gaelic.blog

Audio is in Gaelic, Text is in English. When the band Radiohead did a tour in 2025, a recording of Gaelic psalm singing was part of the pre-show playlist. Other musicians like Craig Armstrong and Martyn Bennett have also explored it in their music. It moves and fascinates people. How did this style of singing begin? And how does it work musically? Musician Calum Martin has a particular interest in...

Audio is in Gaelic, text is in English. Angus MacPhee was an artist, weaving objects out of grass, wool and beech leaves. His work is moving, intricate, connected to the place he came from. Horse collars. Pouches for sowing. Ropes. Born in Iochdar, South Uist, he was in the Lovat Scouts as a young man, stationed in the Faroe Islands, where mental illness became increasingly debilitating. He spent...

Audio is in Gaelic, text is in English. In the middle of the Cold War, a massive fleet of Russian ships would anchor every autumn and winter in the small west coast village of Ullapool. They were after mackerel. In 1985, at its height, 150,000 metric tonnes of mackerel was landed in Ullapool. I remember them, the big mother ships, as the Lewis ferry made its way through them. At the time you could...

This short radio play is in Gaelic. (English translation below.) Advisory: Contains themes of family difficulty and adolescent risk-taking. Bho chionn trì bliadhnna deug nochd Alexander Salamander le BRAG! Bha e fortanach gun do shabhail a’ bhean-glùine e (’s i bha math air rugbaidh) bho bhith a’ landaigeadh air a cheann. Ged a bha iomadach tàlant aig Alexander Salamander, a bhith a’ hypnotaisigea...

This podcast episode is in Scottish Gaelic. You can find an English text version here - Writing about the Iolaire. SHOW NOTES Writing a short story about the Iolaire Disaster affected me in unexpected ways. Māori writer Tihini Grant, calls it ‘the deeply saddening burden’. This podcast episode looks at writing from Gaelic poets such as Murchadh MacPhàrlain and Ann Frater, and how they wrote about...

This podcast episode is in Scottish Gaelic. You can find an English text version here: “Sitting in Cafes, thinking of writers.” This is on my website www.iainfmacleod.com It is about the time I met Scottish writer Alastair Reid in New York with my uncle, Dr Finlay Macleod. Gaelic translation below. In 1999, I went to New York with my late uncle, Dr. Finlay Macleod, to make a documentary about the...