“The traditions that have come down to us of the Gaelic Diaspora rarely mention Newfoundland. Only in a few anecdotes, attributable to sailors and other travelers, are there hints that a Gaelic community once flourished there,and since our information was confined to these tantalisingly vague and brief reports, it simply never occurred to us that Gaelic in Newfoundland might actually have survived into our own times. Margaret Bennett has changed all that with her award-winning book, The Last Stronghold: Scottish Gaelic Traditions of Newfoundland (1989). Her name and the names of that MacArthur family are now assured of an honoured place in the history of the Gaels in Canada.”
Dr. John MacInnes,

 

Deoch slainte a’ chuairtear a ghluais à Albainn!
Here’s a health to the traveller who left Scotland!

Allan

Crossing the Atlantic on a northern route from Scotland to North America the first sighting of land is Newfoundland. For Scottish emigrants of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was not, however, the first port of call, particularly for Highlanders exiled during the infamous Clearances that began in the 1740s and lasted till the late nineteenth century. ‘The Rock’, as some affectionately call the island, was settled in the seventeenth century by Irish, English and French fishermen harvesting cod-fish.  The Irish knew it as ‘talamh an èisg’—land of the codfish—as it was the currency of the island for centuries. To this day, strong influences of all three peoples can be heard in tunes and instrumental styles, songs and speech patterns and can be seen in dances.  Less well known, however, is the history or folklore of the Scots who make up a mere one percent of Newfoundland’s population.

The Codroy Valley on the west coast became the final destination for a close-knit group of Gaelic-speaking immigrants who came not for the lucrative fishing but simply for a piece of land on which to make a living. Official histories of their time give little or no detail about them or their experiences, but they themselves kept alive their history, culture and Gaelic traditions for several generations. Today, the common language is English, but if you visit the Valley you can still sense the Scottish Gaelic influences in the way of life, as well as the music, songs, and dances. You may even catch the occasional turn of phrase in everyday conversation. The cèilidh still has its true meaning (literally, the a house-visit) just as it did a hundred and fifty years ago, and a cup of tea is still an essential part of it, despite the language now spoken in the kitchen.

All the songs, stories and tunes on this album originate in the kitchen of a first-generation Newfoundlander, Allan MacArthur. He was born in 1884, raised in the old homestead, and up grew to be the seanchaidh of his generation, as his mother had been before him. When he died, he left behind a priceless legacy of tradition, celebrated here by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Intensely proud of their Gaelic roots, they weave new songs and music into the old style as they keep alive the traditions of the cèilidh, or ‘kitchen party’ as some now say.

Allan MacArthur’s grandparents were among the emigrants who sailed to ‘America’, as they called the entire continent in those days. His paternal grandfather was a MacArthur from the Inner Hebridean Isle of Canna, his maternal grandfather was a MacIsaac from Moidart and his grandmother a MacDonald from Glengarry.  Like countless Highland emigrants, they left behind the hardship, poverty and post-Jacobite oppression that blighted the Gaels. They set sail with little but hope and faith, perhaps materially impoverished, yet in possession of one the richest stores of oral tradition in the world. Extracted from Dileab Ailein by Margaret Bennett -Published by Grace Note Publications 2009.

 

CD 1: MacArthur’s Cèilidh - Cèilidh MhicArtair

1. Toast to Scotland,
2. ’Illean Bithibh Sunndach
3. Gura Bòidheach am Bàta
4. Them songs came from Scotland…
5. Hù a Hù Ailein Duinn
6. Tom Dey, Calum Crùbach set
7. Fear a’ Bhàta
8. Tha Mi Sgìth
9. Kitchener’s Army
10. Gun Chrodh Gun Aighean
11. Gathering to sing
12. A Mhàiri Dhubh
13. Òran an Tombaca
14. O Cò Bheirinn Leam
15. A Chailin Dhuinn (Frank)
16. King George IV & Muillean Dubh
17. Dominion Mine Strike
18. This Loch Lomond here
19. Farewell to Paddy LeBlanc
20. Òl an Deoch air Làmh mo Rùn
21. Allan’s toast to whisky,
22. Bha mi ’n Raoir ag Òl
23. Mo Nighean Donn Bh?òidheach
24. Big John MacNeill Set
25. Allan’s Canntaireachd
26. Frank’s MacPherson tune
27. Canntaireachd for accordion
28. Canntaireachd for The Smith
29. Allan on pipes: Cock o’ the North set

 

Cd 2: MacArthur’s Kitchen Party - Partaidh Cidsin Mhic Artair

1. MacArthur’s Island
2. Shamrock, Thistle and Rose
3. Oidhche Challainn (Custom)
4. Rann Challainn (Rhyme)
5. Square Dance Set
6. Christmas Down Home
7. A Chailin Dhuinn & Miss Lyle
8. Calvin’s Mandolin set
9. Will You Marry Me?
10. Allan & Mary on Gaelic & proverb
11. Òran an t-Saighdeir
12. Miracle of Christmas
13. Ailein Duinn (2007)
14. Tullochgorm
15. Making moccasins and songs
16. Oran nam Mogaisean (1970)
17. Oran nam Mogaisean (2002)
18. Last word on moccasins
19. Cock Your Leg Up
20. Gaelic Tongue Twister
21. Dèan Cadalan Sàmhach
22. Daddy’s Girl
23. Miss Rowan Davies
24. Tips Eve Jig
25. Remember Home
26. Cha Dèan mi ’n Obair
27. Nach do Ghoid mi ’m Piatan
28. MacArthur’s Kitchen Party
29. Deoch Slàinte, Lord Lovat