3 March 2023

The song 'Patagonia' by Alistair James has won Cân i Gymru 2023.

'Patagonia by Alistair James from Llanfairfechan (performed by Dylan Morris) was chosen as the winner by a live public vote by viewers of Cân i Gymru 2023 on S4C tonight (March 3) from the Arts Centre in Aberystwyth.

Alistair James grew up in Llanfairfechan, and now lives in Conwy. He presents a radio breakfast show on Capital FM Cymru and has been performing regularly since the release of his first album back in 2005. This is the third time Alistair has appeared on Cân i Gymru (2008 and 2020) but his first year participating as a composer only. He was inspired after reading about the history of Patagonia and a list of names of people from north Wales taking the Welsh language to the other side of the world.

Alistair said:

"This is for Russ Hayes, my producer, who has been through a hard time…This just means the world, thank you – thank you for voting, and for coming. Thank you!"

The 2023 competition was launched back in October 2022 with the closing date at the start of January.

A panel of four judges chose the eight songs that appeared in the final round of Cân i Gymru. This year, the panel this year was the singer and producer Eädyth, the musician and member of the group 'Pedair', Gwyneth Glyn, winner of Cân i Gymru four times and lead singer of 'The Moniars', Arfon Wyn, and the radio presenter and lead singer of Sŵnami, Ifan Davies.

But tonight, the public had the last word by voting for their favourite song during the live show.

Alistair James wins the Cân i Gymru 2023 trophy and the cash prize of £5,000.

Cân i Mam by Huw Owen took second place and wins a cash prize of £2,000 and Cysgu by Alun Evans (Alun Tan Lan) came third with a prize of £1,000.

You can re-live all the excitement of Cân i Gymru 2023 on demand on S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer. An Avanti Media production for S4C.