Beò Fhathast | Living Yet
January 19, 2024
Host: Shannon MacMullin
Guest: Mary Jane Lamond
Thig crìoch air an t-saoghal ach mairidh gaol is ceòl | Life will come to an end, but love and music will endure.
During this visit, we heard voices from the archives and explored the connection and nourishment found in song, story, and with tradition bearers.
Shannon MacMullin welcomed her friend and mentor, Mary Jane Lamond. Together, they set a place at the feasting table for those who are no longer with us, remembering and welcoming them too. They shared stories and reflections about the voices they came to know and love, though they hadn't met in the flesh.
About Mary Jane Lamond
Mary Jane is a tradition bearer sharing Gaelic language and culture with her community, learners, and audiences around the world - mentoring, teaching, and performing. Mary Jane has spent many an hour in the archives and much of her works surrounds sharing their treasures with others.
Mary Jane is an internationally renowned musician who is also dedicated to maintaining local Gaelic culture for future generations, passing on what she learned from Gaelic scholars and elders.
During her career, Mary Jane has released five CDs and received multiple East Coast Music Awards and was nominated for a Juno Award. In 2010, she was honored with the Portia White Prize for cultural and artistic excellence. When she's not performing, Mary Jane is active in many culturally driven initiatives. She is currently working on Language and Lyrics, a project that created a database for Gaelic songs in Nova Scotia and is currently re-cataloguing, transcribing and improving access to the Cape Breton Gaelic Folklore Collection, housed at St. Francis Xavier University.
What we heard
First food
We gathered round the feasting table to consider some of the ways in which Gaelic nourishes and sustains us. Shannon introduced this theme by recalling something her mentor Annag ni’n Iain Alasdair ’ic Aonghais Ailein had said during the last season of the Gaelic Narrative Project:
“’S i a’ Ghàidhlig a’ chiad bhiadh a dh’ith me | Gaelic was the first food that I ate.”
Many of us were struck by this phrase, thinking about ways in which the Gaelic language and community feeds us: as Shannon said, how it “fills my soul and lifts my heart.”
Nourished by archives
As Shannon and her guest Mary Jane Lamond talked, it was clear that this sustaining community includes many Gaels no longer physically with us, but whose recorded voices in archives offer instruction, humour, connection and a balm for the soul through hard times.
Mary Jane returned many times throughout the conversation to the theme of learning and what the process of listening diligently and attentively to Gaelic archive recordings has taught her. She recalled the effort she went to seek out these recordings in the beginning, making the trek to the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax with a copy of Gaelic Songs of Nova Scotia to listen to the cassette tapes of the Helen Creighton Collection. She felt in over her head, like she knew nothing, but she loved the voices: “I could feel the joy that they had in singing, what that was physically doing to them.”
For Mary Jane, the recordings of Gaelic songs always held special significance. Having initially been introduced to Gaelic singing through choirs, it was at a milling frolic on the North Shore that she had her first “Gaelic epiphany”: “I was like, ‘I have to learn Gaelic so I can sit at that table!’ That was my only goal…it was so attractive to me that people drove hours sometimes just to go and gather together to sing. I loved it.” She explained how she grew up in a household of singers but “when I discovered Gaelic songs I really literally felt like I found my voice.”
Deep dive
As a student of Gaelic at St FX, Mary Jane was hired by Dr. Ken Nilsen to transfer the Cape Breton Gaelic Folklore Collection from reel-to-reel tapes onto the new cassette technology. Comprising over 2,000 recordings collected by Dr. John Shaw in the late 20th century, it is an immensely important collection. Mary Jane explained how she ‘made a promise to myself that I wasn’t just going to put the transfer machine on and walk away, I’d listen to every hour of it’. She admitted that at that time she understood very little of what was on the tapes but it gave her a “huge deep dive into the sounds and the culture.”
A social process
When it came to learning to speak the language, both Mary Jane and Shannon commented on how invaluable the archive recordings have been for them, and how listening to them became a social process as they gathered with friends for listening parties. Shannon described how these were like a frolic “connecting back and decoding what’s in those songs’, and Mary Jane explained how ‘those voices were reaching out to us and giving us a visit in a way.”
Fan girl
Mary Jane noted how the process of listening so closely to archive recordings undoubtedly affected the way she would go on to sing songs as a professional musician. And while she was careful to emphasize that there is not a single informant in the CB Gaelic Folklore Collection whose recordings she doesn’t enjoy, certain singers had a particular influence on her.
One such was Lachlann Dhòmhnaill Nìll | Lauchie Dan N. MacLellan who was a remarkable singer, storyteller and keeper of traditional knowledge. “Here’s someone I never knew and he was a hugely important singer and influence on me…he has these extraordinary long vowels…very tasty. I’m such a fan girl!”
Practice, practice, practice
When discussing the subject of memory, Mary Jane marveled at how the Cape Breton Folklore Collection is made up of over 2,000 recordings from around 200 informants, but the majority of the recordings come from just 54 individuals. She recalled a visit with her neighbour Seonaidh Aonghais Bhig | Johnny Williams to illustrate the incredible recall many of the older tradition-bearers had. On this particular occasion Johnny was able to sing several verses of the complex song Cead Deireannach nam Beann (Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir) perfectly despite only hearing the song a couple of times in his life, aged 13. Mary Jane also pointed out, however, that many tradition bearers practiced their story-telling and singing in private to hone their craft and she expressed an intention to reinstate a more regular practice in her own daily life as well.
Women
Considering the contents of the Collection, Mary Jane and Shannon reflected upon the fact that there are very few women represented among the recorded tradition-bearers, and considered the possible influence of post-war culture on this imbalance.
Among this small group of women, however, are two highly significant contributors: Mairead Bean Ruairidh Iagain Ruairidh | Margaret MacLean and Catrìona nighean Ailein Chaluim Pìobaire | Catherine (Kate) Patterson. The former was a mentor to Mary Jane, the latter a key informant for folklorist John Lorne Campbell on his visits to Cape Breton beginning in 1937. We heard a clip of Kate singing a song she composed for Campbell—significant for being both a local Cape Breton composition, and a song composed and sung by a woman.
Sharing not performing
As the conversation was drawing to a close, Mary Jane encouraged us all to go listen to the archives and explore the richness there. She gave thanks to the collectors and informants whose work and patience created this treasure in the first place. She encouraged us to listen out for the very natural style of the singers: “they’re not doing’ anything, they’re just singing—they’re not performing those songs, they’re sharing them.”
In the spirit of sharing, she also explained a little about the Cainnt is Ceathramhan | Language and Lyrics project (directed by Dr. Heather Sparling, CBU) which is giving her the opportunity to take a deep dive into the Cape Breton Gaelic Folklore Collection once again. The aim of the project is to make it easier for people to access and interact with the Gaels whose voices have been immortalized in the Collection. The hope is that these connections will inspire more people to listen deeply and learn from a generation whose linguistic and cultural richness continues to offer so much to us today.
Back home
The conversation between Shannon and Mary Jane wrapped up with a return to the theme of nourishment: “[Cainnt is Ceathramhan] is feeding me amazingy,” Mary Jane said. “I started somewhere, I went on a crazy flighty journey and now I’m back where I belong.”
What we said
After listening to the conversation, discussing what we’d heard in the breakout rooms, and then returning to the main room, we shared our reflections in the chat. Below is a sample of our comments. Read the full transcript here.
Tonight reminded me of why I love playing Cape Breton piano. I'm classically-trained, but never got much fulfilment from it, but Gaelic music speaks to my soul, and I'm so grateful that I'm learning it from wonderful traditional-bearers who have become cherished friends.
I want to look up more of these recordings! I look forward to next week's event! I was very happy for this evening's food for thought and good company :)
I want an "Archive Fan Girl" sticker!
I loved hearing about the possibility of hearing the joy of elders singing from the soul on archival recordings — the joy of sharing songs and the Gaelic language.
Ohh how I’m looking forward to exploring the story archives!
I’m going to sing from the soul and listen and remember that our ancestors are wanting to share with us
Resources
If you're craving a deeper dive, check out the links below to visit the folks that Mary Jane & Shannon mentioned, including links to various archives:
Archival Recording of Gàidhlig speakers & singers
Helen Creighton Collection, Public Archives of NS
Public Archives of NS - Gaelic Resources
Malcolm Angus MacLeod
Lauchie Dan N MacLellan - the sgeulachd | tale that he made can be found in the book Brìgh an Òrain
Mrs Katie (Catherine) Patterson