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AN CLIATH CLIS |
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Sunday, May 5, 2002 Hello, here is the latest news from the table.
Ceilidh on the Shore: Apr. 20, 2002
Our annual milling party, held at Lauchie MacLean's in Bedford, was a
great success! Many, many thanks to Lauchie and his family for all their
hard work. Lauchie certainly is the "Hostess with the Mostess"!
This year's milling was a bit different than the previous ones because
we turned it into a "recording session". Thanks to Mary's cousin Shane
MacLean for coming up from Cape Breton to record our songs. We had two
really good milling sessions with very little retakes. We basically just
wanted to hear what we sounded like and to be able to have our songs
available for any new members who are interested in learning the
choruses.
I must say, we certainly have improved over the past 4 years. It
impressed me that we were able to sing for a good 3 hours without
repeating a song!! Of course, there was a lot of joking and laughing in
between, Shane must have alot of patience! But we have so much fun and
that's why were still at it!
Once the milling was over the music continued with pipes and fiddles and
tunes well into the wee hours. So once again, many thanks to all who came, brought food (there was a
ton of it!), helped at the milling table, and shared their talents to
make this a great time !
Now we look forward to the Feis in Iona on May 18, 2002 at the Highland
Village and to the concert in Pictou on May 26,2002. See you there!
Since our last
update An Cliath Clis has been quite busy with milling frolics,
workshops, and of course learning new songs. And speaking of new
songs, hopefully they'll be posted on the web site soon. An Cliath Clis celebrated our 4th anniversary in February. Well, we didn't really celebrate, but we have been together four years now. On the weekend of October 21st, 2001, An Cliath Clis took a ferry trip to Woods Island, PEI, and headed northwards to Goose River and Monticello. On the way, I stopped at the Heritage Museum in Montague, where the curator informed me of a gathering to be held in 2003, to honour the first settlers that came to Belfast, PEI. An Cliath Clis may get an invitation to attend those festivities and I hope to have more information to share with you at a later date. We were invited to PEI by Mary Mac Phee, and I want to thank her and her lovely friends for treating us so well while we were there. We stayed in her cabins on the shores of the Gulf of St Lawrence (Warren's Cabins). What a magnificant place for an early morning walk on the beach! The workshop in Big Cape on Saturday was attended by a small but enthusiastic crowd, and was followed later in the day by a milling frolic. Everyone had a chance to sing the new songs they learned in the morning workshop. The women at the Big Cape Schoolhouse put on a superb meal that evening. We were all agog with the amount and variety of food that was prepared for us. There wasn't much left over, as An Cliath Clis members have pretty substantial appetites. Many thanks to the women of Big Cape. I hope we're invited back sometime soon. November and December of 2001 were spent pretty much learning new songs and going over the oldies. On November 11th, Remembrance Day, at the Iona Legion, Susan Mac Farlane and I had a rare chance to join in on a couple of Gaelic songs with the Iona Gaelic Singers. It's not too often we have the opportunity to sing with them, and I appreciate it so much when they invite us on stage to join in on a chorus or two. January 17th, 2002, An Cliath Clis joined Joe Murphy's beginner Gaelic class at St Mary's University for a milling frolic. What an enthusiastic class!! Maybe the small drop of scotch that was passed around had something to do with that. The students caught on to passing the cloth and maintaining the rhythm very quickly. What a time that was! It seems to me that people involved in the Gaelic culture are very generous with their time, and are always willing to help us out with the learning of new songs. On February 17th Joe Murphy came to an An Cliath Clis practice session. He taught us two new songs, "Cruinneag na Buaile" and "He Mandu". Over the years we had attempted to learn these songs ourselves, and could never quite get the hang of them. Joe patiently went over the tune and words with us, and we'll certainly add them to our repertoire. Thanks Joe, for all your generosity and that good gaelic humour of yours, and especially your willingness to share your knowledge. On March 9th, the Bell Auditorium at NSCAD rang out with the sounds of a proper waulking. ( minus the urine of course ) This was the second time that Lesley Armstrong and her textile class wove a length of cloth for An Cliath Clis to mill. The students and ourselves had great fun joining in on the songs at the table, and we were all impressed with how quickly the cloth shrunk. A raffle was held on the milled cloth which was won by, you guessed it, An Cliath Clis. You may ask, "how many milling blankets does a person need"? Well, not too many, it seems. We now have three. And, no, it wasn't rigged!! However, I did want that cloth badly enough to buy a lot of tickets, and I figured An Cliath Clis had a good chance of winning. The textile class will use the money raised to pay for the yarn used in the cloth and the refreshments that were served. Are you interested in knowing how much the cloth shrank?
When
we started the cloth was: So there you have it. We didn't want to mill the cloth any longer than a couple of hours, as we may use this cloth to make some clothing for display purposes. As well, we have a separate piece of unmilled cloth to show the difference between milled and unmilled cloth. Many thanks to Lesley and her class for providing An Cliath Clis with that opportunity to mill freshly woven cloth. I hope we are able to have a third waulking in the future. On Wednesday March 6th I was invited by Lewis Mac Kinnon to sing a few milling songs for the students attending his Gaelic classes. It was a good opportunity for his students to learn a bit about milling songs. Lewis himself even sang a few songs. On March 21st Lewis will return the favor and come to an An Cliath Clis practice to teach us a couple of his favourite songs. We are looking forward to that. I've been contacted by King's University journalism student Joyce Mac Donald from Mabou, who wants to write a paper on the Gaelic language and its traditions. She wants to interview An Cliath Clis members as well as others involved in preserving the culture. As everyone should know by now, May is Gaelic Awareness Month in the province of Nova Scotia. Here are some dates to remember:
An Cliath Clis always welcomes new people to the group. So, if you're interested in learning a few milling songs, please get in touch. We'd love to see you. I must say a big "Thanks" to the members of An Cliath Clis for all their support in coming to practices and workshops, bringing in new songs and learning them, and especially dragging the milling tables up and down stairs, and all the other "stuff" that I have to drag around when we have a milling. It's very much appreciated. See you at the table ! Susan Mac Farlane & Mary Mac Lean. |
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