waulking song: help with Gaelic needed
Elizabeth Stroomer
For a Web site design class I'm taking this summer, I'm putting together a page of
resources for weavers. I'm including links to music, primarily waulking songs, and
I'd love to have a sound file of at least one song being sung. The only one I've
found on the Web so far is on Digital Tradition. It's instrumental, not sung, and I
gather Digital Tradtion is inaccessible for the time being anyway.
My plan at this point is to make my own sound file (I'm recruiting a group of
classmates to learn the song and make the tape with me.) The song I want to use is
Tha Mulad, which is included on Sileas' Delighted With Harps CD. I have the Gaelic
text. The problem is, I have no Gaelic. I have a pretty good ear for languages, but
I'm not at all sure I'm getting the pronunciation right simply by listening to the
CD.
Anyone out there willing to give me a hand with the (phonetic) pronunciation? If so,
please email me. I'll send you a copy of the text, and I'll be forever grateful for
any help you can give!
TIA,
Betsy Stroomer
Lafayette, CO USA
estr...@worldnet.att.net
Craig Cockburn
Ann an sgriobhainn <4rs3rn$h...@mtinsc01-mgt.ops.worldnet.att.net>,
sgriobh Elizabeth Stroomer <estr...@worldnet.att.net>
(waulking songs) published by the Harris Tweed Association. Ordinarily I
might type them in as the song's definitely out of copyright and it's
not too long. However, I'm really busy at the moment as I'm getting
married next week.
This information, from the soc.culture.scottish FAQ may also be of use.
Waulking is a process for fulling Harris tweed (making it
more airtight). The word 'waulking' is a Scots word from the 14th
century meaning the same as "full" in English. The waulking process
not only fulls the tweed but also shrinks it slightly.
There are many individuals and groups who have recorded a waulking song
or two on an album of Gaelic music, but there are three albums of
exclusively waulking songs which may be of interest:
1) Orain Luaidh - Waulking songs
Published 1986 by the Harris Tweed Association (sorry no address)
This is an excellent tape and has a 29 page A5 book with it which has
lyrics for every song, a translation and some notes. There is a 5 page
introduction which gives more information and additional reference
material.
Most of the contributions are from the Western Isles although one is
from Cape Breton
2) and 3) both published by Greentrax records
Cockenzie Business Centre, Edinburgh Road, Cockenzie, East Lothian EH32
0HL
Tel: 01875 814155 Fax 01875 813345
http://webzone1.co.uk/www/scotsweb/greentrx.htm
2) Waulking songs from Barra
This is published in the excellent "Scottish tradition" series which is
essential for anyone really interested in authentic Scottish
traditional music, particularly from an academic standpoint. This
series is produced with the School of Scottish Studies, part of
Edinburgh University and the world's foremost authority on Scottish
ethnology. All the recordings (which cover both Highland, Lowland and
Shetland traditions) have extensive books and notes to accompany them.
The cassettes are not general mass market music and the song ones are
all unaccompanied. They are however outstanding and in particular
William Matheson's Gaelic Bards and Minstrels is incredible. I don't
have the waulking tape in this series but I do have 3 others and they
are both excellent!
3) Bannal - Waulking songs. Bannal is a group comprising many well known
singers, they are:
Kenna Campbell, Catherine Fletcher, Christine Grant, Wilma Kennedy,
Mairi MacArthur, Chrissie MacInnes, Maeve MacKinnon, Mary C MacLean and
Chrissie Martin
The tape comprises 18 distinct songs of between 1 and 3 mins each and is
all unaccompanied with all the women except Chrissie MacInnes having a
turn
at solo. Most of the women are known soloists in their own right.
The tape is excellent entertainment value for listening to in the car
(as
I did today) but is spoiled considerably by not having any notes on the
individual songs and more importantly no lyrics whatsoever in either
Gaelic
or English with the album and no indication that lyrics are available.
This
isn't the first time Greentrax have let me down in this way - Canan nan
Gaidheal has no Gaelic lyrics either. By contrast Temple records have
an excellent reputation for printing lyrics and given the choice between
both companies I would feel happier buying a Gaelic recording from
Temple
knowing I would be able to get lyrics.
(more from another article)
When tweed is made, it needs to be fulled to increase it's ability to
keep out the wind. Waulking is a process of repeatedly beating the cloth
to full it and prepare it for use. Waulking songs are a musical form
unknown elsewhere in Western Europe and often sound African. They are
very rhythmic and were composed to keep the beat when the cloth was
being waulked. This task was only done by women in Scotland, however
in Nova Scotia where it is known as milling then it is generally a
male task. Often waulking songs were adapted from other songs.
Frequently they tell of local gossip, the material is not usually
"highbrow". The tweed was generally soaked in human urine (it was
someone's job to collect the urine which had been saved in each house).
The women were usually seated around a table and the tweed would be
placed on the table, or perhaps a door which had been taken off its
hinges. There might be one woman at each end and maybe about 4-5 down
each side. One person would sing out the verse and then everyone would
join in the chorus. The verses and choruses (sometimes there are up to
4 choruses) are very short, sometimes only a few syllables. The chorus
is
what is used to classify waulking songs I think - nearly always the
chorus is
meaningless vocables. I only know of one which has real words - Deannain
sugradh ris a nighean dubh (on the Poozies first album). There are a few
waulking songs in the book "Folksongs and folklore of South Uist"
(Margaret
Fay Shaw). During the waulking, the cloth would be pulled towards you,
then passed slightly to your left before pushing it back. This way, the
cloth turned round the table in a clockwise manner as it was being
waulked.
The Gaels are superstitious and believe anti-clockwise to be unlucky. It
was important to turn the cloth to ensure the cloth was evenly
processed.
Waulking as a process is now no longer necessary, machines do it now.
However, there are societies which preserve the waulking tradition for
historical/tourist reasons. I think waulking died out in the 1950s.
Probably the oldest Gaelic song in existence (perhaps 13th C?) is
Seathan,
this is a waulking song and appears in Carmina Gadelica (an amazing
source
of folklore!). Seathan (he was the son of the King of Ireland) is
several
pages long and would easily take over an hour to sing. The waulking
process
could last about 2-3 hours and there would likely be a ceilidh
afterwards
(I hoped they washed their hands first!), with the men being invited
back in.
I think it was usual to start with slower songs and then to speed up
towards the end - the speed of waulking songs varies a lot.
Seathan, Gur h-e mo ghille dubh donn are quite slow whereas He mo
leannan
is usually sung a bit faster and Tha Mulad, He Mandu
etc are faster still. One of the fastest is "Beann a' Cheathaich" which
has been recorded by Christine Primrose and recently The Poozies on
"Danceoozies" (I prefer Christine's version). It was adapted by
Margaret Kennedy Fraser and became "Kishmul's Galley"
Today, many bands/singers eg Capercaillie, Sileas, Poozies, Mary Jane
Lamont, Runrig, Christine Primrose, Cathy Anne MacPhee, Flora MacNeill,
Eilidh MacKenzie, etc etc use waulking songs - they are proving very
popular and the strong rhythms make them quite transportable to
so-called mainstream culture (mainstream in whose definition?). It was
a waulking song sung by Capercaillie "Coisich a ruin" (also sometimes
known as "Fluich an oidhche") which a few years ago became the first
ever Scots Gaelic tune to enter the UK top 40. It is about 400 years
old I think. There are three variations of this song that I know of.
During waulking, the cloth is pulled, passed through the hands to the
left and then returned to the table. By this method, the cloth spins
clockwise a few inches with each beat. Anti-clockwise was said to be
unlucky.
--
Craig Cockburn ("coburn"), Du\n E/ideann, Alba. (Edinburgh, Scotland)
http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/~craig/
Sgri\obh thugam 'sa Gha\idhlig ma 'se do thoil e.
DMarlowe
You might check out the soc.celtic or soc.irish (you might have to do a
little searching in your list of groups) Back when I used to hand around
there, there were always active language threads.
I'm not much on Gaelic songs myself but if you're interested in
weaving/mill-related songs I can suggest a few in english. Drop a note.
Craig Cockburn
Ann an sgriobhainn <4sfane$8...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>, sgriobh "Jerome S.
Colburn" <jsco...@prairienet.org>
>Craig Cockburn (cr...@scot.demon.co.uk) wrote:
>
>: The chorus is
>: what is used to classify waulking songs I think - nearly always the
>: chorus is
>: meaningless vocables. I only know of one which has real words - Deannain
>: sugradh ris a nighean dubh (on the Poozies first album).
>
>"giota/r leictreach."
>
>
It's also on the Greentrax "Scottish tradition" album "Music from the
Western Isles" where it's sung in a traditional style.