The Old Songs of Skye

The Old Songs of Skye
Author: Ethel Bassin
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2015-12-22
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317311140

Originally published in 1977. Frances Tolmie (1840-1926) was one of the foremost Gaelic folklore and folksong experts. This account of her life and work places her unique contribution to human song against a full personal, historical and cultural background. The book includes a selection of the songs she heard and wrote down, together with the part they played in her life and that of her circle and the larger community. Moving in a variety of circles, Frances Tolmie experienced the warm domesticity of an enlightened Skye manse, the cultural bustle of upper middle-class Edinburgh ‘entrepreneurs’, the romantic serious-mindedness of the first Cambridge women students, the sensitive nature-loving community round Ruskin at Coniston, and spent her later sociable years back in Scotland. This book, with its historical introduction by Flora MacLeod and musical introduction by Frank Howes along with Ethel Bassin's own detailed introduction, reflects her profound study of the song and folklore of her people, and describes how she recorded a precious part of British traditional culture, catching it alive and sharing it as truly as possible.

Monthly Bulletin

Monthly Bulletin
Author: St. Louis Public Library
Publisher:
Total Pages: 628
Release: 1921
Genre:
ISBN:

"Teachers' bulletin", vol. 4- issued as part of v. 23, no. 9-

Brigh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song

Brigh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song
Author: Lauchie MacLellan
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2001-02-21
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0773568514

Few published collections of Gaelic song place the songs or their singers and communities in context. Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song corrects this, showing how the inherited art of a fourth-generation Canadian Gael fits within biographical, social, and historical contexts. It is the first major study of its kind to be undertaken for a Scottish Gaelic singer. The forty-eight songs and nine folktales in the collection are transcribed from field recordings and presented as the singer performed them, with an English translation provided. All the songs are accompanied by musical transcriptions. The book also includes a brief autobiography in Lauchie MacLellan's entertaining narrative style. John Shaw has added extensive notes and references, as well as photos and maps. In an era of growing appreciation of Celtic cultures, Brìgh an Òrain - A Story in Every Song makes an important Gaelic tradition available to the general reader. The materials also serve as a unique, adaptable resource for those with more specialized research or teaching interests in ethnology/folklore, Canadian studies, Gaelic language, ethnomusicology, Celtic studies, anthropology, and social history.

Airs and Dances

Airs and Dances
Author: Mara Shea
Publisher: Mel Bay Publications
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2011-04-15
Genre: Music
ISBN: 161065966X

Compiled by Mara Shea, a Scottish dance fiddler with a classical violin background, this book will appeal to the classically-trained violinist or musician, intermediate to advanced, who would like to learn something about the type of music unique to Scotland-the strathspey. It will also appeal to Scottish dance musicians who would like to know a little about the history of some of the tunes and their composers. Each of the strathspeys is recorded by Mara Shea and accessible online for listening. Chords are provided by Julie Gorka. Sketches and illustrations are by Lisa McDonald.

As A' Bhraighe

As A' Bhraighe
Author: Allan the Ridge MacDonald
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2005
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781897009062

It has been said that the greatest Gaelic poets were from Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands. Those who emigrated to Nova Scotia in the 18th and 19th centuries were the living memory of clan history and tradition. Allan the Ridge MacDonald stands out as one poet who inherited and maintained an extraordinary wealth of vocabulary and a superior knowledge of clan and legendary history. In this first compilation and translation of the known Gaelic songs of Allan the Ridge in print, Effie Rankin gives all readers an insight into the life of the poet and the traditions that made him a highly regarded seanchaidh.