27 February 2012

Catchy songs from one of the most popular programmes on S4C’s Cyw service are now available to download from the internet.

From Monday 27 February, songs from the series Abadas - including ‘My Name is…’ and a medley of the Abadas’ songs' - will be available to download for a price of 75p per song from iTunes, Amazon MP3, Spotify, Emusic, Music beta, rdio, Verizon Wireless, Rhapsody and Zune.

Abadas is a delightful series for young children, which features three animated characters: Hari the hippo; Ela the fox and Seren the bat. They live in a colorful pop-up book owned by a boy called Ben. As he opens the pages of his magical book the three characters come to life and the fun and singing begins.

The series is produced by Dinamo Productions and Kavaleer in association with S4C, CBeebies and RTE. The series was launched on all three channels in October 2011 and has quickly become a firm favourite with the young viewers. The response was so favourable, it was decided that the songs would be offered for viewers to download.

Sian Eirian, S4C's Head of Children's Services, "The Abadas are some of the most popular characters on the Cyw service and the catchy songs are extremely popular with young viewers and parents alike.

"We are delighted that Dinamo has been able to offer the Abadas songs for everyone to download and enjoy time and time again. We also look forward to seeing brand new episodes on S4C from 6 March at 8:25.”

The popularity of Abadas has extended beyond S4C, CBeebies and RTE viewers, and even though Dinamo are still in production, the series has already secured worldwide sales to channels such as Al Jazeera, Hop! in Israel, Disney Australia and New Zealand, EBS Korea and BBC Alba.

Executive Producer Siwan Jobbins, from Dinamo Productions says, "Since Abadas was broadcast in October 2011 parents have been contacting us on Facebook and Twitter praising the series and wanting to know when the songs will be available to purchase. As a result of the favourable comments, we have decided to put the songs on sale earlier than planned.

"We are delighted with the response the series has received so far, both far and wide. As a Welsh company, it is very important for us to offer these songs to both our Welsh and English viewers at the same time."

Abadas is part of Cyw, S4C’s service for the youngest children. Cyw is broadcast weekdays from 07:00 in the morning until 13:00, and then between 15:00 and 17:30 in the afternoon. Also, Clwb Cyw is broadcast every Saturday and Sunday morning between 07:00 and 09:00.

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