Northern Ireland

Labour of love leads to unique Gaelic song collection

Retired Derry academic, Risteard MacGabhann has had a passion for Irish song since his teenage years.
Retired Derry academic, Risteard MacGabhann has had a passion for Irish song since his teenage years. Retired Derry academic, Risteard MacGabhann has had a passion for Irish song since his teenage years.

A passion for Gaelic song since his teenage years has resulted in an unusual new musical collection from a retired Derry academic.

Claisceadal cois Feabhail has brought together a unique blend of songs and translations gathered up at weekly singing sessions since 2009 at the city's Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin.

Published by Colmcille Press, the book takes its name from the Irish word for a group of people who come together to sing. A collection of 121 songs, it is the brainchild of Risteard MacGabhann.

A life-long Irish language and culture activist, Mr MacGabhann (84) said he has had a passion for Gaelic songs since his teenage years. Following the opening of the Cultúrlann, he found a way of putting that love of song to good use.

“We decided to create an archive of Irish songs and a group started coming together on a weekly basis to join in,” he said.

“Each week, I provided a copy of a song with each line translated underneath the Gaelic version so people could get the sense of the song and the background and age and who composed it. The group would then practice it at home,” Mr MacGabhann said.

As a further aid, he started recording the songs to his own accompaniment on the piano accordion although this was eventually replaced by accompaniment by Una Page and Jim Walker. Now a disc of the songs is provided after every ten songs.

Over the years, the project attracted interest from some strange quarters, including the late, great playwright, Brian Friel, whose words of support are included on the cover of the new book.

“He heard about the project and wrote a note to me saying he would like a copy of the songs. At that time, we had about 60 so I sent them to him. I was extremely proud but then a few weeks later I got another note from him praising the work and then when he had more songs done, I sent them as well.”