Cardiff United Synagogue Choir CD project report

Description

This document contains a report on the Cardiff United Synagogue Choir's (CUSC) CD project for the Jewish Music Institute. The recording of the album took place in 2002 and the report was possibly written around the time the choir photograph was taken in 2004. The report was written by the conductor of the choir, Ivan Margolis, and it provides information on the history of the choir as well as on the recording process of the album, Dream of Nations.

The choir was born in 1997 as the community was too small to employ a cantor. Having performed in the synagogue's services and at local events for well over a decade, they decided to record an album. This was carried out at the Shabbey Road Studios in Caerphilly. The studio is run by two professional musicians who provided musical accompaniment for the choir and produced the CD.

The Cardiff United Synagogue was established in 1942 when the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation and the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation were united into a single organisation. The early years of the Cardiff congregation remain shrouded in mystery, but it is known that a Jewish cemetery was founded in 1841 and a purpose-built synagogue was built for the Cardiff Hebrew Congregation in 1858 in East Terrace. As the congregation outgrew the premises, a new synagogue was opened on Cathedral Road in 1897. In 1889, a group of recent immigrants left the “Englisher shul” to form the “foreigners’ shul” formally known as the Cardiff New Hebrew Congregation. Having initially worshipped at Edward Place and Clare Road, the New Congregation moved to purpose-built premises on Windsor Place in 1918. After the 1942 reunification, the Cardiff United Synagogue continued to use both the Windsor Place and the Cathedral Road synagogues until 1955 when the former was sold and a new synagogue was built on Ty-Gwyn Road. The Cathedral Road synagogue was eventually sold in 1988 and the Ty-Gwyn Road synagogue in 2003 with the congregation moving to its current premises in Cyncoed Gardens.

Sources:
'The History of the Jewish Diaspora in Wales' by Cai Parry-Jones (http://e.bangor.ac.uk/4987);
JCR-UK/JewishGen (https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/card/index.htm).

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.

• http://www.cardiffshul.org/Choir.htm (link opens in new window)