Yma o Hyd

"Yma o Hyd" (Welsh for 'still here') is a Welsh-language folk song by Dafydd Iwan. The song was released during Iwan and Ar Log's Taith Macsen ('Macsen's journey') tour in 1983. Since then it has continued to gain popularity at cultural and sporting events.

The song has topped the UK iTunes charts twice since 2020 with a poll suggesting that 35% of people in Wales knew at least some of the lyrics.

Iwan was described by Ned Thomas as "the master" of the popular songs that accompanied the growth of Welsh nationalism in the 1960s. These songs were often characterised by both satirical and political themes as well as historical references. Indeed, Iwan became a key figure in Welsh culture as a well known television personality, recording artist and an outspoken member of Welsh nationalist organisations. Iwan's early career has been described as playing a major role "in mobilising the Welsh popular music scene in a nationalist linguistic direction".

However, by the time Iwan came to write "Yma o Hyd", his life and career was much more troubled, having been imprisoned four times for his activism and also in the middle of a "terrible divorce". Iwan was also "feeling demoralised" by recent political events; including the rejection of a devolved Welsh government in a 1979 referendum and the political ideology of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which was soon to cause the 1984 Miners' Strike.^{[disputed – discuss]}

"It was a terrible time and the Thatcher regime hit Wales heavily. Coal mines and steelworks were closed and I was in the middle of a terrible divorce. Yma o Hyd is about how we're still here, despite everything and everyone and even ourselves."

— Dafydd Iwan on his inspiration for writing the song.

It was against this background that Iwan was looking to write a song that would "raise the spirits". During a conversation with his friend, the historian and Plaid Cymru MP Gwynfor Evans, Iwan is said to have been given the initial idea for the song, which draws parallels between what he saw as the contemporary threats to Wales and the historical threats the Welsh people had suffered, confronted, and survived since Magnus Maximus (Welsh: Macsen Wledig) withdrew the Legions at the de facto end of Roman rule. As such, Iwan hoped the song would "remind people we still speak Welsh against all odds. To show we are still here".

The song consists of three verses and a repeated chorus, with the opening and closing verses reference Macsen Wledig. Macsen is a prominent figure in Medieval Welsh literature, recorded in the sixth century by Gildas and in the ninth century work, Historia Brittonum where Macsen is said to have transferred authority back to British rulers. As such, Macsen is the common progenitor listed in the earliest Welsh genealogies and on the Pillar of Eliseg, erected by a Welsh king who was still claiming Macsen as an ancestor nearly 500 years after he left Britain. He was considered the founding father of several medieval Welsh dynasties, including those of the Kingdom of Powys and the Kingdom of Gwent, and he figures in lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales. In Welsh legend, Macsen appears in stories such as Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig (English: The Dream of Ruler Maximus) which features in the White Book of Rhydderch.