大象传媒

This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of the greatest of Welsh hymn writers, William Williams Pantycelyn. His best known composition, Guide me O thou great Jehovah, has been dubbed the second national anthem. It's sung around the world, and is as likely to be heard in an international rugby stadium as in a church.

Until relatively recent times, hymn singing was regarded as a key characteristic of Welsh life, and it was central to some of the great revivals which helped to shape the religious landscape. It's now very different.

The cymanfa ganu singing festivals are just a memory for most communities. Far fewer people are in church and chapel. And most contemporary worship music has no place for traditional four-part congregational harmony. Today Roy Jenkins explores why hymns have been so significant in Wales, and what kind of future they might have.