In spite of everyone knowing it is a disaster, the World Cup has started in Qatar. Of course this is wrong. However, the one positive thing is that Wales has managed to qualify and so for the first time since...well... since time immemorial, Welsh fans are spreading the Welsh language around the world. Mainly by singing the Welsh national anthem and a song by Dafydd Iwan, "Yma o Hyd". The song is the official World Cup song from the Welsh FA. It is actually 38 years old and originally a protest song against the oppression the Welsh and their language have faced (Iwan went to prison for his activism to promote the Welsh language).
I LOVE learning new things and so I set myself the task of learning to sing Yma o Hyd and to understand what the song is about. It has turned out quite well. Sure my pronunciation is not perfect. Sure, that bothers me more than it could ever bother any Welsh speaker. But still....
Anyway, the video is on the Video page of the website, but also here:
Here are the lyrics:
Yma o Hyd - We are still here
Dwyt ti'm yn cofio Macsen (You don't remember Macsen)
does neb yn ei nabod o (nobody knows him)
Mae mil a chwe chant o flynyddoedd (One thousand and six hundred years)
yn amser rhy hir i'r co' (a time too long to remember)
Pan aeth Magnus Maximus o Gymru (When Magnus Maximus left Wales)
yn y flwyddyn tri-chant-wyth-tri (in the year 383)
a'n gadael yn genedl gyfan (leaving us a whole nation)
a heddiw - wele ni! (And today - Look at us!)
Ry'n ni yma o hyd (We are still here)
ry'n ni yma o hyd (We are still here)
er gwaetha pawb a phopeth (In spite of everyone and everything)
er gwaetha pawb a phopeth (In spite of everyone and everything)
er gwaetha pawb a phopeth (In spite of everyone and everything)
Ry'n ni yma o hyd (We are still here)
Chwythed y gwynt o'r Dwyrain (Let the wind blow from the East)
rhued y storm o'r môr (Let the storm roar from the sea)
hollted y mellt yr wybren (let the lightning split the heavens)
a gwaedded y daran "encôr"! (and the thunder shout "encore!")
Llifed dagrau'r gwangalon (Let the tears of the faint-hearted flow)
a llyfed y taeog y llawr (and the servile lick the floor)
Er dued yw'r fagddu o'n cwmpas (Despite the blackness around us)
ry'n ni'n barod am doriad y wawr! (we are ready for the breaking of the dawn!)
Ry'n ni yma o hyd etc...
Cofiwn i Facsen Wledig (We remember that Macsen the Emperor)
adael ein gwlad yn un darn (left our country in one whole piece)
A bloeddiwn gerbron y gwledydd (And we shall shout before the nations)
"Mi fyddwn yma tan Ddydd y Farn!" ("We'll be here until Judgement Day!")
Er gwaetha pob Dic Siôn Dafydd (Despite every Dic Siôn Dafydd)
er gwaetha 'rhen Fagi a'i chriw (despite old Maggie and her crew)
byddwn yma hyd ddiwedd amser (we'll be here until the end of time)
a bydd yr iaith Gymraeg yn fyw! (and the Welsh language will be alive!)
Ry'n ni yma o hyd etc...