A COLLECTION of Gaelic recordings made in Nova Scotia was launched online yesterday by the University of Glasgow.
The recordings by Professor Calum Iain N MacLeod (Calum Iain M MacLeoid, 1913–1977) will be held in a British Academy-recognised project, the Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic (DASG), led by the university.
The collection includes interviews, conversations, music, hymns and psalms, and songs largely from people in Nova Scotia. Most of the material is in Scottish Gaelic but some recordings also feature English and French.
Eilidh Cormack, a renowned Gaelic singer, who worked on many of MacLeod’s recordings for DASG said: “We are so fortunate that he chose to gift the University of Glasgow, where he was once himself a student, his collection and his fieldwork, and that it is still with us today.”
The collector, MacLeod was an important figure in the history of the Gaelic community in Nova Scotia. The son of the Gaelic writer John N MacLeod, he was brought up in Dornie and Kirkhill, Inverness-shire. He attended both Edinburgh and Glasgow universities and won recognition as a brilliant student in Celtic studies. In 1937, he won An Comunn Gaidhealach’s Bardic Crown.
During the Second World War, MacLeod was a major in the British Intelligence Corps, serving in North Africa and across Europe.
He emigrated to Canada in 1949 to work as Gaelic adviser to the Education Department of the Nova Scotia government. MacLeod was also appointed as Professor of Celtic Studies at St Francis Xavier University.
The university says the new online collection of recordings will be a useful resource to all those interested in Gaelic folklore, language and song, especially in the context of Nova Scotia’s Gaelic communities.
The recordings will complement to MacLeod’s published collections, including Sgialachdan a Albainn Nuaidh (1969) and Bardachd a Albainn Nuaidh (1970).
Professor Roibeard O Maolalaigh, Professor of Gaelic at the University of Glasgow and director of digital archive of DASG, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be launch the very valuable Gaelic recordings made by Calum Iain MacLeod – a collection that adds significantly to Gaelic culture and resources that will enhance Gaelic communities across the globe.”
Dr John Shaw, of the University of Edinburgh’s Celtic and Scottish Studies Department, said: “Following his arrival in Cape Breton in 1950, MacLeod produced a body of work in recording and publications of Gaelic folklore and traditions that is as fundamental as it is valuable.
“Just as important, during that time he gave generous support to myself and others in our studies and research. We owe him a great debt.”
Professor Heather Sparling, of Cape Breton University, said: “Calum MacLeod did an enormous amount to build and develop Gaelic in Nova Scotia, teaching the language to hundreds of students while he worked as Gaelic adviser to the Nova Scotia Education Department and especially as a respected professor in St Francis Xavier University.
“But I would say that his greatest legacy is the contribution he made to Gaelic Songs In Nova Scotia (1964) – a book he wrote with Eilidh Creighton that is one of the most important published collections in this field to this day.”
Glasgow University says the launch of MacLeod’s sound recording collection significantly adds to DASG’s sound archive. The project was completed through the work of Fraser Blain and Stephen Barrett.
