A ROUSING rendition of the famous Welsh hymn Calon Lȃn has gone viral with more than 250,000 hits on social media.

It was sung by a digital choir put together by popular tenor Rhys Meirion, from Pwllglas, near Ruthin, for a television programme that helped clinch a hat-trick of prestigious award for TV company Cwmni Da.

They said the triple success at the Celtic Media Festival, which came just two years after making broadcast history when the company was taken over by the staff, will boost the business by helping them secure more lucrative commissions.

 

Welsh hymn Calon L?n has gone viral with more than 250,000 hits on social media. It was sung by a digital choir put together by popular tenor Rhys Meirion

Welsh hymn Calon L?n has gone viral with more than 250,000 hits on social media. It was sung by a digital choir put together by popular tenor Rhys Meirion

 

In all the Cwmni Da’s programmes were shortlisted for seven honours which was a record for the prestigious event founded 40 years ago.

They also came away with gongs for multi-awarding winning children’s show Deian a Loli and documentary series 47 Copa (47 Summits).

The transformation into a “mini John Lewis” happened when the then managing director, Dylan Huws, sold his shares to the newly-formed Employee Owned Trust.

The move was believed to be the first in the UK broadcast industry and was managed by the Wales Co-operative Centre.

Around the same time the company recruited broadcasting big hitter Llion Iwan as director of content, after he had previously worked as the commissioner of factual content and head of content distribution at S4C.

 

Welsh hymn Calon L?n has gone viral with more than 250,000 hits on social media. It was sung by a digital choir put together by popular tenor Rhys Meirion

Welsh hymn Calon L?n has gone viral with more than 250,000 hits on social media. It was sung by a digital choir put together by popular tenor Rhys Meirion

 

He has taken over as managing director from Dylan Huws who is now chairman of the trustees and an executive producer with Cwmni Da.

The 130-strong choir, which included members from across North Wales and as far afield as Australia, was assembled virtually for the popular S4C series, Corau Rhys Meirion.

Calon Lȃn was originally written in the 1890s as a hymn, with words by Daniel James and the tune by John Hughes, but it’s now also firmly established as a Welsh rugby anthem.

As well as parts sung to the original music, other sections of the iconic hymn were performed to an eclectic mix of tunes including La Bamba, the Welsh rock classic, Pishyn, and the hit ballad, Mack the Knife.

The unusual version of the hymn attracted 241,000 views on Facebook and 27,000 hits on YouTube.

The programme came about because the coronavirus lockdown prevented the Caernarfon-based TV production company from filming in the usual way.

 

Welsh hymn Calon L?n has gone viral with more than 250,000 hits on social media. It was sung by a digital choir put together by popular tenor Rhys Meirion

Welsh hymn Calon L?n has gone viral with more than 250,000 hits on social media. It was sung by a digital choir put together by popular tenor Rhys Meirion

 

Rhys was in the middle of filming a third series of Corau Rhys Meirion when the coronavirus lockdown was imposed.

He said: “We came up with a plan of setting the task of seeing what music Calon Lân could be sung to and we had some incredible efforts including La Bamba and Mack the Knife, which was a hit in Wales back in 1970 thanks to an unforgettable Welsh version by a band called Dyniadon Ynfyd Hirfelyn Tesog.

“So we made the show using several different versions suing to different tunes and ended with digital choir performing the traditional version.

“Like everyone at Cwmni Da, I’m blown away by the response to the social media video of the final digital choir version of Calon Lân.

Llion said: “Winning three of the top honours at the Celtic Media Festival is a huge achievement for the incredible team here at Cwmni Da.

“The company has always punched well above its weight, but the staff are more committed than ever to the cause after the ownership of the company transferred to them. We have gone to a whole new level.

“They thoroughly deserve the accolades that have come their way because it a reward for their talent and hard work.

“The prestige that comes with being successful in winning awards will also provide us with a boost in the business sense.

“Let’s not forget that Cwmni Da’s programmes were shortlisted for honours in seven categories.

“They represented a hugely diverse range of programmes which also included comedy series Rybish (Rubbish), two documentaries, Y Côr (The Choir) and Eirlys, Dementia a Tim (Eirlys, Dementia and Tim) which was shortlisted in two different categories.

“All of these programmes are very different and illustrates who multi-talented our team is.”