Gaelic Song with Christine Primrose

Learning Gaelic through song

Acclaimed Gaelic singer, Christine Primrose from Carloway on the west side of the Hebridean island of Lewis has been singing from an early age as part of growing up in a traditional Gaelic community.

A former winner of the prestigious Royal National Mod Gold Medal for Gaelic singing, Christine has performed worldwide with regular visits to North America, New Zealand, Australia and Europe and her recent accolades include ‘Gaelic Singer of the Year’ at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards in 2009.  Christine is also in demand as a tutor and has held classes all over the world and is currently a tutor on the (BA) Gaelic and Traditional Music Course at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.

In this 5-day course, students will be introduced to a variety of Gaelic song by Christine, covering melody, words and their meaning.  The historical context of the song will also be discussed and where possible information given on the composers and the influence of political, social and cultural events in the songs. Whilst studying these songs, students will also receive some basic Gaelic grammar and Gaelic pronunciation.  A basic knowledge of Gaelic is desirable but not a requirement to attend the course which will be conducted in a mixture of Gaelic and English.

This course is therefore open to all students who have an interest in Gaelic song and are not expected to be stage performers, although the ability to sing as part of a group will be an advantage!  At the end of the course, students will have a small repertoire of Gaelic songs to take away with them.

For further information and to hear a sample of Christine’s singing, please click here.