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Òran Chaluim Sgàire

Date August 1952
Track ID 49098
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1952.40.A6

Original Tape ID

SA1952.040

Summary

This is a sailor's song in which the bard expresses his sadness at being parted from the girl he loves. He is north of Norway and she is at Loch an Fhir Mhaoil in the Garynahine area of Lewis. He would rather be in Bosta planting barley. He goes on to tell how the ship set sail for home, passing round Orkney. It sailed swiftly past Barvas, moving like the roe-deer. He knows that when the ship appears on the horizon, the girl he loves will say, "Here is the ship at Cragam [Island] with Calum Sgàire in it."

Item Notes

5 quatrains sung plus chorus at the end. The song was composed by Malcolm MacAulay (Calum Sgàire) of Bernera, Uig.

See:
'Eilean Fraoich' (Comunn Gàidhealach Leòdhais, 1982) p. 50
'Songs of Gaelic Scotland' (A. L. Gillies ed., 2005) p. 68

Recording Location

County - Midlothian

Parish - Edinburgh

Village/Place - Edinburgh

Item Location

County - Ross and Cromarty

Parish - Uig

Island - Great Bernera

Language

Gaelic

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good