Biography

Donald MacKechnie was born on the 25th of December 1836 in Glengarrisdale in the north of Jura. As mentioned on a BBC Gaelic programme on 4th October 1944: "The sound of the sea by Corryvreckan was the baby's first lullaby when he first opened his eyes in 'the small bothy beside the rocks'."

There was only one other family in this remote glen, and there was no school, so Donald had to live at his grandfather's house to attend school. He left the island at a young age:

Slàn le Diùraigh chreagach, chiar,
B' e m' aighear 's m' iarrtas riamh bhith 'd thaice,
A' sealg na h-èilde air an t-sliabh
'S an làn daimh chiar an riasg na glaice.


Donald spent some time working in Greenock and Campsie and afterwards went to Edinburgh where he spent the last forty years of his life. While there he met excellent Gaelic scholars, as Professor Donald Meek explained in his review of MacKechnie's work in the journal Gairm, Number 127, Summer 1984: "Edinburgh was a very lively place when MacKechnie lived there, especially within the Highland community. Some of them were famous in their day and their reputation lives on today – people like Alexander Carmichael who published Carmina Gadelica in 1900, and Professor Blackie who was dedicated to the rights of crofters and was central to establishing the Cathair Cheilteach in 1882 (of which Donald MacKinnon was Professor). MacKechnie knew Carmichael and the rest, and their group often gathered at ceilidhs."

As Donald wrote himself:

Bha mise 'n-raoir air chèilidh
'S gum b' èibhinn a' chuideachd sinn;
Bha maithean à Dùn Èideann,
A' Chlèir 's am Bàrd Luideagach;
Bha rannan againn 's sèistean
Le sgeulachdan 's luinneagan,
'S bha mise cur an cèill dhaibh
Na dh'èirich dhomh thubaistean.


Donald called himself Am Bàrd Luideagach and his songs and poetry appeared in journals under that name. People liked his works: "Light hearted or serious, he always wrote formally and elegantly. In the back of his mind, amid the noise of the city, was the echo of old songs he had heard long ago."

O creid gur fìrinn a tha mi 'g innseadh
Is ionmhas prìseil do thìr a h-òrain;
Cha dìleab suarach o bhàrd a dhuanag
Ged 's beag, mo thruaighe! Chuir i na phòca.


He was successful in his work, first representing a distillery company and then working independently. MacKechnie married and raised a family. He composed the song Bean a' Chòtain Ruaidh for his young daughter after she passed away as a child. John MacDonald of Oban set the tune to this song.

MacKechnie's work can be found in the book Am Fear-Ciùil, first published in 1904. Some of his songs are still performed today, including Am Bothan Beag Còir and Fàgail Dhiùraigh, as well as translations, for example, of verses from Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam:

Sgrìobh am meur gu stuama 's air aghaidh ghluais gu bras;
'S cha dèan naomh no aingidh a mhealladh eang air ais;
A dhubhadh às aon sgrìob dhe gur dìomhain an guth
'S cha nigh a-mach do dheòir e ged dhòirt iad nan sruth.


The book also contains essays on topics such as The Cat, The Devil, The Heart of Truth, The Tailor of the Monastery, A Night Visiting, The Deer and Omar Khayyam.

Of Donald, Professor Meek said: "I think MacKechnie was aware that nineteenth-century Gaelic poetry was in a rut and, indeed, he gives his views on the weakness of Gaelic poetry in general in the essay he wrote on Omar Khayyam. But while one can be aware of a rut, it is another thing to get out of it – and MacKechnie himself did not do that in his verses. In his essays, however, we get another view of the man, and I believe that he jumped over the rut that Gaelic prose was in at the time."

Donald MacKechnie passed away in 1908.

List of compositions

An t-Suirighe Thubaisteach
Bean a' Chotain Ruaidh
O 'S Fheudar Dhomh Bhith Togail Orm
Och nan Och, Na Bheil air M' aire (Soraidh)