An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Sruth > Volume 2 > No. 94, 29 October 1970

SRUTH, Di-ardaoin, 29mh latha de’n Damhar 1970
FIVE
Does Gaelic get its money’s
worth from the Mod
TWO years’ hard labour and ten
frantic days, and a Mod be¬
comes history, leaving its com¬
mittee near prostrate. The strain
and fatigue of running a Mod has
to be experienced to be believed.
The Oban Mod was no exception.
There was much that was very
enjoyable. The arrangements were
efficient, the hosts friendly and
courteous, the feisd great fun and
the Celtic motif decorations ex¬
cellent. The large sum raised by
the committee and the smooth
running of the Mod were proof of
its hard work.
But do we get our money s
worth from such an expense of
energy and cash? As a happy
social occasion the Mod is still
unique. But does the maximum
profit accrue to Gaelic from it?
by IAIN
The answer must be that it does
not. This continuing failure is
bound up in the Association and
its mores, and not especially in
the local committees which are
wholly engaged in fund-raising and
hall etc. administration and .organi¬
sation.
The Mod programme shows few
competitors from the Gaidheal-
tachd. Even in choral competitions
there are great gaps. Why are
there no choirs, senior or junior
from Western and Hebridean
Inverness-shire — while Lewis is
so well represented? Could there
be a difference between the music
teacher employment policy of
these two counties? Are there any
music teachers in the Inverness-
shire Hebrides?
The “standards” long required
at the Mod rule out many poten¬
tial entrants. How is anyone from
remoter areas to get the musical
coaching he would need for the
Gold Medal? That is why the
majority of all entrants come from
towns and cities where singing
teachers are available. This un¬
witting disbarring of home-based
Gaels is an immense, if not dis¬
astrous, loss to Gaeldom and the
Mod.
It is now said that there is to be
a new competition for traditional
singing which will have equal
status with the Gold Medal. One
hopes that this could be the com¬
petition to attract competitors
from the Gaidhealtachd. It will
all depend on the dispositions of
its organisers and their choice of
music adjudicators. The usual
type would ruin it in the first
year.
At the same time it is hard to
see “the Mod” acclaiming its win¬
ner as they do the Gold
Medallist. Since its outset An
Comunn has pushed a neo-belcanto
style of singing which is not
traditional, so that several genera¬
tions, especially in the towns and
cities, have grown up knowing
nothing else and preferring it.
Indeed many find traditional sing¬
ing foreign and perhaps think it
lowbrow. Yet Maurice Lindsay at
the Children’s Concert particu¬
larly commended a Lewis girl for
her choice of song and style. The
rest he considered more typical
of a Victorian musical evening
than Gaeldom.
Doubtless we shall ignore Mr
Lindsay and continue with our
own special “traditions.” Almost
all competition singing lacks ex¬
pression and feeling. Some of the
choral settings are lunatic for
example Rosan an Leth-bhaile
and the hi-o-hi part of the chorus
of Oran Braigh Rusgaich. Some¬
times it is hard to believe that we
are the inheritors of such marvels
as Ailein Duinn, Calum Sgaire
and numerous others, not to men¬
tion our unique waulking songs
and the wonderful art of Hebri¬
dean congregations singing with a
precentor.
There is still too little Gaelic
from the pLatform. The rule must
be the minimum of talk but
equal status for Gaelic. The
General Secretary always sets a
fine example. Can we not cut out
speeches by chairmen and votes of
thanks at concerts and leave it to
a compere? Incidentally, why has
the all-Gaelic ceilidh dropped?
This is a serious omission.
The deterioration of what used
to be called the Mod spirit in the
public rooms of licensed hotels is
now a scandal. Whilst this is not
the direct responsibility of An
Comunn, it and the culture's
image will suffer if something is
not done. Once it was possible to
hear good singing in the public
rooms. The increased attendances
after the war and the greater
volume of glass clinking and
chatter soon chased away the goon
singers. For a time, willing indi¬
viduals did their best. Their re¬
pertoire was usually limited and
Sine Bhan and Chi mi Muiie
tended to be sung over and over
again.
Now the professional “folk
singer” with amplifier is moving
in. Sine Bhan has been stood up
for Michael and his boatie and
lock and his tickling. The Edin¬
burgh correspondent to the Oban
Times asks with too much restraint
whether “the Mod is beginning to
pander to elements other than
Gaelic music.” In fact the lovers
of the music and language have
moved upstairs to quiter lounges
and bedrooms.
The Gael is on the retreat again.
The panderers sit in the lounge
bars singing English protest songs
about this and that, instead of
taking their noses out of their
tankards and protesting for their
music.
An Comunn has some blame in
the matter in its mean attitude to
certain popular professional Gaelic
singers who could easily meet the
need. Because we have grudged
our own professionals their cut,
the English professional is moving
in. The stranger will judge An
Comunn and Gaeldom from what
he sees on the ground floor, that
is the scandal. Mod followers
should throw out the English
singers and the Association must
encourage our own professionals.
In short, the Mod must become
more convincingly Gaidhealach.
MACIVER
and
DART
Radio and Television Dealers
All Current Gaelic Records in Stock
16 CROMWELL STREET, STORNOWAY
Telephone Stornoway 290
over to you:
Sir,—The alluring little
article on Angelsey—“ Mou
Niam Cymnru,” in the Sep¬
tember 10 “ Sruth” might well
have been written twenty or
thirty years ago- I fear to¬
day’s tourists will receive a
shock if they expect all that
now.
The A.5 road from the Tel¬
ford Bridge to Holyhead is
one of the most congested
and most dangerous roads
in North Wales.
The lovely coast line has
been exploited out of recog¬
nition since the war. Seaside
villas of all shapes and sizes
dominate viewpoints. The
characteristic native cottages
are shuttered all week, and
crammed with week-enders
on Saturdays and Sundays.
Snack bars, camping sites
and caravan parks are spread
about emitting canned music
and petrol fumes. Then there
is the atomic power station,
and Rio Tonto’s Aluminium
Smelter changing the char,
acter of Holyhead. This
latter is a source of real
anxiety to the Farmers’ Union
of Wales, for once its high
stacks begin to belch out
their fluoride fumes the effect
may indeed be serious for
pasture, crops and cattle. It
could also affect tourism.
People are much more en¬
lightened now about the
harmful effects of air and
water pollution than they
used to be. More than 11
years ago fluoridation of
drinking water was thrust
upon Anglesey by way of ex¬
periment, one which has
proved costly and hardly of
lasting value, and aroused
strong opposition. Air pollu¬
tion from Rio Tonto will
greatly increase the daily in¬
take of this toxic substance
for everyone, and the overall
consequences are quite un¬
assessed, but a number of
cases of suffering by persons
allergic to fluoride have been
reported, even without Rio
Tonto. Taking it all in all
man has not left this island
paradise to enjoy its native
peace and beauty. Yours etc.,
PEGGY GOODMAN
T yddu-Anghar ad
Corwen
Meirionnydd
N. Wales
and closing of more village
primary schools, facing five-
year-olds with a seven-hour
day away from home and
parents. So depopulation is
further accelerated.
This is but one of the
vicious circles which bedevil
a Scotland governed by an
English Parliament in London
in which the Scottish repre¬
sentatives are in a minority
of 7-1 and owe their first
allegiance to the three Lon¬
don-based Parties — with one
notable exception at the pre¬
sent time.
A future for the Gael and
his language and culture in
his (homeland, with secondary
education restored and a
University College established
can be creatively imagined
only within the context of a
Scottish Nation. It depends
in the first instance upon a
systematic, imaginative build¬
up of the economy of the
Highlands and Islands. And
this is only concievably pos¬
sible in an independent Scot¬
land with its own national
and regional forms of govern¬
ment geared to developing all
the areas of our potentially
rich and infinitely varying
country. Then we can begin
to hope for a day when no
educated Scot will be ignor¬
ant of the meaning of his own
personal and locality names
and unable at least to read
the literature of his ancestors
and Gaelic-speaking contem¬
poraries.
Just as the further people
live from the centre of power
and government, the harsher
are the effects of misrule, so
it sometimes happens that
folk on the periphery have a
clearer total picture than
those living nearer the centre.
And the people of the West¬
ern Isles have given a lead to
the rest of our nation by
electing for the first time at
a General Election a repre¬
sentative who can speak for
the Western Isles, free of the
London Party disciplines.
Civilised peoples such as
Norway, Sweden and Den¬
mark continue to live in
friendly relationship with
each other although Norway
regained her independence as
a separate self - governing
nation at the beginning of
this century after over 300
years of domination, and of
course historically and geo¬
graphically these remain “the
Scandinavian countries.” So
will it be among the nations
of the “British Isles,” if there
is to be a hopeful future for
any of us.
Yours etc,
M. K. GILLIES,
Dalintart Farm,
Oban.
BARDACHD
le Domhnull I. Maclomhair
FOSGLADH
Troimh cheo fo> sgothan briste ard’
iarmailt a bha troimh cheile
le upraid dhaoine paisgt’ an smuaintean
mar mo smuaintean feineil,
ann an dorchadas maidne’s shuilean duinte
chuir thu car is car air reidhlean,
buan, smireannach bho thus gun chnoch,
samhach, slaidach, mar mhac strodhail,
a bh’air strodhalachd a chur air chul.
Theannaich thu barman doimhneachd umad.
is cheangail thu’m briseadh bha ’nam dhuil.
Chuir thu car is car air reidhlean,
buan, maireannach, ’s an sin led’ stiuir
dh’fhosgail thu ’n sonas bha ’nam dhuil.
CAILEAG
Sir, — The article on Sgoil-
eireachd (Srutih, September
3rd) points the long and
short term evils of herding
children from the shrinking
Gaidhealtachd into school
hostels in the big towns for
secondary education. Depopu¬
lation has been the excuse for
this phasing out of local
secondary education which
itself contributes to depopu¬
lation.
Naturally many parents
move to new homes and em¬
ployment near the big schools
rather than accept the pre¬
mature break-up of the family
as their older dhildren reach
the age of 12 or 15. This in
turn leads to the run-down
Carson a tha thu reic do bhoidheachd
Is saoghal ag amharc troimh uinneig?
Fios agad nach ceannaich thu solas
Leis na fhuair thu de na sgillin,
Ach moladh dhaoine, ge beag is fhiach e
Airson an taghaidh a rinn each.
Molaidh iad thu fad na bliadhna,
’S an sin a’ sireadh rud na’s fhearr.
Carson a reic thu do bhoidhehead?
DEALBH-CHLUICH
Carson a chaidh an dealbh-chluich a sgriobhadh?
An deach a cluiche mar bu mhiann?
Am bi sinn tuilleadh an lamhan mioruin?
A bheil an t-urlar gu tuiteam sios?
’Nuair chaidh a sgriobhadh, an robh duil
Gu’m biodh sealladh ’san achd mar tha.
No bheil i mar shaoilear ma eathar gun sthiii
Air slighe dhi fhein eadar traigh agus Ian?