Editorial by Kenny Mathieson
Raising the language question
1 Nov 2003 in Gaelic
THE PUBLICATION of a major new novel by Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul (Angus Peter Campbell) is an event of note in Highland culture, even if the language gap means that it will remain inaccessible to the majority of its potential readership within the Highlands, far less beyond.
Angus Peter wrote his own piece on the novel for us last month (in Gaelic). This month, Peter Urpeth interviews the novelist at length (in English). It is a fascinating discussion on the novel, the history and culture of the people of the Gaidhealtachd, and the vexed question of the language itself. An Oidhche Mus Do Sheòl Sinn is published by Clàr.
Later this month we will bring you an interview with the extraordinary Martyn Bennett. Illness has prevented this highly gifted piper and fiddler from playing his instruments in recent years, far less performing, but he has found new ways to express his music in the studio, exemplified on his latest CD release, Grit (Realworld).
Mull Theatre and Perth Theatre’s joint production of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped concludes its lengthy peregrination around the Highlands this month (the final Highland performance is in Oban on Saturday 8 November). We are grateful to actor David Fitzgerald, who plays David Balfour in the show, for his blow-by-blow diary of the tour (see Kidnapped Dairy), and look forward to his concluding missives from the front line.
Fiona Mackenzie, the Mairi Mhor Gaelic Song Fellow, contributes a hilarious account of her adventures at the centenary Royal National Mod in Oban as our Month in the Life feature, while Kathy Hubbard of the Shetland Arts Trust is the subject of Andy Ross’s ArtsFolk interview.
No one among the great and the good (or even the humble foot soldiers) of the Highland arts scene has come forward with a possible subject for a Rant this month, which presumably means that everyone is completely happy with everything in this best of all possible worlds. No, I don’t think so either, so let’s hear from you.
Kenny Mathieson
Commissioning Editor
November 2003
