ORAIN FLORAIDH - The Songs of Flora MacNeil
by Peter Urpeth

FLORA MacNeil’s second recording of traditional Gaelic song for Temple Records, "Orain Floraidh" (COMD2081), is not only a recording of great emotional depth and subtlety, it is a recording that extends our knowledge and understanding of this most beautiful of musics and, perhaps, its finest living exponent. For the 13 tracks of this set provide ample evidence that, while a substantial proportion of Flora’s repertoire originates in her native Barra, an important element of her work belongs to the neighbouring islands where, in isolation, the song culture of the Southern Hebrides developed along distinctive lines. While for many this distinction may be viewed as an exercise in hair-splitting, the reasons why distinct variations of the ‘same’ songs came to exist within such close localities, is deeply rooted in the history of the people of Barra, Mingulay, Vatersay and Bernaray, Eriskay and South Uist.

While reactionary historians (such as The Herald’s Tory convener, Michael Fry) are busy attempting to belittle the nature and extent of events in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, that collectively became known as The Clearances, the songs on this CD, their nature and survival within Flora’s family, provide a substantial insight into the traumatic history of the region and how that impacted on people and songs alike. The greatest defence against reactionary historians (who come to prominence, sadly, when their target culture is at its lowest ebb) is the fact that the cultural document exists, passed down through generations, and its lessons cannot be denied. The songs of the Gaelic oral tradition cannot be taken out of the mouths of those that sang the songs and passed them on. The songs cannot be separated from the singers who choose to preserve them, adapt them and value them individually. They had their reasons.