Black Grouse Reel - II

Some six months ago we published a blog giving Alexander Carmichael’s nature notes concerning Black Grouse or Coilich Dhubha. In a long, and somewhat rambling, letter that he sent in 1885 to the Rev. Alexander Stewart (1829–1901), or Nether-Lochaber as he was better known to his readers, Carmichael raises the topic once again. Stewart had been  resident in Onich in Nether Lochaber (Bun Loch Abar) since 1851, but he had been born in Benbecula where his father David had been an exciseman, just like Alexander Carmichael himself. The minister wrote a celebrated, more or less fortnightly column for the Inverness Courier which reflected interests just as eclectic as those of Carmichael. Indeed, Stewart’s columns proved so popular that some were subsequently published as the books Nether Lochaber: The Natural History, Legends and Folk-lore of the West Highlands (1883) and ’Twixt Ben Nevis and Glencoe: The Natural History, Legends, and Folk-lore of the West Highlands (1885). The excerpt concerning the Black Grouse Reel is as follows:

“I meant to have asked you long ago if you lived in a blackcock country, or if you are personally acquainted with the habits of black game? My reason for asking is this: you know the glorious old dance tune, or porst, sometimes post-a-bial [sic] called Ruidhleadh nan Caoileach Dubha–The Reeling of the Black Cocks. The tune proceeds thus:–

“Ruidhleadh na coilich-dhubha,

Dhannsadh an tunnagan,

Ruidhleadh na coilich-dhubha,

Air an tulaich bhoidheich.

“Air an tulaich, air an tulaich,

Air an tulaich, urrad ud,

Air an tulaich, air an tulaich,

Air an tulaich bhoidheich, &c.’

All this ‘reeling’ of the black cocks, and ‘dancing’ of the ducks, may probably seem foolish, if not absurd, to most men; but that the description is founded on the close observation of the characteristics of these birds, I am very sure. The old Highlanders were born naturalists. There were then close observers of nature–of birds and beasts, and of earth and sea, and sky. To that I can testify from having written down a good deal of their oral literature–Gaelic, Eachdraidh Chluais.

References:

Nether-Lochaber, ‘Nether-Lochaber’, The Inverness Courier, no. 4048 (06 Aug., 1885), p. 2, c. 6–7

Image: Black Grouse, Coilich Dhubha

A Pipe Tune from the Fairies

In the Gaelic cosmological world fairies loom large and there is a significant amount of traditions where fairies have gifted a special instrument to middling musicians so that they could become great players as long as they kept to their side of the bargain. One instance of this is the famous silver chanter said to have been gifted by a fairy to a MacCrimmon piper. This piper went on to enthral audiences who disclaimed that they had never heard anyone better and that he was the best piper ever to have lived. There are many variations of this story but the essential element is that the musical gift derived from the fairy folk. Another strong tradition is of tunes that have been picked up from the fairy folk who were known to be renowned for their musical skills as well as their dancing. An instance of such a tradition was, of course, collected by Alexander Carmichael:

A Phiob Shith
Bha phiob gu tric agus gu minic air a
cluinntin s a bhruth-shith. Bhiodh puirt
shiubhlach shuigeartach aig na sithich anns
a bhruthain agus iomadaidh fonn aurain [òrain].
So fear dhiu –


Am faic thu Nic dhuinn leis a chrodh laoigh
Am faic thu Nic dhuinn leis a chrodh laoigh
Am faic thu Nic dhuinn leis a chrodh laoigh
Ris a chrodh-laoigh s i na h-onar.

The Fairy Pipes

The bagpipe was time and again heard in the fairy knowe. The fairies would play rhythmic, lively tunes in the knowe and many song tunes.
Here’s one of them –

Will you see the lassie called Brown with the calving cows
Will you see the lassie called Brown with the calving cows
Will you see the lassie called Brown with the calving cows
Along with the calves and she all alone.

It appears that this is a port-à-beul or mouth music and may have been either a reel or strathspey. We are not certain of what the title would be called in English but like other ‘Gaelic’ tunes it is likely that it would have been given one.

Ref: CW 108, fol. 33r–34v.

Anon. ‘Fairy Tales (Gaelic and English)’, The Celtic Review, vol. 5 (1908–09), pp. 155–71 [This anonymous article in all likelihood stems from Carmichael’s collection and may have been edited by his daughter, Ella Carmichael].
Image: A' Phìob Mhòr or The Great Highland Bagpipe