Hi Godwalker,
Great to have you on here.
I can’t see any free downloads of hymns, so my guess is that it will be a case of streaming on mobile internet (if possible), or paying to download from suppliers (you probably are ahead of me on that).
I don’t know if this will be of interest, but the Gobeith I Gymru site has the Words to several hymns and songs. http://www.gobaith.cymru/
I would just offer a word of caution about using hymns as a way of learning the language if you want to be able to speak Welsh in a natural sounding way. I am not familiar with many Welsh hymns, but I suspect that the language is rather formal if not actually archaic at times. By all means listen to hymns for enjoyment, but they’re probably not the best way of picking up useful words and phrases for conversations.
YouTube has lots of them by the great Valleys male voice choirs, as well as a splendid version of Calon Lan to the tune of Blaenwern by a Welsh rugby crowd when we won at Twickenham in 1999.
The highlight on YouTube has to be the Tredegar Town Band accompanied by a choir singing Blaenwern at the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol in 2010, complete with subtitled lyrics. But, as Margaret Hall pointed out, the language is a very different Welsh from what today’s adult learners are learning.
I prefer to listen to solo singers as it is easier to listen to the words. There is this one woman that has a beautiful voice and a man that plays guitar while singing that I listen to now.
Wavepad is used to convert the videos on YouTube into MP3.
I can appreciate that there is a difference but it is one more tool to learn and with those lovely voices are great way to drift off to sleep.
I am slowly picking up on this course. It takes a lot of practice. I listen and try to repeat while going for my walk (which is about two hours long so there is lots of practice there).
Wishing you A house full of sunshine, Hearts full of cheer, Love that grows deeper each day of the year.
I am a beginner and have found listening to Welsh hymns to be a very effective means of learning pronunciation - I always have a couple of gymanfa CDs in the car.
Whilst some words are rarely heard in informal conversation, the ‘rules’ of pronunciation remain the same regardless of context. I’m not a natural linguist (very far from it) but my pronunciation has led tutors to ask if I used to speak Welsh as a child. I didn’t, and have lived in London for 47 years.
Hi Joseph. I enjoy listening to Welsh hymns too, because my uncle sings in a Welsh male voice choir so I grew up listening to their recordings which obviously included a lot of hymns. I’m not a religious person, but there is certainly something about those old hymns. I can see why people would not recommend using them to learn the language, but if you like listening to them anyway then they can only add to your understanding, I’m sure. Yes, the spoken language might be different, but I have found that they help me remember vocabulary even if they don’t help me form sentences. I discovered ‘clean’ and ‘blood’ from Y Gwahoddiad, for example. And like Pererin (which is a name I actually understand from having listened to hymns), it has often helped my pronunciation too.
You can buy and download music from Amazon - I remember seeing various versions of Gwahoddiad on there a while back. If they are still doing free trials of Amazon Prime, you can get temporary access to these and others for free.
I prefer to listen to solo singers as the words can be heard clearer.
As well they are to be accompanied by either flute, guitar or harp. The reason for this is because those instruments relax you and it is easier to learn while relaxed.
May Jehovah bless you with an attentive ear and mind to become an excellent Welsh speaker.
Wow, that is impressive about your uncle. My grandma’s sisters grandson sang in the Welsh boys choir. I would like one day to get in contact with him.
Yes the old hymns have much more meaning to them that the modern ones. There are a few Welsh hymns I have downloaded for free from YouTube. Are all Welshmen and women frugal (some call it cheap skates or tight wads ) like my family?
I really love listening to Charlotte Church. Boy has she ever got a beautiful voice.
Enjoy being serenaded by your uncle and expanding your vocabulary through those wonderful Hymns.
[quote=“Godwalker, post:13, topic:10477”]
Are all Welshmen and women frugal (some call it cheap skates or tight wads ) like my family?
[/quote] Are your family from Cardiganshire?
[quote=“Godwalker, post:13, topic:10477”]
I really love listening to Charlotte Church. Boy has she ever got a beautiful voice.
[/quote]She has. Voice of an Angel, but brain of Angel Delight.
@aran Sorry. It’s a well-known quip in Wales so I assumed it would be ok to repeat it. I thought it was much the same as my well-known quip about Cardis.
Thank you for pointing out my mistake. I’ll be more careful in future.
We all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them.
I am sure you have learned from your mistake.
I looked it up in wikipedia.org what angel delight is and it sounds like what we call pudding here in Canada.
I am not referring to the person but to the food when I ask how it got its name?
Here in Canada we have something called angels food cake. It is the only cake I like to eat. I do not know how it got its name though so please do not ask.
I downloaded a song called “Here is love as vast as the ocean.” sung by a woman (I wish I could find out her name). It is so beautiful it makes me cry every time I hear it (which is every night) while I sing along with it.
I hear you have a little bit of windy weather over there in Europe. Winter is crazy here this year. One week we have balmy weather, the next cold enough to make a polar bear shiver.
Angel Delight is a children’s pudding/dessert – a whipped fluffy mouse full of air but having no substance.
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'Here is love vast as the ocean (‘Dyma gariad fel y moroedd’) is a wonderful hymn. The two original Welsh verses were written in the 1870s by William Rees, bardic name Gwilym Hiraethog. It became known as the love song of the 1904-5 revival in Wales.
During the revival, Dyma Gariad was sung to the tune ‘Ebeneser’, and still is sometimes when the Welsh words are sung. It’s in a minor key. I prefer it sung to a tune composed by American Robert Lowry which he called ‘Cymraeg’. In Wales it is known as ‘Dim Ond Iesu’. I don’t know how his tune came to have a Welsh name.
Here it is sung by Katherine Jenkins, a Welsh mezzo-soprano: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpEaflHQbwI
And here by Welsh tenor Huw Priday during the revival centenary celebrations in 2004: www.youtube.com/watch?v=APrUPPC8bFY
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Yes, there’s been some windy weather around. I live in London which generally escapes extreme weather.
Welsh preacher: “and the Lord caused it to rain 40 days and 40 nights.”
Whispered quip by a member of the congregation: “Only 40? That wouldn’t be a bad summer in Wales.”