{"id":4901,"date":"2021-02-12T14:55:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T14:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"hhttps:\/\/www.northpost.co.uk\/uhi\/?p=4901"},"modified":"2021-02-12T14:55:29","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T14:55:29","slug":"storas-beo-magaidh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northpost.co.uk\/uhi\/2021\/02\/12\/storas-beo-magaidh\/","title":{"rendered":"St\u00f2ras Be\u00f2: Magaidh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Maggie Smith, from Achmore on Lewis, has been doing a power of work collecting and recording Gaelic stories and poetry around and about the island for a number of years, many of them curated on her own website<\/a>, and reproduced on the Island Voices page<\/a> dedicated to her work. Nor has lockdown stopped her, as she reveals in this conversation with P\u00e0druig Moireach conducted over Zoom.<\/p>\n

This is a new and experimental departure for the St\u00f2ras Be\u00f2 nan G\u00e0idheal<\/a> team, seeking to make a virtue out of necessity. Indeed, in some ways community recording work may become easier as more and more of us get accustomed to using technology to overcome physical barriers. If this works well, we can expect more of this kind of material in the months to come.<\/p>\n

In the first part, Maggie talks about early childhood memories and stories of Glasgow where she was born, though her Achmore roots go back many generations. Returning home she recalls the kind of upbringing island children of her age received, in which community links and mutual responsibilities were strong. Grandparental stories from work experience in Patagonia, and snatches of Spanish at the fank guarded against cultural introversion. She recalls her schooling, and the impact of television\u2019s arrival on c\u00e8ilidh culture, with traditional work on the land noticeably falling off in the 80s, particularly after oil work began.<\/p>\n