Gaelic song, perspectives from the mainland, the Gàidhealtachd, and relating to natural world
In Deirdre Graham’s podcast, Rona Lightfoot describes her mother being thrashed in school for speaking Gaelic in the playground “That’s only one generation back, and now they’re doing their best to encourage Gaelic, giving us back our culture.” (Graham 2023) A further shift in attitudes is noticeable with more recent generations in Gaelic speaking communities too, as well as it being institutionally encouraged with Gaelic Medium Education and media channels (Dunmore 2019) it has also started to become more popular with young people and more visible in popular culture.
Josie Duncan, a talented singer from the Isle of Lewis from my generation was kind enough to share her experience and insights as a Gael, in an interview collected as part of a radio ballad I’m planning to make with my project Cosys Ex collective, over the next year. For Duncan, growing up in the Gàidhealtachd she began speaking and singing in Gaelic from a young age, even appearing on national television from the age of seven. In school the language wasn’t as popular at the time as it is with the next generation, it’s becoming more accepted and encouraged following national efforts.
One of the topics we discussed was about how people might think differently in Gaelic about certain things, we discussed her experience of the language and culture, particularly noting deeper connections with nature. “It shows you how much we’ve lost that connection, because English is a newer language… Sometimes I prefer the way things are described in Gaelic.”
This connection with nature and language is particularly evident in Gaelic place names, “This very landscape forged the features of Scottish place names… and primarily denote natural features of the landscape of the target region.” (Kalinina 2023) For example Ardnamurchan translates in English as “peak of the great seas,” or Àird nam Murchan in Gaelic. (Kalinina 2023) Lewis itself is often described in reference to “undoubtedly one of the commonest plants on the island, to which has given the poetic nickname of Eilean an Fhraoich, or “Heather Isle.” (D. Arthur Geddes 1936)
Another person from the Isle of Lewis, Anne Campbell is mentioned in Robert Macfarlane’s book “the Old Ways,” she is an archaeologist and cartographer focused on close mapping an area local to her, she is particularly dedicated to the study of Gaelic place names or toponomy of her local region, Macfarlane describes seeing on her wall “the 1853 Ordnance Survey map of the islands, carried out by British surveyors who had anglicized the Gaelic place names and diminished the density of toponyms on the landscape.” (Macfarlane 2012) A notable writer herself, Campbell has published numerous works in Gaelic on the subject before and since then, she describes “a dense network of place-names, songs and stories connected with each part of the landscape.” (Campbell 2011)
Ceitidh Mac has roots on the Heather Isle too, we spoke about her father, a Gael from Stornoway with many generations before of MacLeods from Lewis. She tells me that for his generation living near town in Stornoway most of the locals spoke English more “so he grew up with his parents speaking to him in Gaelic but he’d always reply in English. So he could understand most things, but couldn’t always speak it as much.” Many families likely lost the Gaelic at a similar time, Ceitidh and Josie both noted the popularity of the language in the Gàidhealtachd was mixed between these two generations, with some Gaels considering it less modern or fashionable than it perhaps is becoming again now.
Photo from the mixing desk, showing Josie Duncan featuring on the clàrsach (Celtic harp) and vocals for part of a tour we worked together on with Kathryn Tickell & the Darkening in 2023
Reference list:
Graham, D. (10th December, 2023) EP 5: Seinn air a’ Phìob w/ Rona Lightfoot Gaelic Song Stories Available at: https://www.deirdregraham.com/gaelicsongstories/episode/4b06f872/ep5-seinn-air-a-phiob-with-rona-lightfoot (Accessed 17/2/26)
Dunmore, Stuart S. (2019) Language Revitalisation in Scotland, Linguistic Practice and Ideology. Pp. X-XI Edinburgh University Press. Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Language_Revitalisation_in_Gaelic_Scotla/q6MxEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=sapir+whorf+hypothesis+gaelic&pg=PR3&printsec=frontcover (Accessed 27/2/2026)
Kalinina, S. A. (11th May 2023) Toponymy of Celtic Scotland. EDP Sciences. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202316400062 (Accessed 5/3/2026)
Geddes, Arthur D. es L.Ph.D. (1936) Lewis, pp 225, Scottish Geographical Magazine. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14702543608554914 (Accessed 5/3/26)
Macfarlane, Robert (2013) The Old Ways, Penguin. First published in 2012 by Hamish Hamilton (Ch7 Peat, pp. 151)
Campbell, Anne (18th March 2011) Anne Campbell The Croft Available at: https://thecroft.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/anne-campbell/ (Accessed 5/3/2026)