Biography

The scholar John Shaw vividly remembered the first time he saw Lauchlin MacLellan at a concert in Glendale, Cape Breton, in mid June 1963:

"Among everything else — big, strong people from the forest dancing and playing the fiddle, which I had never seen or heard the likes of before — there was one thing that caught and held my attention: an old Gaelic song, sung beautifully by a small, sprightly man in a grey suit from a place they call Broad Cove, or Camas Leathann."

Lauchlin Dhòmhnaill Nìll MacLellan was born on 19 November 1910. He began singing at a young age, and he told John Shaw that, as a boy, he would walk miles to learn a new song.

His people were among those who left Morar in the early nineteenth century, as he explained in Brìgh an Òrain:

"My great-grandfather, Gilleasba' Ferguson, left Beoraid, Morar, in the year … I'm not quite sure, it was either 1818 or 1820. As I understand it, there was an Upper and Lower Beoraid. My great-grandfather came from Upper Beoraid. The place where he was born was not arable. It was stony, and he didn't have much there."

The family brought many songs with them from Scotland, and it was Neil, Lauchlin's uncle on his father's side, who had the greatest influence on him. Neil, who lost his sight at around nineteen, was renowned in the community for his deep knowledge of tradition. He taught Lauchlin many songs and always gave him the same advice: "Understand the song."

Lauchlin also learned songs and stories from his grandfather, Neil Ruadh, who lived with the family.

A generous and kind hearted man, Lauchlin married Kay MacNeil, and together they raised eight children. He worked hard throughout his life, both as a carpenter and on the family farm. As John Shaw said:

"Lachlann Dhòmhnaill Nìll had neither wealth nor opportunity. He had to work hard all his life because of how poor he was. But if you met him, you would see how he was the type of Gael we should remember."

John recorded 150 songs from Lauchlin. His repertoire was wide and varied: love songs, songs of parting, lullabies, drinking songs, humorous songs, Jacobite songs, mouth music, folk songs, and many waulking songs. Alongside these, he shared countless anecdotes and stories. As John reflected:

"Lauchlin didn't get a chance to get an education, but I received a kind of education in Gaelic from him that can't be found in any university I know of."