is the signifance of that? Simply this (with thanks to Trixie, who informed me about this), Holly will be in the pre-match entertainment, and will be performing the Welsh national anthem.

Well worth keeping in mind, if you are a Holly fan and can receive BBC TV Wales!

Gerrit

[gareth]

Hi All,

With thanks to Dave, video of Holly performing the Welsh Anthem at the u21 Rugby match Wales-Sctland is now available.

I've seen the Welsh anthem performed so many times in recent years (inlcuding Hayley and Katherine), it's really nice to hear Holly perform it . And she does it very well, too!

Click the picture below to play or download the video. It's less than 5 MB. As is customary, the camera isn't directed much at the singer, but rather at the team. Still, about halfway through, there's a few seconds of Holly - which makes one wish they had directed the camera her way a bit more ...

Gerrit

[Dave]

gareth said:

Hi All,
With thanks to Dave, video of Holly performing the Welsh Anthem at the u21 Rugby match Wales-Sctland is now available.
I've seen the Welsh anthem performed so many times in recent years (inlcuding Hayley and Katherine), it's really nice to hear Holly perform it . And she does it very well, too!
Gerrit

Hehe, does anyone want to hazard a guess who the commentators compared Holly to? Clues: it wasn't Hayley, it wasn't Katherine... and there is a rugby connection!

[gareth]

Hi jeremiah,

I have seen Holly smile radiantly quite a lot - and I have no doubt that that radiant smile will also highlight her public performances in the not too distant future.

She is a lovely person, by the way. I know - I have met her 5 times!

Gerrit

[fusilier23]

That's our Holly, actually this is the first time I've heard her sing in Welsh, and she certainly did not disappoint. She has dramatically improved over where she was in 2002 when she came to the US and I heard her live, and she has nowhere to go but up.

Yes, Jeremiah, her long blonde hair is one of her chief glories, and probably the one everyone notices, but her sparkling but gentle emerald-green eyes and a smile that can light up a valley are just as great. But putting physical beauty to the side, her best asset is her kind and friendly personality. Mind you she's not perfect, she is still completely human, but she is still one of the nicest people you can have the luck of meeting, together with her wonderful parents.

I have to groan at the comparison to CC. Even years ago she didn't particularly like it, and since then she's lost interest in CC. As I said elsewhere, it's inevitable that the comparison will crop up, especially in the press, they love comparing the good girl and the bad girl and asking whether Holly will keep her feet on the right path. I can tell you straight out that Holly has worked very hard to be a classical singer and she isn't about to dump it all for a quick payoff or just so she can defy everyone. The only thing I can say is something like I said at dinner in Philadelphia in 2002 discussing Holly with other guests, one of whom asked if I was her manager (?!) She isn't the next Charlotte Church, nor is she the Newport version of Charlotte Church, she's the one and only Holly Holyoake, and thank God for that.

As for signing and all that, I'm sure Holly will reveal whatever details of whatever when she and her management believe the time is right.

[lewis]

Holly has much, much more power than Katherine - we can vouch for that because we've seen both of them live more than once. The last time seeing Holly was without a mike but I expected the windows in the hall to shatter. Her power comes out on songs like "I'll Walk with God" that really show off her voice. Our whole family simply cowered in disbelief.

Wife Doreen told me in no uncertain terms what I giant talent Holly was going to be & that was on the strength of hearing her album (made at 14) two years ago.

I find Holly's voice now on that anthem to be quite glorious, and I also know what she CAN do besides. If she does get signed, she'll soar. As I live performer she has a very relaxed & natural rapport with an audience & there is no shortage of smiles.

She's definitely the greatest "kicks and thrills" singer we've ever seen.

[gareth]

Hmmm,

Today, Katherine performed the anthem at the main game Wales v. Scotland. Maybe I should post this on the Katherine board - but it forms an interesting comparison - especially as Katherine's version appears to be much slower than normal (she takes more than 20 seconds extra ...)

I like both versions - but Holly's did mean more to me - possibly because I have heard Katherine perform it so often now - and it is nice to hear a "new voice" perform an old song . And possibly also because I know Holly personally, and I have only seen Katherine live in concert twice, without actually becoming acquainted with her.

As to the CC comparison - I think it is almost unavoidable because of the shallow perception of the press - l think it is best ignored.

By the way, the slowness of Katherine's version appears to be very deliberate - she was complaining about the fact that at last week's game at Twickenham against England, the Welsh anthem was rushed ....

You can listen to it via the picture link below.

Gerrit

[gareth]

Hmmm,

I thought I try to get some objective data on the speed at which the Welsh anthem is sung.

I have 8 versions of Katherine singing the anthem and I decided to time them all, from the moment Katherine started singing till she finished (all can be downloaded from KJI). The singing times are as follows

27 March 2004 Wales v. Italy (with Hayley Westenra) 1:15
20 November 2004 Wales v. New Zealand (that one point game, where Hayley sang the NZ anthem) 1:21
5 February 2005 Wales v. England (with Bryn Terfel and Aled Jones) 1:27
19 March 2005 Wales v. Ireland (the Grand Slam match - with Max Boyce and Charlotte Church) 1:23
August 2005 Powergen Cup final (this one hardly counts, as it was a longer version of the anthem) 2:02
5 November 2005 Wales v. New Zealand (not quite as close as the previous year, again Hayley was the opponent ...) 1:29
19 November 2005 Wales v. South Africa 1:19
12 February 2006 Wales v. Scotland 1:29

And Holly's version? 1:11

Interesting - Katherine's latest version was indeed one of the slowest - and Holly's was the fastest. Yet, I didn't get the impression Holly was rushing!

What do others think?

Gerrit