A little bit nerve-wracking

The Mod is the biggest event in the Gaelic music calendar. This year marks the centenary of the event in its birthplace, Oban. Gold medal winner ARTHUR CORMACK gives a flavour of what it was like to compete in Gaeldom’s premiere competition.

I STARTED COMPETING when I was about 8. When I was that age if you were involved in music and singing that was probably the only outlet there was at that time. If you were going to sing and take part in competitions then the Mod was the only thing you could really do.

For somebody like myself who was an okay singer it was a positive experience. Maybe if you had taken part year after year and never got close to the prizes it might have felt different, but for me it was a positive experience.

Basically the songs were prescribed by the Mod committee, and you had to learn the song that was prescribed for your age group. That could mean that you were working with a song that you didn’t chose and that you maybe didn’t even like very much, but that was the rules, and you had to do it.

We got about half an hour a week Gaelic at school when I was a kid in Portree, and if you were preparing for the Mod the teachers would give you a bit of help, but you had to get outside help as well. There were a couple of folk in Portree who used to give me help with the singing and the Gaelic.

That was the local Mod scene, which was pretty low key compared with the national Mod, but that was how most of us started. I first went to the national in 1976, when I was 11. There was a big difference in the scale of the thing. In the local Mod you might have 10 or 12 people up against you, whereas in the National it might have been 30 or 40.

I remember my first national Mod I ended up singing in the prize concert at the Music Hall in Aberdeen, which is a huge venue. There are audiences for the competition itself, although maybe smaller now than then.

I suppose it was a little bit nerve-wracking, although I don’t remember being really scared! You had worked all year toward it, and didn’t want to blow it. It was pretty competitive as well. I personally enjoyed singing at ceilidhs more than the competition, but there were folk that were really focused on winning the prizes. It was competitive, and still is, I think.

The atmosphere among the competitors was generally friendly, though. I still know a lot of people that I competed against in the Mods. A lot of kids if they carried on at all were likely to join the Gaelic Choirs when they were older, and maintain contacts that way.

I think it’s probably even more friendly among the adult competitors. As kids you probably are more competitive, whereas by the tiem you reach the adult level there is room for a bit more crack and making it a more social occasion.

For the Gold Medal you had two prescribed songs, one of which was the Oran Mor or big song, and if you got to the final, you had to sing one prescribed song and one of your own choice. It was quite good in a way, because at least you had one song that you felt you were good at! There are other competitions in the adult sector that offer different prizes.

There are guidelines for the judges, which is something I’ve done myself. At the end of the day what I’m looking for is somebody who is well prepared but who can actually perform, not necessarily absolutely perfect in terms of the written music. Some judges wouldn’t agree with that.

There are still judges who don’t have Gaelic, and I don’t see that they can have the same understanding of a Gaelic song, so that remains a controversial issue. I don’t see a semi-operatic style of singing as being appropriate, and I think there is an acceptance now that the traditional way of singing is the right one. Gaelic has to take precedence over the music in terms of pronunciation and so on.

The big change since I started competing in the Mods as a boy is the growth of the Fèisean. I think the Mod and the Fèis are pretty complementary. The standard of the kids now is much higher than when I was a kid, both through the Fèisean and in school, and I think that has been a positive development which has helped the standard of the competition at the Mod.

The last few years I’ve been working for BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, and I’ll be doing that again this year. They broadcast live from the Mod, and I do a bit of commentary and interviewing. I’m also doing a session with Angus Peter Campbell on the poetry of Iain Crichton Smith. I have to set a couple of his poems to music.

Arthur Cormack is a member of Cliar, and the director of Fèisean nan Gàidheal and the Macmeanmna record label. He spoke to Kenny Mathieson.

Royal National Mod 2003 (Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail 2003) takes place in Oban from 10-18 October 2003.

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