Scottish Traditional Song
by Alyth McCormack
November 2002

I was raised on the island of Lewis amidst the Gaelic culture. In Lewis, in particular, there is a strong singing tradition, stemming from the church and also from work. There are many different types of songs. These songs are often composed by Bards, for example as far back as Duncan Ban Macintyre (1724), and during my own lifetime, Murdo MacFarlane. Bards were also storytellers and poets, and recorded important events. Through the oral tradition songs were passed on and hundreds have survived. Different areas often recall different versions specific to those areas.

Others songs were composed by workers, to pass the time of day and to keep the rhythm of their work. The biggest collection of work songs, are the Waulking Songs. A 'waulking' was a means of drying the Tweed, which is the wool cloth particular to the Islands. 6-12 women would sit round a table and strike the tweed off the table while passing it on to the next woman, this would take some hours so different songs would be made up to make the work easier. This rhythm is also the same as the Rowing songs, sung by sailors, so often stories would be shared through the songs. At the end of a 'waulking' they would sing 'clapping songs' as they flattened the roll of tweed. The rhythm of the songs changed depending on the rhythm of the work. There were songs for milking, spinning, lullabies, and of course the big love songs and laments. Life in the islands was never easy, food supplies depended a lot on the weather, fishing was dangerous, their songs reflect this but the islanders are a hardy lot. Not all was sad. There is also a great collection of dancing songs, 'puirt -a beul' which literally means 'music of the mouth'. These are fast little songs for dancing to when there were no instruments present. They are mostly nonsense songs, they don't often tell great stories, as they are guided by the rhythm of the words, and can be quite tricky.

I have worked with various bands since leaving Lewis and have continued to sing Gaelic songs. I enjoy helping the tradition to survive and also helping it develop by presenting songs in a contemporary style though not changing the meaning of the songs and also by composing new songs. I feel traditions must evolve if they are to survive.

In Scotland at the moment there is a great breeding ground for new music. In the Central belt lots of different musicians are meeting up and working together. Traditional musicians are working with, Jazz musicians, and classical players, DJ's; hip-hop artists; performances, poets etc. There are also various multi-media collaborations. There is a real respect for all the musicians/artists, whatever their genre, and people are learning a lot about each other and where their music comes from. The 3 bands I work in: Sunhoney (www.sunhoney.com), Shine (www.shine3.com) and my own Quartet (www.alyth.com) are all influenced by folk, jazz and classical music and yet sound quite different. The goal for me, though, is to always stay true to the meaning of the song: to work from the basis of the tradition and build on that.