DASG Blog

Sgeulachdan ann an Cluas ri Claisneachd

The DASG Audio Archive was launched in August 2018. The archive contains recordings made during the collection process for the Historical Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic (HDSG) and other recordings that were donated to Celtic and Gaelic over the years. We now also have the Mòthan Archive which contains recordings made by Tracy Chipman. Tracy is from the States but spent a lot of time in the Western Isles in the 1990s recording local people. The DASG archive is full of songs, local words, life stories and fictional stories in Gaelic and in English. However, our recordings are not just useful for studying Gaelic language and terminology but they are also very important historical sources.
 
Some of the recodings in our HDSG archive come from Nova Scotia as far back as 1953. Songs and Piping recorded for CBC Sydney is full of love songs, rowing songs and local songs, some of which the DASG team recognised but some which we had never heard before. Some of the songs are about subjects that today’s Gaelic singers would recognise such as A’ Choille Ghruamach, ’S Toigh Leam Fhìn Mo Chruinneag Ghuanach and Tha Mi fo Lionn-dubh ’s Mi ’m Ònar. But we also have songs which tell us about daily life in Nova Scotia, such as Òran nam Mohawks [Song of the Mohawks]. I have never head this song sung in Scotland!
 

Peadair Buidh’ an-dràsta gun fàth aige a dhol a-mach, A thogail a’ bhuntàta ’s a chàradh far bheil an lag. Thàinig na Mohawks air cho dàna ’s gun do dh’iarr iad air, Buiseal dhen bhuntàta ’s gum pàigheadh iad e air ais.   Seinn airidh o horo Seinn ò, seinn ò Seinn airidh o horo Seinn horò nàillibh.   Murchadh Buidh’ ag èigheach gu h-àrd air mullach nan cnoc Labhair e ri Gabriel “’S feàrr dhuit fuireach air ais” Chunna mise dhà dhiubh am bràigh a’ bhail’ againn fhìn Gillean Dhòmhnaill Ruaidh ’s iad gam fuadach a-mach o thìr.   Seinn airidh o horo Seinn ò, seinn ò Seinn airidh o horo Seinn horò nàillibh

Yellow-haired Peter was without a chance to go outside, To lift the potatoes and put them in the hollow. The Mohawks came upon him and with brazeness asked, For a bushel of the potatoes and they’d pay him back. Seinn airidh o horo Seinn ò, seinn ò Seinn airidh o horo Seinn horò nàillibh Yellow-haired Murdo yelled from up on the top of the hills He said to Gabriel “You’d better stay back” I saw two of them on the brae of our town Donald Red’s boys cleared them out of the country.   Seinn airidh o horo Seinn ò, seinn ò Seinn airidh o horo Seinn horò nàillibh

 
Unfortunatley we only have these two verses on the recording but if you know more of the song or if you have ever heard anybody singing it, I would love to hear from you! In the recording, Stories and Songs from Jim Charles MacNeil, he tells us of his life, the community in Cape Breton and how the Gaelic College at St Annes was established:
 
[Translation by AL]

[How it was] established over there. [...] The Reverend MacKenzie who was in the First World War came, and he came to the States and he went to college, he became a minister and he went over then to Canada. And for a short while he was the minister in Baddeck, and Kenneth, a MacLeod man, he was a minister himself, he took a great crowd from Saint Annes over to Australia... and there was a man there, where he was, over there and he was saying that something should be built, you know, to keep up/ protect the priceless inheritance that their forefathers had, in memory of this man [...].

In one of my favourite recordings Angus MacDonald tells us about the trip his family took on The Hector travelling to Nova Scotia to start a new life;
[Translation by AL]

Well, the MacInneses came out. The children of Aonghas, they came out of Scotland, they came out from the old country on The Hector. A couple of them settled here, Big Michael they called my great granfather, and Niall, he settled here as well.

Tracy Chipman’s recordings are not only full of songs and stories, but also information on ways of life, recipies and cures. Just now, I am working on one of the recordings Tracy made in conversation with Kate Ann MacLellan from Tigharry in North Uist. Kate tells Tracy that her grandmother had special ways to cure almost any illness and it’s clear that she had a very good reputation on the island. When Kate was very small, she used to spend time with her grandmother pulling seaweed from the beach and she had recipies for everything, even for the conch shells.

Large conch shells. Sometimes you would get some of them with food in them and sometimes they were empty. And always when you put them to your ear you would think the sea was murmuring inside them. Well, my granny used to take home every single one she would see empty of these shells. And she used to boil them as well. And she would strain that and she was bottling it as well. And this was supposed to be lime water that was made out of theses conch shells. And in those days children were very bad with worms, and this is the cure for the worms, was to give them this lime water.

In the recording Stories and Discussion on the SS Politician, Ronald MacDonald tells Tracy the story of the SS Politician.
 
Alasdair MacLeod tells her about courting on the island of Scalpay and that the men went out courting through the week and not at the weekend in case they weren’t back home in time for the Sabbath! Tracy didn’t speak too much Gaelic at the time of recording and so most of her recordings are in English. However, they still tell us about customs and traditions in the Highlands and Islands and I think they are vitally important as historical sources.
 
Back to our HDSG archive for my final story, and it’s a local tale from Tarbert. In the recording, A Discussion on Fishing, Angus Martin is in discussion with Alexander Black (b. 1893), Mrs Jess Campbell (b. 1892), Hugh Macfarlane (b. 1885) and Caroline Martin (b. 1904) about a local well that they had. To keep this well clean they kept a single trout in it. They say that the water was always incredibly clear and that it was as cold in the summer as it was in the winter.
 
What’s your favourite tale that you’ve discovered in our archive? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or send us an email to mail@dasg.ac.uk.