Watch: The Plygain Welsh carol singing videos that have gone viral

Videos of the traditional form of Welsh carol singing have gone viral with thousands loving the beautiful sound of Welsh language Christmas carols.

When Twitter user Owen Williams, the former head of social media at BBC Wales, posted the videos he was thrilled with the reactions from around the globe.

One Australian Twitter user said: “I have never heard anything like this in my life, so beautiful. As a descendant of Irish Celts this stirred my soul, thank you.”

While a Canadian tweeted: “Gorgeous! Connects to the Welsh heritage in my soul.”

Spine-tingling

Owen, who now runs social media agency Siml, explained how he came across the videos.

“I remember former Yr Ods singer Gruff Pritchard, now content editor at BBC Cymru, putting this on the Radio Cymru social channels in 2016 or so, and asking me if I’d consider sharing it to the BBC Wales channels. I was transfixed.

“Here were three men singing century-old songs in the most beautiful, three-part harmony I’d ever heard. It was like being submerged in a rich half-forgotten, barely-remembered historic corner of my culture.

“I knew – at that moment – that the world needed to experience Plygain. And every Christmas, I make it my mission to expose even more people to that unbelievable, goosebump-raising, spine-tingling sound.”

You want more Plygain?
You want more harmonic Welsh Christmas carol-singing?

This is @GethinGriffiths, @bwncathband‘s Elidyr Glyn and @GwilymBowenRhys with “Teg Wawriodd”, and it’s eye-wateringly, brain-meltingly good pic.twitter.com/755wDosB1S

— Owen Williams 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@OwsWills) December 3, 2021