The acclaimed Treorchy Male Voice Choir has performed a stirring version of Yma o Hyd to spur on Wales in their opening World Cup clash against the USA tonight. The Rhondda-based ensemble's alternative version of the Dafydd Iwan protest classic is meant to pay tribute to Gareth Bale's boys out in Qatar and to Wales itself as 'the land of song'.
It's the latest example of the decades-old song enjoying a whole new lease of life in recent months, Iwan having sung it on the pitch in front of around 33,000 fans at Cardiff City Stadium before Wales’ crucial World Cup play-off games against Austria and Ukraine earlier this year. Since then, it's grown in popularity and was actually selected as the official anthem for the Welsh team on the global stage.
Yma O Hyd - which means 'Still Here' - was first written by Iwan in 1983, a time of political and economic turmoil in Wales when the rise of Thatcherism saw many coal pits closing and thousands of men and women losing their jobs. You can read its lyrics in full, find what it means and why it's now sung at Wales' football matches here.
