SET
ScottishCatalogue no. 1517c
Oir a’ chuain / Air Sgeir an Ròin
Edge of the ocean / On Seal Skerry
Music: Emily Doolittle, Words: Rody Gorman
Voicing: SA, flute, cello
Performance time approx: 4m 00s
Range S: c' – f'' / A: c' – f''
Price code:
Complexity:
This piece is part of the set "Dàn nan ròn SET".
It is not available for purchase as a single piece.
The set also includes:
The last song in the suite Dàn nan ròn is a beautiful soliloquy by someone out walking near the ocean and remembering his boyhood and youth. The sopranos sing the Gaelic text, in beautifully rising and falling melodic lines, while the rhythmic refrains of timeless Gaelic vocables are in two parts – sometimes singing the same words together, sometimes diverging. This song includes flute and cello obbligato, the cello playing an increasingly elaborate drone role, the flute echoing and playfully embellishing the melody.
Bha mi ’n-dè leam fhìn sa mhonadh
Fo cheò ’s fo mhulad mo ghonadh
Shiubhail mi leam gu bonn a rubha
Far an robh na taighean dubha
Fo chleith mar an sgarta falaich
Mun deach na gaisgich nam balaich
’S gun agam ann ach an làrach
Anns an deach an to gail is àrach
Hill inn ò hò
Huill eo ro bha hò
Hill ir inn ì a hò a ò ro
Huill eo ro bha ho
Rinn mi suidhe leam air mo thòin
Air tulach faisg air Sgeir an Ròin
Nam aonar an oir a’ chuain
Gun soitheach nam ghaoith, fo smuain
Chunnaic mi lorg nan caorach
Na gillean thall san tràigh-mhaorach
Chunniac mi de bhàrr na creige
Eilean Chanaigh ’s Eilean Eige
Hill inn ò hò etc.
’S nas fhaide deas bhuam buileach
Thall air fàire ‘n t-Eilean Muileach
Leig mi m’anail mu phollmònach
A’ stealleadh, a’ sgur, dubh, brònach
Chrom mi ’s bhean mi ris an talamh,
Am bàrr fuar agus falamh
Mar uair ann às mo lèine
Taobh riut fhèin a’ gabhail na grèine
Hill inn ò hò etc.
Nach bu bhòidheach, nach bu bhuidhe
Smaoinich mi rium fhìn am shuidhe
’S dh’ èirich osna chiùin air sèideadh
Bhon an deas, m’anam ’s m’eideadh
Is bhuam thall air snàmh, dà eala
Nach b’iad na làithean geala!
Bha mi ’ndè leam fhìn sa mhonadh
Fo cheò ’s fo mhu lad mo ghonadh
Hill inn ò hò etc.
lyrics and translation © Rody Gorman 2011 and used with permission
Edge of the ocean / On Seal Skerry*
I was on the hill on my own yesterday
Foggy and sorry, hell mend it
I walked to the bottom of the headland
Where the black houses were
Hidden like in a hidey hole in a rock
Where our heroes used to go as boys
And there was the very place
Where I was reared and brought up
Hill inn ò hò
Huill eo ro bha hò
Hill ir inn ì a hò a ò ro
Huill eo ro bha hò
I sat down on my thòin [backside]
On a hillock near to Seal Skerry
On my own by the edge of the ocean
Without wind of a ship, thinking
I saw the sheep tracks
And the boys over by at the whelks
I saw from the cairn
The Isles of Canna and Eigg
Hill inn ò hò etc.
And much further to my south
Over on the horizon the Isle of Mull
I took a breather by a peatbog
Pishing, stopping, black, sad
I bent down and touched the ground,
The surface cold and empty
As I stripped to the waist once
Beside yourself sunbathing
Hill inn ò hò etc.
Wasn’t that beautiful
I thought to myself as I sat
And a sea breeze started blowing
From the south, my precious
And over there swimming, two swans –
Weren’t they the bright sunny days!
I was on the hill on my own yesterday
Foggy and sorry, hell mend it
Hill inn ò hò etc.
* skerry ~ small rocky island