"Rhyfelgyrch Gwŷr Harlech" - “March of the Men of Harlech” - Patriotic Welsh Song

The precise origin of "Men of Harlech" is uncertain. It either details the fall of Harlech Castle to Henry V in 1408-9 during Owain Glyndŵr’s rebellion or the later siege between 1461 and 1468 during the Wars of the Roses in which Welsh Lancastrians held out against Yorkist attackers. Either way, the song’s original significance was to honour Welsh resistance in the face of outside invaders. The music was first published by the King's Harpist Edward Jones in his 1794 book "Musical And Poetical Relicks Of The Welsh Bards". Various lyrics have been attributed and augmented to the song over the years, the most notable example is the one sung in the 1964 film Zulu. The origins of this particular Welsh arrangement are uncertain too. However, some sources suggest that it was arranged by Welsh poet and folk song collector John Ceiriog Hughes in 1890.
Performed by Rachel Ann Morgan, Geraint Roberts, 2001.

[@korakys]

I picked a random book off my mother's shelf the other day. It was an over 120 year old Welsh song book and this song was in it.

[@revpgesqredux]

Your Mom has a great bookshelf ❤

[@Max-sd7hn]

This song is very calming. Spectacular find 😎

[@larsw8776]

Of all the European language families, Celtic is the most mysterious to me. Wonderful version of an awesome song.

[@hannahcorinne5388]

Especially when there’s two Celtic language families…

[@mrmadness2699]

Gaelic (Scottish & Irish) and Brythonic (Welsh & Cornish? Manx?)

[@larsw8776]

@@hannahcorinne5388 Celtic is one family within the indo-European language family, like Germanic or Romance. This can be further divided, like Romance can be divided into Western, Southern, and Eastern Romance, or Germanic into Western, Northern, and Eastern Germanic, with the latter one being extinct...

[@borritoguy2286]

​​@@mrmadness2699Manx is Gaelic I think

[@autumnphillips151]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@mrmadness2699 It baffles me how you managed to mangle this when there are only six Celtic languages to keep track of... The Brittonic languages are Breton, Cornish, and Welsh, and the Goidelic languages are Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic.

[@themork3082]

One of my favorite songs

[@paulaward2075]

My brother Paul and I are part Welsh on our dad's side of the family. Hello from Tyler Texas U.S.A.

[@mariannehancock8282]

Croeso Paul.

[@Uaeboravisma]

Bore da

[@Seagull780]

​@@Uaeboravismadwi'n hoffi coffi

[@scotty123uk]

You should come and see it before its ruined forever

[@hellacoorinna9995]

Which part's Welsh? 😉

[@noplace3571]

I love that half of our traditional songs are about fighting the English 😂

[@31Blaize]

Been doing that for over a thousand years so not really surprising!

[@matlachlannmacgregor-macle8735]

Same with us Scots… lucky me - I’m half Welsh!

[@BlossomFlowerGirl]

@@matlachlannmacgregor-macle8735And the Irish too - don’t forget the Irish!

[@jamesjacobson3966]

I’m truly amazed by the various lyrics to this melody. There must be at least a half dozen or more with few words in common with each other. Perhaps it depends on the region of Wales that the artist comes from? If a band strikes up the tune I’m guessing there must be a few moments before anyone joining in the singing settles on which version, else they just hum along?

[@z-mkgaming7464]

Across English and Welsh, there are tens of versions of Men of Harlech, some cross over, like how Bryn Terfel takes the first two verses of an English version, then the last two verses of this version, starting with "Ni chaiff gelyn..."

[@SantaFe19484]

Happy Saint David's Day!

[@balladsofhistory]

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!

[@themork3082]

Is this song in galic?

[@balladsofhistory]

Cymraeg (Welsh), a Brittonic language belonging to the Insular Celtic language family. Insular Celtic is generally divided into two categories, the other being Goidelic/Gaelic (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx).

[@themork3082]

Thank you

[@andyduhamel1925]

No Brittonic diifferent from Gaelic, compeletly.

[@AA-hg5fk]

Fail!

[@nylondaimon]

Welsh more related to Breton/ Cornish/ Cumbric which are Brythonic language. Gaelic and Brythonic are both branches of Celtic.

[@user-pl6hv6nn5m]

ok, this language's pronounciation completely get me dizzy

[@eliotblancard1628]

Never saw such a way to say "LL"

[@w.reidripley1968]

It's an unvoiced L, and that's how Welshmen spell it. Set your tongue to make L, and blow. To the English ear it sounds like a th, but it is not. Welsh has that sound too, voiced and unvoiced as does English -- they spell the voiced th with 'dd' -- now ain't you glad you brought it up. 😊

[@eliotblancard1628]

@@w.reidripley1968 yeah I noticed it, sounds a bit like the "tl" of native american languages such as Nahuatl

[@w.reidripley1968]

@@eliotblancard1628 I'd noticed that too... from Klingon!!... Tlhingaan!

[@z-mkgaming7464]

It's honestly quite simple, double LL sounds almost like th-ll. So when you see Llamant fel y lli, its said like th-llamant fel y th-lli or as w.reidripley said, blow when making the l shape with your tongue. As he also said, double d is said like th. So dydd, which is day in welsh, is said like dee-th

[@dvrn86]

Welshmen will not yield!

[@gabemore1766]

We never will