Category: UGC

The University of the Highlands and Islands takes inspiration from Island Voices.

Perhaps a surprise to some, but not to us!

Here’s how it all comes back to Benbecula…

The tweeted press release touches on a couple of international projects that are being taken forward by UHI’s Language Sciences Institute. It doesn’t have the space to describe in detail how each builds on experience first gained in the Island Voices/Guthan nan Eilean project, and the closely linked development of Clilstore at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Both of these have grown from originally European Union-funded initiatives.

Island Voices followers who have time and inclination to read a bit more may find the additional information below of interest.

“Taisce bheo na nGael/Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal” is a joint Irish/Scottish Gaelic ethnographic retrieval project in which community-based expert speakers are recorded in their own homes. The first stage of the Scottish side of the project was completed shortly before lockdown began. There are now 15 hours of video material with Clilstore transcriptions on the Institute’s website, with access open to all. Project partners are now testing out alternative ways of making recordings online, in case continuing lockdown restrictions mean the Irish recording stage needs to be tackled in a different way.

The same issue has also arisen with the Institute’s “Mediating Multilingualism” project in India, in partnership with Amity University Haryana and the Indian network of Centres for Endangered Languages. With COVID-19 continuing to cause severe disruption to university-based activities there (including fieldwork), the project team has already been trialling the production of home-based recordings for publication on the same, highly flexible, online Clilstore platform. Six Indian languages have been recently added to its linguistic range. Some of these are featured in the short Gaelic film (subtitled in English) “Dà Dhùthaich Iomadh Cànan/Two Lands Many Languages” produced by the UHI team after visiting Shillong in North-East India at the end of 2019 (the International Year of Indigenous Languages). This is also available to view online on the project’s webpage.

এই তথ্যচিত্রের মাধ্যমে সেইন্ট কিলডার সংক্ষিপ্ত বিবরণ তুলে ধরা হয়েছে। ল্যোওসের একটি পর্যটন সংস্থার সঙ্গে এই অভিযানটি সম্পন্ন হয়েছে। ভ্রমণের তালিকায় রয়েছে মূলদ্বীপের প্রাকৃতিক ও সাংস্কৃতিক পর্যটন। আটলান্টিক মহাসাগরের বুক চিরে এই অভিযানে দীর্ঘ সমুদ্রযাত্রার ক্লান্তি তো নেইই বরং আছে মন ভালো করা সব অসাধারণ দৃশ্য। নির্জন সমুদ্রসৈকত, অজস্র পাখিদের কোলাহল, প্রকৃতির নিবিড় ছোঁওয়া ও প্রাচীন মানব সভ্যতার ঐতিহাসিক উপাদান সব মিলিয়ে এক রোমাঞ্চকর অভিজ্ঞতা।

Bangla (Bengali) is the latest addition to Island Voices’ Other Tongues initiative, thanks to independent researcher Animesh Biswas, who can now add “film narrator” to his list of other talents! The language has hundreds of millions of speakers, yet the question may well be asked if any of them have previously had any access to information about the St Kilda dual natural and cultural heritage site in documentary format in their own language?!

On a linguistic note, it’s worth listening out for the pronunciation of placenames in the film. Animesh opted to go for Gaelic rather than English models, a process greatly assisted by the regular phonetic nature of Indian writing systems. Nach math a rinn e!

A Clilstore version with full wordlinked transcript and embedded video is available here: Unit 8568.

Christine Primrose will need little or no introduction for the Gaelic enthusiasts who follow Island Voices. A stellar singer, she has long a been a leading light in the promotion of Gaelic music and the tradition which nurtures it. If, by chance, you are coming to acquaintance with her for the first time, this interview in English (with further useful embedded links) for Folk Radio will give you an indication of her central position in the world of Gaelic music.

In the clips below, she talks freely in Gaelic to Pàdruig Moireach – who also has Carloway roots – for the Stòras Beò nan Gàidheal project. A feast for the ears for anyone with a taste for good Lewis Gaelic!

In the first part, Christine first recalls her early childhood in Carloway, Lewis – a close community in which every house had a loom. She started school very young, but always remembers singing – whether to neighbours in their homes, or at community concerts when still a young girl. She talks about the pressure of performance and how to look after your voice. Choral singing is also discussed. Her early career through school, college, and work in Glasgow was marked by singing, culminating with the prize for “seann nòs” (a term which she questions) at the Mòd. (You can get a Clilstore transcript here: Unit 8434.)

In the second part, Christine talks about touring Ireland and the novel experience of presenting her songs outside her community, emphasising the importance of feeling to maintain authenticity. She is disciplined in her approach, while also bringing her own interpretation to a song. Care for the rhythm of the words enhances the story. Moving to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig enabled her to maintain her singing career, while helping to promote the Gaelic college. She enjoys teaching, and listening to singers from other traditions. She stresses the importance of giving young performers time to learn their craft before pressurising them to perform. Return visits to Carloway underline for her the importance of acknowledging change. (You can get a Clilstore transcript here: Unit 8435.)

Island Voices were heard in Shillong, India, (the “Scotland of the East”) in October last year as part of the 2019 Year of Indigenous Languages celebrations at North-Eastern Hill University, where they held an “International Language Fest for Indigenous and Endangered Languages”. It was a two-day event with lectures and presentations at the university first, followed by a celebration of linguistic and cultural diversity in the town, with food and clothing stalls and exhibitions, and music and dance performances in many different genres and languages.

Gordon Wells took his camera with him for the Soillse Gaelic research network, and recorded some highlights for the wider “Mediating Multilingualism” project which is being led by the UHI Languages Sciences Institute, funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund. The resulting film, which references Island Voices in several places, has already been uploaded onto the LSI and Soillse websites, and can now also be viewed here. The film, presented in Gaelic and subtitled in English, is in fact multilingual, with the number of languages included well into double figures.

It starts with a two-minute introduction, giving some background and posing some questions as much for Gaelic interests as any other. Then comes the main film, “Dà Dhùthaich, Iomadh Cànan – दो देश, भाषाएं अनेक – Two Lands, Many Languages”, which is under 12 minutes long. This is followed by a brief 6-minute discussion, and a final very short postscript.

Here’s the film.

And here’s a PDF of Gordon’s presentation, in which he outlined the Island Voices project and some of its technical features (including Clilstore), and explored the potential for “sharing Gaelic voices” with other endangered or minority language interests. New techologies can greatly simplify the recording and film-making process, so enabling wider engagement with and by often marginalised communities.