Às an Tobar – From the Well

This port à beul strathspey is sung by James MacDonald of Kilmuir, Skye in 1955, and can be found here: https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/21521?l=en This is also on track 27 of Dhannsadh Gun Dannsadh: Dance-Songs of the Scottish Gaels. The lyrics are another fine example of satirizing someone’s clothing. The transcription from the album is as follows: Sèist’S ò…

This port à beul reel is sung by James MacDonald of Kilmuir, Skye, and can be found here: https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/21521?l=en This melody seems to be related to the Duntroon reel (see below). This port à beul is featured on track 21 of Dhannsadh Gun Dannsadh: Dance-Songs of the Scottish Gaels. This seems to be one of the…

This arrangement is based on the singing of Donald MacColl of Argyllshire (1901- 1977). https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/129966?l=en Donald was a prolific bard, with many recordings on Tobar an Dualchais including his own compositions. His singing is especially expressive, and this track is a good model for reel expression. Portions of this track have been cleaned up and…

Here is a nice unique strathspey sung by Annie Arnott of Skye in 1954: https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/91562?l=en Note that the major seventh is a prominent feature of the melody. To accomplish that, I’m playing it in G (with my smallpipe drones tuned to G and D). This allows the F# to provide the major seventh. If you…

This is one of my personal favorite tunes. The melody has an interesting rhythm in 3/4, which could be considered an unusual form of Strathspey. This arrangement is based on the singing of Annie Arnott of Skye in 1953, which can be found on Tobar an Dualchais here: https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/3770?l=en Annie’s performance is track 5 of…

This is based on the singing of Calum Johnston in 1949. Unfortunately this track isn’t currently available on Tobar an Dualchais, but is featured as track 4 of Dhannsadh Gun Dannsadh: Dance-Songs of the Scottish Gaels. The song, here translated by William Lamb, can easily be interpreted as euphemistic: Nam biodh agam giobal bodaich,Bhogainn anns an…

This song is featured as track 3 of Dhannsadh Gun Dannsadh: Dance-Songs of the Scottish Gaels. The track is by Alasdair Boyd of South Uist. He appears with this song three times on Tobar an Dualchais: https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/44686?l=en (as featured on the Dhannsadh Gun Dannsadh album) https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/57560?l=en (in a set with an unknown port strathspey) https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/57557?l=en (the…

This song is featured as track 1 of Dhannsadh Gun Dannsadh: Dance-Songs of the Scottish Gaels. The track is by Mary Morrison of Barra. She is recorded three times on Tobar an Dualchais: https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/25276?l=en (with an ensemble, as featured on Dhannsadh Gun Dannsadh album) https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/22621?l=en (with an ensemble) https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/104438?l=en (singing solo) The song appears a number…