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Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 17:41 GMT
Hen Wlad fy Nhadau
Wales fans celebrate their Grand slam victory over Ireland last year
Anyone who has heard the Welsh national anthem sung by thousands of rugby fans will know it is an unforgettable song.

No matter your nationality, the sound of 72,000 belting it out in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

The anthem is called Hen Wlad fy Nhadau and was written by Evan James and his son James in 1856.

The English translation is Land of My Fathers, but the anthem is always sung in Welsh.


Hen Wlad fy Nhadau

Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn anwyl i mi,
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri
Ei gwrol rhyfelwyr, gwlad garwyr tra mad
Tros ryddid collasant eu gwaed.

Chorus
Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad,
Tra mor yn fur
I'r bur hoff bau,
O bydded i'r heniaith barhau.

Hen Gymru fynyddig, paradwys y bardd,
Pob dyffryn, pob clogwyn, i'm golwg sy'n hardd
Trwy deimlad gwladgarol, mor swynol yw si
Ei nentydd, afonydd i mi

Os treisiodd y gelyn fy ngwlad dan ei droed,
Mae hen iaith y Cymry mor fyw ag erioed
Ni luddiwyd yr awen gan erchyll law brad
Na thelyn berseiniol fy ngwlad.


Translation - Land of My Fathers

The land of my fathers is dear unto me
Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free
Its warring defenders so gallant and brave
For freedom their life's blood they gave.

Chorus
Home, home, true am I to home
While seas secure the land so pure
O may the old language endure.

Old land of the mountains, the Eden of bards
Each gorge and each valley a loveliness guards
Through love of my country, charmed voices will be
Its streams, and its rivers, to me.

Though foemen have trampled my land 'neath their feet
The language of Cambria still knows no retreat
The muse is not vanquished by traitor's fell hand
Nor silenced the harp of my land.




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