Clannad & Moya Brennan News

As there is not much news to report, here is the story behind Alasdair Mac Colla – song and story. I found this really interesting, and never knew that he was also half Irish, his dad was from Antrim! You can check out the information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alasdair_Mac_Colla

Some information from our old lyrics pages on the song, rather than the person:

Alasdair Mac Colla (Clannad/Moya Brennan) was, well… the son of Colla. He was a brave and mighty soldier (well… controversially). This song in Gàidhlig (Scots Gaelic) is a Waulking song (Òran Luaidh). This style of Waulking Song is very common: each verse begins with the last line in the verse previous, although Clannad have removed one of the verses.

Waulking Songs were typically sung by women, as they were shrinking tweed. This process is called, believe it or not, Waulking. One woman would sing the verses, and the others would join in on the chorus. In this style of song, they’d also join in on the ‘o ho’ bits! Waulking is very rare nowadays, but singers such as Julie Fowlis have brought the music out into the big bad world. The actual Waulking process was recorded in a documentary DVD/CD, released by Bannal, in which they sing the Waulking Songs as they shrink the tweed. The DVD/CD can be bought here. We rate it 5 stars!