>> Hi there, I'm looking for some background to this Gaelic tune; all >> that I know is that it appears in the Simon Fraser Collection and, >> presumebly, given its title, would have been a song used for keeping >> the rythm while rowing (in those days with not many causeways!).
Islay to Uist would be one hell of a causeway... > Fraser was typically vague in his notes: > "The editor conceives the boat-songs among the most interesting and > expressive of the airs peculiar to the Highlands; they are composed > in a regular measure, to keep time with the rowers." >From the fact that the title mentions two specific places, rather than some activity like "rowing out to fish" or "rowing to bring the bride home", I suspect that there is a definite story behind it, either a historical event or a period when the Islay-Uist trip had a significance other boat journeys didn't. Isn't the burial place of the Lords of the Isles on Islay? - such a funeral voyage would be the wrong way round, though. Or some seaborne clan battle? =================== <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> =================== Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
