Archive
Trilingual Trip
The recent short visit by the Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices project to Ireland generated quite a range of recordings in various formats and genres – and in three different languages!
This online table brings them all together for ease of reference, with live clickable links to take you to the clip of your choice on the appropriate platform. That could be YouTube for video, or Ipadio for audio – or it could also be Clilstore if you want access to a wordlinked transcript while you watch and/or listen.
Clilstore is a learner-friendly platform being developed by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in partnership with other institutions in the “TOOLS” project. It’s still work in progress, so if learners or teachers have comments to make on how it could be improved please feed them back to us!
Cuairt Ghàidhealach
Seo eisimpleir dhen obair a chaidh a dhèanamh nuair a chaidh sgioba Uibhisteach a-null a dh’Èirinn o chionn treiseag. Bhathas airson an dòigh obrach aig Guthan nan Eilean a thaisbeanadh ann an coimhearsnachd Ghàidhealach ann an Tìr Chonaill far a bheil Gaeilge na h-Èirinn fhathast làidir. Chaidh am film goirid seo a dhèanamh le tionndaidhean ann am Beurla, Gàidhlig, agus Gaeilge. A bharrachd air sin chaidh clàraidhean a dhèanamh (an dà chuid video agus audio) le daoine a’ bruidhinn gu nàdarra, san aon stoidhle ’s a th’ againn an seo.
Cluinnear cuideachd cuid dhe na beachdan aig Nìall agus aig Eairdsidh air na dh’ionnsaich iad air a’ chuairt.
(For an English version of this post please see the Am Pàipear Voices page.)
Àiridh na h-Aon Oidhche
Master raconteur Norman Maclean tells the spine-tingling Gaelic tale of Àiridh na h-Aon Oidhche, a local landmark out near Rueval in Benbecula, and reveals how it got its name.
He relates the story for Mary Morrison, an enthusiastic community participant in the Island Voices project. Mary got some other gems during her brief visit with Norman, and she has already displayed her talent for using traditional tales as a basis for imaginative drama work with schools and in the community. We can surely look forward to seeing some interesting and entertaining follow-ups to this very valuable groundwork…
Views of Àiridh na h-Aon Oidhche
The curious (or foolhardy?) can click on these thumbnails for expanded views of Àiridh na h-Aon Oidhche, photographed by Catherine Eunson.
Outlined against the eastern skyline, seen from the neighbouring chambered cairn.
Is this the fateful clòsaid?
In profile
Iain Trumisgarry – A Conversation
“Difficult Encounters with Mother Earth” – Iain talks to his old friend and neighbour, Mary Morrison, a retired English teacher and revitalised Gaelic learner. Their conversation covers three generations of family and friends from the acquisition of the croft, through the many changes since, to current practice today, via English-teaching in Spain, the North Uist Highland Games and many other highlights…
Iain speaks clearly and precisely and is always keen to encourage Gaelic learners. This is Mary’s first Gaelic interview.
Màiri Innes on Na h-Eileanaich
Màiri talks to Gordon Wells in English and Gaelic about the local group “Na h-Eileanaich”.
She describes how they all met as youngsters through the local music summer school in South Uist, Fèis Tìr a’ Mhurain, progressing on to playing at the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway, and then to recording their own EP as well as featuring as the regular House Band at the monthly Taigh Ciùil at Taigh Chearsabhagh in North Uist.
Listen to the interview here, with a taste of Màiri’s guitar skills thrown in for good measure:
Here’s a YouTube slideshow the band put together with some of their foot-tapping music.
If you want to find out more about them here’s their Facebook page, and a link to their EP.
Bilingual Video Downloads
Thanks to the work of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig IT department we are happy to announce that all 150 videos in the original Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices collection are now available for download in two different formats. For the best quality picture and sound you can choose the .avi version, but if you simply want something that will download quickly and not take up too much space just right-click on the “download MP4″ option.
Go to this page first, where you will see Series 1, Series 2 Outdoors, Generations, and Enterprise listed in the lefthand sidebar. Choose whichever section you wish to browse and select whichever video you wish to download. For the sake of completeness you will also find links to the transcripts and to the YouTube versions. If you would prefer to read the pages in English rather than Gaelic just click on “English” in the top right of any page.
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gd/ealain-is-cultar/guthan-nan-eilean/
Community Resource
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig works closely with Hebridean communities where Gaelic is spoken, in order to maintain a close link between its academic activities and the vernacular language. And through the Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices project that interest is bilingual, extending to encompass English development activities led by the college’s community training partner, Cothrom.
A third partner in the project is the community newspaper, …
Something went “click” in the night…
Last night, on Hallowe’en, as countless clocks ticked and tocked their way through the world’s revolving hours of dizzying darkness, something cyberspatial went “click”…
And this morning the Island Voices YouTube channel displays an interesting statistic – over 50,000 views of Island Voices Videos!
Top of the all-time list comes Norman Maclean’s fascinating conversation with Archie Mackay on Creativity and Values – part of the Series Two Enterprise English collection. But there’s been an interesting upsurge across the board over the last couple of months, with the Gaelic Documentary on Catching Razorfish (from the Series Two Outdoors collection) making a very strong showing – particularly in the USA. It’s now third on the all-time list – and catching up fast!
Should we be making preparations for a seasonal influx from the States of Gaelic-learning razorfish catchers? Spooky thought…
Guthan Uibhisteach
Seo pìos inntinneach a thèid leis an naidheachd mun leabhar “Puirt-à-Beul” a thàinig a-mach as ùr o chionn treiseag. Rinn Holly Gibb bhidio dhen taisbeanadh aig na dannsairean is na seinneadairean aig òraid Will Lamb aig Ceòlas. Abair “Guthan nan Eilean” – Rona Lightfoot, Kathleen Nic Aonghuis, agus Sìneag Nic an t-Saoir!
Agus seo na faclan – ma tha sibh airson seinn còmhla riutha…
“Innis dhomhsa cài’l thu cadal” agus “Nam biodh agam trustar bodaich”.
Ceud taing do Holly airson cead am bhidio a shealltainn an seo!
(English introduction in Am Pàipear here.)
Meet Catrin Evans: New Singer/Songwriter
Catrin Evans lives on Grimsay and studies at Sgoil Lìonacleit. And in her spare time she writes songs – songs which are making an impression. She’s started to be a regular performer at Taigh Chearsabhagh’s Taigh Ciùil, and she’s been away to the “Wee Studio” in Stornoway to make some recordings, thanks to family support and a Creative Scotland award for young musicians. Here, she talks to Gordon Wells about how she started writing songs, what the process is, and how the island environment inspires her. She also talks about the experience of recording in a professional studio, and how it’s boosted her confidence and desire to do more writing and performing:-
(If you’re an iPad or iPhone user you may need to follow this link: http://ipad.io/f0rp)
Here’s the Wee Studio recording of one of her songs – “Battleship”. (And you can follow the words if you click here.)
