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Gaelic Literature of the Traditional poetry and song: collectors and collections |
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This page is
best viewed on a desktop or laptop PC MACLEAN,
Calum I. (1915-1960) A native of Raasay and brother of the
poet Sorley MacLean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain), Calum I. MacLean was a
distinguished collector of both Irish and Scottish Gaelic oral
literature. He started his career with
the Irish Folklore Commission, collecting, recording and cataloguing, and
then in 1951 he joined the staff of the Upon the twenty-fifth anniversary of
Calum MacLean’s death, the School of Scottish Studies published a
commemorative issue of its periodical Tocher (39:
Spring 1985), with memoirs from his brothers Alasdair and Sorley and several
friends and colleagues, as well as transcriptions of a selection of the
material in the School’s Sound Archives which had been recorded by him. Listed here are songs collected by Calum Maclean in
his native Raasay and from Mrs. Annie Arnott in Skye. Many recordings of these songs may be heard on the Tobar an Dualchais site. See also Calum MacLean’s entry in the section for
traditional prose. ____________ MacLean,
Calum I. ‘Traditional
Songs from Raasay and Their Value as Folk-Literature’. TGSI,
39-40 (1942-1950), 176-192. This article is both a collection of
songs and an essay in which Calum MacLean argues eloquently that our best
literature is not to be found in the printed editions of Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, Donnchadh Bàn or Rob Donn. Rather it is
to be found in traditional folk poetry and song. All fifteen songs were recorded in 1946
from Angus Nicolson of Clachan Farm, Raasay, who had learnt them as a boy
from Màiri Iain ‘Ic
Chaluim of the Braes of Portree. i
‘Is toil liom Ailean Dubh a Lochaidh’, p. 181. An address to Ailean
Dubh from a woman who still loves him, even though he has betrayed her. Four single-line verses and a three-line
refrain. For an Eigg version, see Songs of the Hebrides 2 (Kennedy-Fraser and MacLeod 1917:
xx). ii ‘Cùl
ri m’ leannan ‘s e chuir
mi ‘n diugh’, pp. 181-182. A love song. Calum MacLean comments on the singer’s
admiration for his lost sweetheart’s modesty and songs. Five verse-couplets and a three-line
refrain. iii ‘Gu bheil an gille dubhdhonn’, pp. 182-183. Calum MacLean believes
this version to be older than a Barra version published
in Colm Ó Lochlainn’s Deoch-slàinte nan Gillean (Ó Lochlainn 1948:42). Ten verse-couplets and a three-line
refrain. iv ‘Thoir
mo shoraidh a Chinn t-sàile’,
pp. 183-184. Calum MacLean writes
that although this love song is from the Kintail district,
he had not heard it sung there. Ten
verse-couplets and a three-line, mainly vocable
refrain. v ‘Hó
rà hù à, nighean ó,
nighean donn’, p. 184. A sailor’s love
song. Eight verse-couplets and a
three-line refrain. vi ‘Is toil liom
coisiche na frìthe’, pp.
184-185. Love song addressed by
a woman to a hunter. A fragment, of
two verse-couplets and a three-line refrain. vii ‘Siod mar rachainn fhéin is tu’, p. 185. A fragment of three
lines and a three-line refrain. Derick
Thomson has published an English translation of another version of this song
from Skye (Thomson 1977:67). For another, fragmentary version with tune
from the Rev. Kenneth MacLeod, see Songs
of the Hebrides 2 (Kennedy-Fraser
and MacLeod 1917: xiii). viii ‘Tha sgeul
ùr air tighinn do’n bhaile’, pp. 185-186. This song, described
by Calum MacLean as one of Angus Nicolson’s finest, is a dialogue song
between the man and his sweetheart. It
is a continuation song with a vocable refrain. For an Eigg version, see individual entry
for ix ‘Gur
e mise tha fo éislean’, pp. 186-187. Another love
song. Seven single-line verses and a
mainly vocable refrain, x ‘Cha bhidh
mi buan is tu bhith bhuam’, pp. 187-188. Ten verse-couplets and
a three-line refrain. For a Skye
version of this song, see the Catriona Dhùghlas
Collection. xi ‘Chi mi am bàta a’ dol seachad’,
p. 188. A woman’s song for her
sailor sweetheart. Eight
verse-couplets and a refrain of mixed vocables and
text. xii ‘Dh’ fhalbh mo rùn air an aiseag’, p. 189. Song of a woman
abandoned by her sweetheart. Nine
verse-couplets and a refrain. For a
Skye version of this song, see the Johan MacInnes
Collection. xiii ‘O! ‘s toil ‘s gur ro-thoil liom’, pp. 189-190. Song of a woman for an
absent lover. Seven verse-couplets and
a refrain. For another version of this song, see individual entry. xiv ‘Ho ró chuir mo leannan cùl rium’, pp. 190-191. Calum MacLean comments
upon this song as an example of the Gaelic people being not too much affected
by Victorianism. Six verse-couplets
and a three-line refrain. xv ‘Chaidh
mo Dhonnchadh ‘n-a bheinn’,
p. 191. For two other versions
of this song, see individual
entry. Calum MacLean notes that it
is sung to a ceòl mór tune. ____________ Songs
collected from Annie Arnott by i ‘Cì an fhidheall’. Tocher, 39 (Spring 1985), 154-155 Recorded from Annie’s singing and
transcribed from ii ‘Dhannsamaid le Ailean’.
Tocher,
1 (Spring 1971), 6. Recorded in iii ‘Gillean mo rùin’. Tocher, 8
(Winter 1972), 266-267. Recorded from Annie’s singing and
transcribed from This version has four verses and
the refrain in a strophic metre. There
is a parallel English translation with the tune in staff notation. iv ‘ Recorded from Annie’s singing and
transcribed from v ‘ ‘S ann tha ‘n còmhradh binn aig an fhitheach’. Tocher, 1 (Spring
1971), 8-9. Recorded from Annie’s singing and
transcribed from |
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A-C D-Domhnall Domhnallach-Dz E–G H–L M–MacA MacB–MacC MacD MacE-MacK, MacLa-MacLeod MacLeòid A-H MacLeòid I-Z MacM-MacN MacO-MacZ M N O-Q R-Z Annie Arnott An Cabairneach Carmina Gadelica
Catriona
Dhùghlas Tormod Domhnallach Marjory Kennedy-Fraser Angus Lamont K. N. MacDonald Johan MacInnes Hugh MacKinnon Calum I. MacLean Sorley MacLean Kenneth MacLeod Niall MacLeòid Màiri
Nighean Alasdair Cairistiona
Mhàrtainn Alexander Morison Kenneth Morrison Angus Nicolson Portree
HS Magazine Lachlann
Robertson Frances Tolmie I Frances Tolmie II Somhairle
MacGill-Eain The New Poetry Books
etc: A-L Books etc: MacA-MacL Books etc: MacM-Z Periodicals, MSS, AV |
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© Sabhal Mòr Ostaig 2018