Together Louder with the Mentrau Iaith – Gorau Canu Cyd Ganu

The Mentrau Iaith (Welsh language initiatives) all over Wales are offering a variety of exciting activities and events to celebrate the Welsh football team and their success going to Qatar for this year’s Football World Cup.

The Mentrau Iaith in Cymru are organising sing along sessions with anthemic songs like “Yma o Hyd” (of course!), “Calon Lân” and “Hogia Ni” to get everybody in the community to sing together. The original Welsh version and a phonetic version of the songs are in a booklet side by side so that Welsh speakers – experienced or new – and non-Welsh speakers can sing together. Dafydd Iwan’s songs have inspired the activities and ond of his songs “Mae’n Wlad i Mi” (This Land is your Land – an original song by American folk singer, Woody Guthrie) has been the inspiration for the sing along sessions for everybody in our communities in Cymru.

Tafarn y Vale in Ystrad Aeron held one of the first sessions by the Mentrau Iaith with Steff Rees of Cered, Menter Iaith Ceredigion on the 19th of October.

Peter and Sue Evans who joined the session in y Vale said:

“Thanks to Steff and Cered for organising such a great evening at the ‘Noson Canu yn y Vale’ this Wednesday. It was a lot of fun to learn and sing some traditional songs in a lovely environment where we also has a chance to practice our Cymraeg with other learners and first language speakers. The ‘Mae’n Wlad i Mi’ book was a great hit and is very well designed with words in Cymraeg, a phonetic guide, key word translation and even the guitar chords. It’s going to come in very handy for the World Cup and for our own practice at home.”

Steff Rees of Cered, the Menter Iaith in Ceredigion, who was leading the session says:

“The booklet is a great resource for us as a Menter Iaith as it easily allows us to hold a Welsh language sing along in a pub or community venue. The feedback of this session was fantastic and I enjoyed every minute of leading through the singing. I’m looking forward to the next one already!”

More sessions are to come including at Llansilin Village Hall, Tafarn Cwrw Carmarthen, Tŷ Tawe Swansea and many more locations. A list of all sessions and a digital copy of the booklet can be found on the Mentrau Iaith Cymru website Gorau Canu Cyd Ganu – Canu Cymunedol | Y Mentrau Iaith

The network of the Mentrau Iaith is one of the key partners in the Welsh Government’s World Cup Partnership campaign. Daniela Schlick, Project Co-ordinator with Mentrau Iaith Cymru explains:

“We are so proud of being a part of this exciting campaign. It’s a fantastic opportunity to show that Wales and the people in Wales are welcoming everybody of every background into our communities by celebrating the Welsh football team’s success and of course by celebrating Cymraeg (the Welsh language), our culture and heritage. Cymru is called Gwlad y Gân (the Land of Song), so what better way to celebrate than singing together?”