Eòs Ailean mac Ruairidh Chaluim Ghobha
Joe Allan MacLean
Eachdraidh-bheatha | Biography
Joe Allan MacLean was from Rear Christmas Island, Cape Breton County. He was the son of Rory MacLean and Flora Bryden, both of Rear Christmas Island. His great-grandfather, Alexander MacLean (Alasdair Gobha), emigrated from Barra to Red Islands in 1822. Joe Allan's brother Tom is also featured in the Cape Breton Folklore Collection.
Joe Allan was raised in Rear Christmas Island. A skilled blacksmith, he spent most of his life working in rural Cape Breton, carrying on a trade deeply rooted in his family’s history.He was first recorded for the Cape Breton Gaelic Folklore Collection in the late 1970s, when he was entering his tenth decade. His deep well of knowledge and commitment to preserving Gaelic oral traditions made him one of Dr. John Shaw’s most dedicated sources.
As Dr. Shaw remembers,
although he suffered constant pain in his legs during the entire four year period of our recording together, he never let his physical discomfort deter him from the important task of recording his tradition to the best of his ability. At each of our sessions he allowed himself one drink of rum to relieve his aches, then proceeded to recite with total absorption the material that he had carefully prepared in his mind for the occasion. The extent of Joe Allan’s abilities was considerable, ranging from obscure wonder tales, through fragments of ballads from the Finn Cycle, to settings of mouth music, and fairly recent humorous songs composed in his native parish. At the end of each session he would silently berate himself for not recalling more material and, with great effort, accompany me to the door, urging me to return soon and promising to make a better showing at our next session. (Na Beanntaichean Gorma, p. 204)