Вторая пластинка CATHERINE-ANN MacPHEE.
Mairi Mhor nan Oran - Big Mary of the Songs - began to write songs when she was 50, Long exiled from her native Skye, left a widow with five children to bring up, she was maliciously accused of petty theft, and even more maliciously put in prison in Inverness for 42 days. Anger and shame drove out the first song: Luchd na Beurla. The Speakers of English.
From then until she died 26 years later she poured out many emotions, from deep sorrow at her exile from Skye, through glorious celebrations of landscape and people, through mocking fun at the MPs in the rowing boat, to her last songs, filled with hope for the future of her people. In the 1880s she went home to Skye and became the Bard of the Land League, drawing huge crowds to rally the crofters' resistance to decades of landlord exploitation and clearance. She is one of the glories of Gaelic Song, and we are proud to celebrate her genius in a way that speaks to us today.
No finer woman to give us her songs than Catherine-Ann MacPhee, whose voice grows stronger and sweeter every year, full of immense musicality and a great range of feeling. With Jim Sutherland's arrangements to bring the whole experience up to today, and Catherine-Ann's magic to keep the whole thing timeless, Mairi Mhor's joys and sorrows, her fun and her fury are very much alive.
