An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Gaidheal > Volume 42, October 1946--September 1947

AN GAlDliEAL.
Afi t-Samiiuin, 1946.
Wednesday.
The Senior Competitions got underway to-day, interest
centring chiefly on the Oran-mor, Kennedy Fraser, “ district
songs,” and “ Oban and Lorn Medal ” competitions. Those
who next day emerged as the Gold Medallists first showed
their mettle to-day, but the “ find ” of the day was Miss
Chrissie MacKenzie, Kiltarlity.
The audience kept growing. Every train and bus seemed
to bring to Aberdeen another few score people for the Mod.
The Liteeaey Competitions.
But, first of all, before going to the Hall, we eagerly opened
our morning papers to see the results of the Literary Competi¬
tions published to-day, for the Mod is not all singing and
music. We have a literary heritage to preserve and to enhance.
Congratulations to the successful, Juniors and Seniors. But
why have so few schools entered for the Junior Written Com¬
petitions (and also for the Comunn na h-Oigridh tests)? Sir
Edward Scott School, Harris, deserves a special trophy. If
all schools in the Highlands and Islands took Gaelic as seriously
as they do in Tarbert, Harris, the future of Gaelic would rest
on much firmer foundations.
The Bard of the year is Mr. Ian A. MacLeod, Sunderland,
a native of Lewis, who has already done excellent literary
work in Gaelic. Mr. Edward Pursell, 1939’s still uncrowned
Bard, proves himself again; and Derek Thomson wins fresh
laurels and we know he deserves them, for we have read his
Gaelic poems in An Gaidheal and have also seen his prose.
More will be heard of him—“ deagh mhac an deagh athar.”
And there is Mrs. Douglas, Kilmuir, Skye, still assiduous in
collecting our precious ungathered folk-songs ; and, if I do not
name the other senior winners, it is not because their work is
any less worthy than that of those I have mentioned.
The Official Opening.
Two special functions took place to-day, the official
opening of the Mod at noon and the evening reception given
by the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council.
At the official opening there was a fairly good audience.
The proceedings were opened with prayer in Gaelic by the
Rev. Roderick Mackinnon, Aberdeen, a native of Harris and
an old school-mate whom one was glad to see again. He has
ministered in Mauritius and elsewhere abroad, but he has not
lost his love for the Gaelic nor for the Highland dress. There
was a speech of welcome by the Lord Provost, a speech which
was couthy and kindly and pawky and which left no doubt
in our minds of the welcome given us.
Then there was the Presidential Address (printed elsewhere
in this issue), as good as any we have had for years past. Mr.
Donald MacDonald has for long combined strenuous service
in the cause of Gaelic with an equally keen interest in, and
concern for, the economic and social conditions of our High¬
land people. Perhaps too many of us who hold responsible
positions in An Comunn dwell outside the really Gaelic area ;
our feet are not upon our native heath, but on “ cabhsair
cruaidh nan Gall.” It may be that thus we are not so closely
in touch with the Gaelic area as we like to think we are. But
Mr. MacDonald, by residence and by sojourning among them,
knows the northern parts intimately, and it was from that
vantage-point that he spoke of the situation in the Highlands
and the position of the language.
The Vote of Thanks to the President was moved by Mr.
Angus Robertson, doyen of An Comunn. As I listened to him,
I thought of the first time I ever heard him speak. It was at
a prize-giving in Portree School many years ago, but some of
his pregnant phrases, so peculiarly his own, still linger in
memory. Mr. Robertson is always standing on “ Cnoc an
Fhradhairc,” seeing visions and dreaming dreams, and with
challenging words trying to make us more prosaic mortals
see something of what he himself has seen.
I have felt on previous occasions, and I felt even more
strongly at Aberdeen, that An Comunn does not do itself
justice at the official opening of the Mod. For one thing, I
do not think that mid-day on the second day of the Mod is
the most suitable time for the official opening; could it not
be at 8 p.m. on the Monday evening ? An evening function
is generally homelier and less frigid than one held at noon.
For another thing, a Presidential Address and an official
welcome and a Gaelic prayer and a vote of thanks—however
good in themselves—do not represent the most that might be
made of the occasion. There should at least be added the
official welcome by An Comunn to fraternal delegates from
other Celtic countries and kindred bodies, with short speeches
by some of these delegates.
The evening reception on Wednesday was on a generous
scale, and there was an excellent musical programme. Inci¬
dentally, this was not the end of the Town Council’s generosity,
for on the following day the Lord Provost and his colleagues
entertained the office-bearers and Conveners of Standing
Committees of An Comunn to lunch in the Caledonian Hotel.
Thursday—The Gold Medallists.
This was Gold Medal day and Rural Choir day. The
audiences were bigger than ever. Who would win the medals
was anybody’s guess, and when later the first three names in
each of the two classes (ladies and gentlemen) were announced,
one felt that any of those named would have been worthy to
stand in the long succession of Mod Medallists. Miss Rose B.
MacConnachie (Southend) and Mr. Donald MacVicar (Glasgow)
richly deserved their success, and we offer both our heartiest
congratulations. Incidentally, Mr. Donald MacVicar belongs
to Luing, a little island which has already produced two Mod
Medallists.
The Rural Choirs.
And then the rural choirs—Abernethy, Glenurquhart,
Kilmallie, Lochgilphead. One’s thoughts turned wistfully
from a city hall to the quiet Highland places whence they came
—Badenoch of the wine-coloured moors and tree-clothed
mountains, the lovely Glen that opens out upon the equally
lovely Loch Ness, Lochaber of lonely glens and lofty peaks and
ancient tales and modern industry beside quiet Loch Linnhe,
and Kintyre rich in relics of our ancient culture and history.
It was interesting to watch the conductors with their
varying technique and subtle differences of interpretation.
They were all good, very good, but when Lochgilphead had
sung “ Eilean Leodhais ” and “ Eilean mo ghaoil ” I knew
I had never before heard anything so uncannily beautiful.
It was a deeply moving experience. The word “genius”
was used, a word which, like “ brilliant,” has lost something
of its significance by over-use. But “ genius ” it was, and
Mrs. Crawford’s expressive hands played upon the Lochgilp¬
head Choir as on a clkrsach.
Thursday Evening Concert.
The evening concert, charmingly presided over by the Hon.
Margaret Forbes-Sempill, reached high levels, and the pro¬
gramme was sustained by the day’s prize-winners and by
previous Mod Medallists. Out of a programme of first-rate
quality it may not be invidious to single out two items that
seemed artistically flawless—Lalla Robertson’s singing of “An
Cu Ban ” and the singing of Mrs. MacGillivray, Fort William,
of whom a local paper wrote that this was the sweetest voice
of all, “a tiny bird-like pipe which sounded in the native air
an extraordinary emotional note. It was like a voice across
an expanse of water echoing something anciently Scottish.
The delivery was perfect. She strode to the piano, pressed
the key-note quietly, walked to the centre of the stage, and
then the music seemed to flow from her in the most natural
way imaginable.” The same local paper described this concert
as “ a rare experience,” “ an insight into a part of our Scottish
heritage.” “ It was evident that we, the audience, were also
to be performers. The mood was to be ceilidh rather than
concert; it was a real experience instead of a conventional
occasion.”
Oral Delivery.
On Thursday morning, while the crowds thronged to hear
the vocal music competitions, I slipped into one of the small
halls where a few folks (but a discriminating few) were listen¬
ing to the Oral Delivery competitions. The oral competitions
were on as high a level as any of the others. While for most
people they may not have the same appeal as singing has,
they are an essential and valuable part of the Mod.
There are only two things most of us do with Gaelic poetry :
we either sing it or hear it sung or we read it quietly to our¬
selves from a book. But poetry is meant to be read and