An Dàn CD Lyrics
T11: Grioglachan
(Constellation)
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir:
Mary Ann Kennedy
“Noticing at midnight another star,
before unseen,
Presented in the firmament, gentle in its flickering”
Big sister, big cousin, shopping
queen, godmother, voice-in-harmony, partner-in-crime,
at the heart of both my families, both my singing
families. Maggie was never supposed to leave us when
she did. We gathered in the town, hundreds of us, and
sang our breaking hearts out. Maggie loved to watch
the stars. Marcas sets a new star in the sky, and
she’s watching out for us as she always did, sparkling
silver as ever.
Marcas: 'Grioglachan' was
written in extremis, on a day that nobody within the
Gaelic creative community could fully comprehend. I
did not feel capable of encapsulating Maggie's
considerable legacy within a paucity of lines and
verses, conscious, even, that poetry can fail to
extrapolate fully on any life, well lived.
Despite my own limitations, it was imperative to put
aside the banality of life's daily toils in order to
knit together some kind of understanding of the news
and the loss of a person so well loved for their
gift of kindness and encouragement - and indeed,
to do so in the only way possible for me. I hope that
these lines serve as an appropriate memorial to our
lovely friend but was certain, when I heard Mary Ann's
setting of the poem, that through her music she had
managed to fine-tune that nebulous understanding and
had translated that which I had not succeeded in
writing adequately in the moment.
T11: Grioglachan
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir:
Màiri Anna NicUalraig
“Mothaichear aig meadhan-oidhche,
reul eile nach faicear riamh
Ùr-thaisbeanta san iarmailt, ’s e liath macanta mìn”
Marcas: Chaidh 'Grioglachan' a
sgrìobhadh ann an èigin, air là ris nach robh duine an
dùil air saoghal ealain na Gàidhlig. Sheachain mi
iomradh a dhèanamh air dìleab Magaidh, tuigseach gu
leòr nach bu sho-dhèanta iomradh beatha sam bith a
dhèanamh ann an gainnead rannan goirid. A dh'aindeoin
sin, cha b' urrainn dhomh ach gnìomhan àbhaisteach
an là a chur gu taobh, gus tuigse is ciall a
dhèanamh den naidheachd is sinn air cuideigin
a chall a bha prìseil, coibhneil is brosnachail,
anns an dòigh as nòs dhomh. Tha mi an dòchas gum
freagarraich na loidhneachan seo cuimhneachadh ar
bana-caraid laghaich, ach a' chiad uair a chuala mi
tionndadh Màiri Anna dheth, bha mi cinnteach gun robh i
air loinn a chur air mo chiall fhìn, is gum mìnicheadh a
cuid ciùil na rudan nach gabhadh sgrìobhadh.
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Tha cuimhne leam aon uair
Is sinn nar seasamh ràgh air ràgh,
Mus deach làmhan a thogail, gus ar
Tàladh càch a chèile.
Bu tu a thionndadh comharra
Gu duanag sa bhad is a
Thogadh lìonra eadarainn
Le fàisgeadh clis do làimhe.
Bu tu, le priob do shùla,
Bha ri balbhanachd do shocair
Is bhoillsg an gàire ort
Mar loinne slige-neamhnaid.
Lean sinn do shoillse, mar
bu
Tu an crann is an ceòl na
Ghaoth fo sheòl geal balgach,
Do na ghèilleadh sinn le chèile.
Nis ’s sinn a sheòlas tusa
null,
Mar shoitheach air an abhainn,
Is an naidheachd na shradag
Do lòchrain an cois dà bhruaich.
Crois-tara Àrd nam
Manach,
Baile an
Fhraoich is Druim na Drochaid,
Gus do
chomharrachadh is
Do dheò beò a
chumail annainn.
Saoil an sioft na spiricean
Eu-dìon as ùr nan stèidhean,
Gus do stiùireadh os ar cionn,
’S tu gad chumail bhuainn.
Nar làithean nì sinn ceangal
Eadar solais àrd’ an speura
Gus faoisgnich ar tuigse dheth
Mar dhealbh maoiseach airgid.
Mothaichear aig
meadhan-oidhche
Reul eile nach faicear riamh
Ùr-thaisbeanta san iarmailt,
’S e liath macanta mìn.
Ceòl air tighinn gu aona
cheann,
Aithnichidh sinn co-chòrdachd;
Guth nach cluinnear seo nas mò,
Ach an co-sheirm nan cruinne.
Grioglachan ga ghleusadh
Na bhogha thar na Gàidhealtachd,
Na shìneadh eadar ar
cathair-bhaile,
Buirgh na Hearadh, Glaschu 's an Gnìoba.
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I remember the instance
of us
Standing row on
row,
Before the
raising of the hands
That drew us in,
together.
It was you who could
translate
The marks to
melodies in an instant,
And put the
cadence in motion
With a quick
squeeze of the hand.
It was you, with one
wink,
Who would
communicate your ease
In the smile
that shone out of you
Like a mother’s
pearlescent sheen.
We cleaved to your
light, as if
You were the
mast and the music,
The wind below
white, billowing sail,
To which,
together, we surrendered.
Now we sail with you,
out,
Like a pinnace
on the river,
As the news
sparks like torches,
Either side of
the banks.
Beacons in the Black Isle,
Muirtown and Drumnadrochit,
To mark you in your passing,
While your vitality lives within us.
Wondering if the
steeples shift,
Newly vulnerable
in their foundations,
To guide you up,
beyond,
As you are taken
from us.
In our day, we divine
the lines,
Between those
heavenly bodies,
Let
understanding emerge,
Across that
silvered mosaic.
Noticing at midnight,
Another star
before unseen,
Presented in the
firmament,
Gentle in its
flickering.
Music come to final
climax,
We will know
that harmonic;
A voice no
longer heard of here,
Outwith the
music of the spheres.
A constellation fine-tuned
Into a bow across the Highlands,
Stretching out from our capital,
To Borve, Greepe and Glasgow.
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