Daniel James, John Hughes

Calon Lân

Calon Lân (Welsh for 'A pure heart') is a Welsh hymn, the words of which were written in the 1890s by Daniel James and it was sung to a tune by John Hughes. The song was originally written as a hymn, but has become firmly established as a rugby anthem, associated with the Welsh rugby union, being sung before almost every Test match involving the Welsh national team – though more likely to be heard sung at matches involving the Welsh football team in recent years.
In 2012, the Welsh group Only Boys Aloud sang "Calon Lân" on the British ITV show Britain's Got Talent, coming third in the final. It is definitely worth watching the video, which is linked on our website. It has since become the most watched Welsh-language video on YouTube. This arrangement is based on the version by Only Boys Aloud and can be performed with or without a choir. The text of this hymn should be sung in Welsh, the language spoken in Wales. The recording we made was made without a choir.

This composition was created with the help of a contribution from the Music Investment Fund, an initiative of Buma/Stemra in cooperation with Voi(C)e, the Copyright Interests Federation and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the Netherlands.