Mary Smith

Sgiath Airgid

(Macmeanmna, 2004)

When Mary sings, it’s like she embodies every singer who’s sung that song before her. She’s a great friend of mine now, one of my favourite people in the world, but also my favourite singer in the world. The way she conveys the songs, it’s that thing about the tradition, the ‘carrying stream’ and the song being greater than the singer. You have that sense of heritage… but at the same time she has this incredible voice and a way of ornamenting songs and musically delivering the songs, it’s like every time she sings you’re hearing it for the first time. In Gaelic song it’s all about the words… the words take precedence and that’s what you get with her.

Iain MacDonald & Iain MacFarlane

The First Harvest

(Roshven Records, 2002)

They hail from the west coast of Scotland, part of that piping and fiddle tradition that’s influenced by Gaelic singing. You can hear the language through their playing. Iain MacDonald was my first teacher when I started blowing the whistle. I went to Gaelic College for a year in Skye, and he was a musician in residence then. I used to spend every Thursday afternoon with him learning music and playing tunes and it was the best time, the most inspiring situation. I learned so much from him and he produced the first couple of albums that we did… And Iain MacFarlane has been a great friend over the years, and I’ve played with him lots, he’s one of my favourite fiddle players. On this album, they produced something that was just so traditional at its heart, but kind of contemporary as well.

Martyn Bennet

Bothy Culture

(Rykodisc, 1998)

Martyn was an amazing fiddle player and piper… He had the traditional grounding and classical training. He was super skilled in both those worlds and was able to bring that real trad heartbeat to his musical adventures… I was lucky to get to see him live and when I go back to listen to these tracks, you can put yourself back in the audience and the feeling that you had, you know, watching him, it was uplifting… It’s difficult to put into words, but all these artists were taking completely new steps, but at the same time bringing Gaelic language and, in Martyn’s case, also Scots. He brought that all into the fold.

Capercaillie

Delirium

(Survival Records, 1991)

Karen Matheson’s voice, and Donald Shaw and Charlie McKerron, the way they arranged tunes and Gaelic songs, they were amazing. Capercaillie were using a lot of traditional songs, songs that you would hear, or would be familiar with, and then you hear them in this different setting… The whole band are amazing, but Karen, she’s the most iconic woman and singer and someone I’m lucky enough to call a friend now. Like Runrig, they were pivotal in sharing stories about Gaelic culture and the language, how it has suffered over the years, the importance of it and what it gives us, our sense of self. They [were] able to bridge different musical worlds using traditional material. There was no hesitation about presenting a 500-year-old song with electric bass and synth and drum kit… They just went and did it.

THE CENTRE

Runrig

Heartland

(Ridge Records, 1985)

Runrig broke the mould in terms of Gaelic and how Gaelic was presented. They had this amazing mix of traditional music and the Gaelic language, but coupled with English songs and also rock’n’roll. [Their music] was entirely different, and it was exciting. At that time, I would have been in North Uist, and two of the brothers who wrote nearly all of their songs, they were from the same island. We were very proud of them and what they were doing, there was great pride in general about hearing Gaelic music in this way, on mainstream media, alongside everything else. One of the most amazing things I’ve ever done, and one of the greatest privileges ever, was to open for them for their final closing concert in 2018. Thinking back to [being] seven or eight [years old] and listening to this amazing band and then getting the chance to perform with them, sing at their closing concert, be involved in their recordings, it’s been a dream come true really.

INTERVIEW BY Russ Slater Johnson