New Life for Celtic Song

ROB ADAMS reports on the Celtic round of this month’s Nòs Ùr song competition for minority languages around Europe

THE RESULTS of an international song search will be revealed when the twelve finalists in Nòs Ùr perform at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness later this month.

Nòs Ùr, meaning ‘new style’ in Gaelic, is the Celtic wing of a pan-European song competition for minority languages, and the two leading entrants from the Inverness event will go forward to Lulea in Sweden in October to take part in the overall final.

The finalists appearing at Eden Court are: Griogair Labhruidh (Scottish Gaelic); Davie Tait (Scots); Dilwyn Llwyd (Welsh); Fiona J Mackenzie (Scottish Gaelic); Gillebride MacIllemhaoil (Scottish Gaelic); Gwennyn Louarn (Breton); Oi Polloi (Scottish Gaelic); Gareth Bonello (Welsh); Yr Annioddefol (Welsh); Phamie Gow (Scottish Gaelic); Paula Kehoe (Irish); and Lleuwen Steffan (Welsh).

Brian Ó hEadhra, the Inverness-based musician and arts activist who oversees Nòs Ùr, expressed his delight with the standard of the songs that this first involvement with the parent event, Liet Lavlut, has attracted.

“We launched the competition in January and by the deadline in mid-March, we had received forty-two entries,” he says. “Some people actually submitted more than one song but considering that one of the longer established regional competitions received the same number of entries, that’s a really good first effort.”

Songs are invited in Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Irish, Ulster Scots, Manx, Welsh, Cornish and Breton and only two of these languages, Ulster Scots and Cornish, were not represented in the forty-two entries.

“The absentees are something that we’d like to look at addressing in future years,” says Ó hEadhra. “But I think what’s important at this stage is the quality of the songs and encouraging people to write new work in these languages. The quality of entries was very good and I’m glad I was able to stand aside and let a panel of three jurors – from Scotland, Cornwall and the Netherlands – choose the finalists. Where the songs came from wasn’t important to the judges; the Manx language isn’t represented in the final, for instance, which is a pity. But it was a question of choosing the best entries.”

Ó hEadhra himself has had previous experience of entering Liet Lavlut, which is how his involvement in Nòs Ùr came about.

“I entered a song two years ago that was selected for the final and I actually couldn’t go because my wife was pregnant at the time and Anna Murray, the Gaelic singer, went instead,” he says. “But after the event I e-mailed the organisers to say ‘well done’ and since they were looking to get more minority languages involved, they invited me onto the international board.

“The point of the competition as a whole is that English has become such a dominant force in songwriting around the world and as we’ve seen from Nòs Ùr, there are people writing professional quality songs in their own language. By making as big a noise as possible through the media and over the internet, we hope to encourage more writers to come forward.”

The internet and technology in general have been a great help in getting Nòs Ùr up and running. Two prizes will be awarded at the Eden Court final, one by the jury and the other by the public, which includes the audience in the theatre and those accessing the event through internet transmission.

“MySpace was really useful for getting word out about the competition because you can access specific genres and reach people who are really interested,” says Ó hEadhra. “During the final the audience can vote by SMS text and then the internet transmission will be available for two or three weeks after the event for voting by web poll. So we’re using the technology available as much as possible to make this a truly international event.”
Songwriters are encouraged to be forward-looking also. The songs, in this instance, didn’t have to be specially composed for the competition but they did have to be relatively new. Traditional songs or songs by Robert Burns, for example, wouldn’t be accepted.

“The rules may be fine-tuned as we go forward,” says Ó hEadhra. “We certainly wouldn’t discourage people from keeping it simple but we’re looking at keeping minority languages relevant to modern life, rather than being preserved in aspic. So it would be good to see writers working in a modern style. The entries this time around were quite varied – there was a Welsh jazz band, a heavy rock band and a topical song in Scots as well as singer-songwriters – and we’re not going to tell people to write in a particular genre because a good song is a good song whatever style of music it’s written in.”

With the UK recently making another dismal showing in the Eurovision Song Contest, Ó hEadhra feels that Nòs Ùr gives songwriters from north western Europe a chance to make an impact internationally on more of a level playing field.

“Eurovision has become such a political event over the years that it’s conceivable that you could enter by far the best song and lose out through political voting because you’re from the wrong country,” he says.

“Obviously we can’t stop members of the public from, say, Wales voting for a Welsh song, or the Breton people voting for their finalist, but the jury at Eden Court will be non-partisan and with the media interest in the event and a potentially huge internet audience, it’s a great opportunity for songwriters to have their songs heard and to promote themselves internationally.”

Nòs Ùr is at Eden Court Theatre on 21 June.

© Rob Adams, 2008

Links

• Nòs Ùr
• Eden Court Theatre