Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 20 March 2009

Rachel Walker

THE ANNUAL ‘Ho-ro Gheallaidh’ of Inverness Gaelic Society at Eden Court Theatre, as ever, had a theme and unsurprisingly in 2009, Year of Homecoming, the theme was ‘Welcome Home’. Songs and music included in the programme were all selected to reflect the impact of emigration or leaving on the Gael’s love of country and people.

Introduced this year by new Chief, Cailean Maclean, who was also responsible for the backdrop of landscape and nature images relating to the songs, the evening was compered by Society stalwart Allan Campbell. A no doubt welcome addition for non Gaelic speakers is the provision of translations of introductions on the backdrop.

First to take the stage was Falkirk Mod Gold Medallist Kerrie Finlay, who gave a selection of unaccompanied, well-loved favourites such as Murdo Macfarlane’s ‘Cànan nan Gaidheal’ (Language of the Gael), the Uist anthem ‘O Mo Dhuthaich’ (O My Country) and ‘Nam aonar le mo smaointean’ (Alone with my thoughts), composed in the aftermath of the Falklands war.

She was followed by the truly traditional or ‘sean nòs’ singing of Alan Macdonald (‘wee Alan’) who won the men’s medal for traditional singing at the 2008 Mod. Alan sings with a true knowledge and understanding of his native culture, and in particular the songs of the ‘Baird Bhaile’, the ‘Village Bards’.

He gave the appreciative audience a selection of his favourites, including Donald Ross’s classic ‘Cailin mo Rùnsa’ (and the comic “A’bhean agam fhìn’ ( My Own wife). Alan may not possess the most lyrically ‘beautiful’ of voices, but in Sean nòs singing, it is the expressive and above all ‘natural’ performance of the songs which is closest to the heart of the Gael, and that he can deliver in bucketloads.

The Gaelic Society has, in recent years, been very keen to encourage young people to become involved in the activities of the society and this year invited a large group of young singers to perform for the Annual concert. The young group of singers from Inverness, ‘Canntaireachd’, (the Gaelic word for the traditional methods of teaching tunes to pipers by ‘singing’ the notes), tutored by Eilidh Mackenzie, performed several songs in unison and harmony, with great assuredness for those so young, and two of the young singers also played sets of tunes on the Highland pipes.

It is gratifying to see more than 20 youngsters singing in their native language with clarity and confidence, and perhaps giving the audience a glimpse of even greater things to come, both as a group and with soloists. It is also particularly important that performers as young as these feel at home enough with their language and culture to deliver introductions and thanks in fluent, natural, Gaelic, as did singer Rachel Walker, who comes from a distinctly un-Gaelic background, having been brought up in England till the age of eight, when she moved to Wester Ross.

Rachel performed several well-known songs, some of them self-accompanied on keyboard, including ‘Braighe Loch Iall’ from her first album, and the perennial favourite, depicting the beauties of Ballachulish Glen, ‘Gleann Bhaile Chaoil’.

Double Gold Medallist, Paul MacCallum from South Uist is a weel-kent figure to Gaelic audiences in the North as well as in the Islands, and commands the stage and the attention of the audience from his first notes. His selection, accompanied in classic fashion on piano by Hamish Menzies from Dingwall, included the emigration classic from Kingussie, ‘Gu math slàn do na fearaibh’, the nostalgic ‘Ceud Fàilte air gach Gleann’ (A thousand welcomes to each glen) from the pen of the Bard, Domhnall Ailean Dhomhnaill na Bainich, and ‘An Ataireachd Àrd’ (The High Surge of the Ocean), a song eternally beloved by audiences and many many singers and choirs.

Melodies of a more upbeat nature were provide by the ever cheeky and red be-socked Fergie Macdonald and his band and he, as usual, established an instant rapport with his audience in truly unassuming and warm manner.

The Inverness Gaelic Society’s annual major event is perhaps a ‘Traditional evening for a traditional audience’, and delivers what this traditional audience expects, but it is good that the Society also realises the need to attract young people to its activities, and in particular to find new ways of making that ‘traditional’ culture relevant and appealing to the new generation of Gaelic speakers.

© Fiona MacKenzie, 2009

Links

• Inverness Gaelic Society
• Fiona MacKenzie