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Tobhta Bean Eachainn

TobhtaBeanEachainnscrn

Dòmhnall Ruaraidh Caimbeul tells stories and recites a poem to Tommy Macdonald concerning Tobhta Bean Eachainn in South Lochboisdale, South Uist, in further additions to our taighean-tughaidh playlist.

This full unsubtitled recording includes both some stories about the ruin, and Dòmhnall Ruaraidh’s rendition of a poem about Maighstir Seòras Rigg.

The recording has also been broken down into two subtitled parts.

Part 1 features local stories told about the ruin.

You can also read a wordlinked transcript of Part 1 with the video embedded here: https://multidict.net/cs/12144

Part 2 features a poem about the priest who looked after the occupants of the ruin.

You can also read a wordlinked transcript of Part 2 with the video embedded here: https://multidict.net/cs/12145

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Bilingual Deputy First Minister

Le Gordon Wells

ForbesScrn1png Switching between Gaelic and English, Scotland’s Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes addresses the “Togail ar Guthan” (“Raising our Voices”) open access webinar for the North Uist Historical Society’s “Aire air Sunnd“ wellbeing project.

If you can’t find five minutes to watch and hear her full talk in real time, here are some key extracts converted into the written word:

“…Local knowledge is the lifeblood of our history, our heritage, our environment…

…That is the area where voices especially need to be heard, to protect and promote the things that you have inherited, that have been passed down to you by generations that have gone before you…

…You have a unique history, you have an archaeology, your heritage is in the stones around you – stones which tell stories of clearance, of emigration, of conflict, which show evidence of settlement, of survival, of faith, and of learning. We need to hear your voices tell those stories before they’re forgotten…

…North Uist has a strong cultural life that looks back, but there’s a strong cultural life that is very much about the present, through song and poetry. We can be sure that wherever Gaelic songs are sung, those of Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna will often be included, looking to the past. But yet more recently, we also hear international artists such as Julie Fowlis and Runrig who also have their roots in North Uist, and whose songs are sung by many of the young today, at festivals and local shows. They “raise their voices” as a celebration of what has been handed down to them – their heritage, their cultural life, which is anchored and rooted in North Uist…”

We have created CC subtitles for the Gaelic sections of Ms Forbes’s talk. Viewers can access auto-translations into other languages of their choice, including English, via the YouTube settings wheel.

More videos from Phase Two of this Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath project can be found on our website here: https://guthan.wordpress.com/aire-air-sunnd/aas-phase-2-videos/

Further background is available here: https://guthan.wordpress.com/aire-air-sunnd/

The full programme for “Togail ar Guthan” is here: https://guthan.wordpress.com/2024/09/27/togail-ar-guthan/

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Togail ar Guthan

Le Gordon Wells

Details of the “Togail ar Guthan” online conference of the North Uist Historical Society Aire air Sunnd project have been published. (Click to enlarge.)

Here’s the Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath (CEUT) Facebook page.

Guthan nan Eilean has been an active partner in this project since it began in 2022. You can find links to our contributions to Phase 1 (2022-23) and to Phase 2 (2023-24) via our dedicated Aire air Sunnd pages.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

As a Gaelic speaker, I also find the bilingual signs offensive

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

Apparently, Andrew Marr finds the Gaelic on signage in Scotland offensive. Yes, the signs are offensive. Because the Gaelic isn’t big enough. I am fed up with the ignorance towards the history of Gaelic in Scotland, and so you won’t get another history lesson and dictionary of placenames from me showing how Gaelic is a […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

On Andrew Marr’s Anti-Gaelic Outburst

Le Bella Caledonia Editor

The broadcaster and columnist Andrew Marr has hit the headlines with a remarkable outburst against gaelic language signs at the Labour Party conference. Marr’s outburst came as the Scottish Labour leader was asked by an audience member if he would be looking to learn lessons from Labour in Wales’s promotion of the Welsh language. When […]

Tadhail air Ghetto na Gàidhlig – Bella Caledonia

AAS: A Community Voice

Le Gordon Wells

“Hearing the sounds of Gaelic did something for my wellbeing.”

CathieCrop2

“Cathie Laing, a founder member of the Aire air Sunnd Heritage and Wellbeing group, speaks in both languages about the ways in which this group developed and organised itself, from small beginnings, to use heritage to meet a new range of community need and audience, through conversation, a cup of tea, story and music.”

Here she speaks in Gaelic.

(Auto-translation of the optional CC subtitles is available through the YouTube Setting Wheel.)

She speaks in English in this clip.

(CEUT, The North Uist Historical Society, is grateful to MG Alba’s Trainee Community Content Creator, Fiona MacIsaac, for recording and editing these videos.)

This series of videos for the Aire air Sunnd Wellbeing group is cumulatively collected on the dedicated Phase 2 Videos page.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Island Poets through Portuguese

Le Gordon Wells

Audrey and Christie

Our collaborator, Marina Yazbek Dias Peres, has excelled herself in her mission to bring Island Voices documentaries to Portuguese speakers around the world, this time re-rendering two of our most recent productions from our Extensions page! Lovely work, Marina!

“Jamaicana no País de Gales” offers a documentary slice of Jamaican life in Wales, featuring Audrey West, poet, artist, and community worker.

And “Shetlandês em Glasgow” gives us a parallel treatment of Shetland poet Christie Williamson’s life in Glasgow.

Clilstore units have also been created for each of these films. You can simultaneously view the films and read the transcripts for Audrey here, and for Christie here.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

AAS: Wellbeing and the Environment

Le Gordon Wells

“So, beauty and tenderness and a way to express – that is really what I want to say.”

Black throated diver or arctic loon (Gavia arctica) swimming on a loch, Benbecula, Outer Hebrides, Scotland By Alex Cooper

“Loriana Pauli speaks movingly of the visceral pain she feels, as an ornithologist and eco-warrior, at the loss of species from Berneray and North Uist: in particular, the Black-throated Diver, alongside other domestic and shoreline birds. ‘Solastalgia’, (coined from ‘Nostalgia’), is a term which represents a new form of psychological distress caused by all the ecological changes people suffer because of the climate crisis. How do we cope with this, she asks the Aire air Sunnd heritage wellbeing group?”

Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath, North Uist Historical Society, is grateful to MG Alba’s Trainee Community Content Creator, Fiona MacIsaac, for recording and editing this video.

This series of videos for the Aire air Sunnd Wellbeing group is cumulatively collected on the dedicated Phase 2 Videos page.

Tadhail air Island Voices – Guthan nan Eilean

Comataidh phàrlamaideach ag iarraidh dàileachadh air cruthachadh choimiseanairean ùra

Le Oifigear Gàidhlig

Tha Comataidh an Ionmhais aig Taigh an Ròid ag iarraidh dàileachadh air cruthachadh Choimiseanairean ùra ann an Alba Tha Comataidh an Ionmhais is Rianachd Phoblaich aig Taigh an Ròid air dàileachadh iarraidh air cruthachadh choimiseanairean ùra sam bith no buidhnean den leithid ann an Alba. Tha a’ chomataidh ag ràdh gun cuala iad fianais làidir … Leugh an corr de

Tadhail air Blog Pàrlamaid na h-Alba

Coimheagar

Le lasairdhubh

Chan eil diù a’ choin agam do glainead na Gàidhlig. Bidh cànanan daonnan a’ gabhail iasad air faclan is abairtean bho chànanan eile. ’S e gnìomh cudromach, àbhaisteach a th’ ann ann am mion-fhàs cànain sam bith. ’S mar sin, nuair a thig e gu bruidhinn anns a’ Ghàidhlig mu rian de rudan a tha ag obair ri chèile, coltach ris a h-uile duine eile, cleachdaidh mi am facal-iasaid siostam, agus gur math a fhreagras e.

Ach an latha eile, thàinig mi tarsaing air facal ùr ann an Dwelly a’ riochdachadh an aon bhun-bheachd: comh-eagar, agus thaitinn e leam cho mòr, saoilidh mi gun tòisich mi a chleachdadh an àite siostam, aig amannan co-dhiù. Is toil leam comh-eagar air sàillibh ’s gu bheil ciall an fhacail cho follaiseach bho chiall an dà eileamaid dheth: rudan air an eagrachadh ri chèile, .i. siostam.

Chan e facal cumanta a th’ ann, gun teagamh. Cha do lorg mi aon iomradh air ann an DASG. Ach tha e reusanta cumanta ann an Gàidhlig na h-Èireann, a’ ciallachadh co-òrdanachadh an sin. An aon rud, ge-tà: nuair a chanas mi fhìn e, gu nàdarra, bidh mi a’ cur a’ bheuma air a’ chiad lide. Chan eil fhios agam a bheil sin traidiseanta gus nach eil, ach tha e a’ faireachdainn ceart, agus mar sin, nuair a chleachdas mi ann sgrìobhadh e, saoilidh mi gun litrich mi mar aon fhacal e: coimheagar.

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Tadhail air Air Cuan Dubh Drilseach