Category: Video

Àiridh na h-Aon Oidhche

~ Gordon Wells ~ 2 Comments

Master raconteur Norman Maclean tells the spine-tingling Gaelic tale of Àiridh na h-Aon Oidhche, a local landmark out near Rueval in Benbecula, and reveals how it got its name.

He relates the story for Mary Morrison, an enthusiastic community participant in the Island Voices project.  Mary got some other gems during her brief visit with Norman, and she has already displayed her talent for using traditional tales as a basis for imaginative drama work with schools and in the community. We can surely look forward to seeing some interesting and entertaining follow-ups to this very valuable groundwork…

Update: A wordlinked Clilstore version is now available via this link.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNuexnaek-Y?rel=0]

Views of Àiridh na h-Aon Oidhche

The curious (or foolhardy?) can click on these pictures for expanded views of Àiridh na h-Aon Oidhche, photographed by Catherine Eunson.

Outlined against the skyline when viewed from the neighbouring chambered cairn to the south and west.
Outlined against the eastern skyline, seen from the neighbouring chambered cairn.
Is this the fateful clòsaid?
Is this the fateful clòsaid?
In profile
In profile

Iain Trumisgarry – A Conversation

~ Gordon Wells ~ 5 Comments

“Difficult Encounters with Mother Earth” – Iain talks to his old friend and neighbour, Mary Morrison, a retired English teacher and revitalised Gaelic learner. Their conversation covers three generations of family and friends from the acquisition of the croft, through the many changes since, to current practice today, via English-teaching in Spain, the North Uist Highland Games and many other highlights…

Iain speaks clearly and precisely and is always keen to encourage Gaelic learners. This is Mary’s first Gaelic interview.

Màiri Innes on Na h-Eileanaich

~ Gordon Wells ~ 1 Comment

Màiri talks to Gordon Wells in English and Gaelic about the local group “Na h-Eileanaich”.

She describes how they all met as youngsters through the local music summer school in South Uist, Fèis Tìr a’ Mhurain, progressing on to playing at the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway, and then to recording their own EP as well as featuring as the regular House Band at the monthly Taigh Ciùil at Taigh Chearsabhagh in North Uist.

Listen to the interview here, with a taste of Màiri’s guitar skills thrown in for good measure:

Here’s a YouTube slideshow the band put together with some of their foot-tapping music.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoSaCBPiPxU?rel=0]

If you want to find out more about them here’s their Facebook page, and a link to their EP.

Bilingual Video Downloads

~ Gordon Wells ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to the work of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig IT department we are happy to announce that all 150 videos in the original Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices collection are now available for download in two different formats. For the best quality picture and sound you can choose the .avi version, but if you simply want something that will download quickly and not take up too much space just right-click on the “download MP4” option.

Go to this page first, where you will see Series 1, Series 2 Outdoors, Generations, and Enterprise listed in the lefthand sidebar. Choose whichever section you wish to browse and select whichever video you wish to download. For the sake of completeness you will also find links to the transcripts and to the YouTube versions. If you would prefer to read the pages in English rather than Gaelic just click on “English” in the top right of any page.

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gd/ealain-is-cultar/guthan-nan-eilean/

Something went “click” in the night…

~ Gordon Wells ~ 3 Comments

Last night, on Hallowe’en, as countless clocks ticked and tocked their way through the world’s revolving hours of dizzying darkness, something cyberspatial went “click”…

And this morning the Island Voices YouTube channel displays an interesting statistic – over 50,000 views of Island Voices Videos!

Top of the all-time list comes Norman Maclean’s fascinating conversation with Archie Mackay on Creativity and Values – part of the Series Two Enterprise English collection. But there’s been an interesting upsurge across the board over the last couple of months, with the Gaelic Documentary on Catching Razorfish (from the Series Two Outdoors collection) making a very strong showing – particularly in the USA. It’s now third on the all-time list – and catching up fast!

Should we be making preparations for a seasonal influx from the States of Gaelic-learning razorfish catchers? Spooky thought…

Guthan Uibhisteach

~ Gordon Wells ~ 2 Comments

Seo pìos inntinneach a thèid leis an naidheachd mun leabhar “Puirt-à-Beul” a thàinig a-mach as ùr o chionn treiseag. Rinn Holly Gibb bhidio dhen taisbeanadh aig na dannsairean is na seinneadairean aig òraid Will Lamb aig Ceòlas. Abair “Guthan nan Eilean” – Rona Lightfoot, Kathleen Nic Aonghuis, agus Sìneag Nic an t-Saoir!

Agus seo na faclan – ma tha sibh airson seinn còmhla riutha…

“Innis dhomhsa cài’l thu cadal” agus “Nam biodh agam trustar bodaich”.

Ceud taing do Holly airson cead am bhidio a shealltainn an seo!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJI4N3R88X4?rel=0]

(English introduction in Am Pàipear here.)

Meet Catrin Evans: New Singer/Songwriter

~ Gordon Wells ~ 2 Comments

Catrin Evans lives on Grimsay and studies at Sgoil Lìonacleit. And in her spare time she writes songs – songs which are making an impression. She’s started to be a regular performer at Taigh Chearsabhagh’s Taigh Ciùil, and she’s been away to the “Wee Studio” in Stornoway to make some recordings, thanks to family support and a Creative Scotland award for young musicians. Here, she talks to Gordon Wells about how she started writing songs, what the process is, and how the island environment inspires her. She also talks about the experience of recording in a professional studio, and how it’s boosted her confidence and desire to do more writing and performing:-

(If you’re an iPad or iPhone user you may need to follow this link: http://ipad.io/f0rp)

Here’s the Wee Studio recording of one of her songs – “Battleship”. (And you can follow the words if you click here.)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-2n5N4RALg?rel=0]

Island Voices on Clilstore!

~ Gordon Wells ~ Leave a comment

“Caoimhìn has now transferred all 150 clips onto Clilstore, which means that you can watch any video while accessing a transcript on the same page which will link any word you care to select to an online dictionary of your choice. A “unit info” button will give you additional summary information, such as a description of the contents, and notes about the language used, as well as a Short URL for posting as a link elsewhere, for example in your blog or on Twitter or Facebook.”

Sgioba Dràma Uibhist

~ Gordon Wells ~ 1 Comment

One of the highlights for the Island Voices team during the creation of the Series Two Enterprise collection was the visit to St Kilda. Quite independently, Sgioba Dràma Uibhist (Uist Drama Group) produced a very different take on the same topic in their recent film “A’ Phàrlamaid”. That the film won the Best Community Short prize in this year’s FilmG competition has been public knowledge for some time now. Less well known is the fact that the movie can now be viewed on the FilmG YouTube channel. Well worth a look!

Gordon Wells caught up with Nanac Skivington during a break from adjudicating at the Uist local Mòd at the weekend. Nanac talks about how the film came to be made, and how they overcame a number of challenges in the process, including the weather! She has encouraging words of advice for other would-be film-makers, and a special word of thanks for Andy Mackinnon at Taigh Chearsabhagh who provided help and guidance.

Listen to the Gaelic interview here.

And here’s the film itself:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYUrTlnnQhI?rel=0&w=400&h=225]