Aon Teanga:Un
Çhengey – A Gaelic Reunion
Aon Teanga:Un Çhengey
– whichever way you spell it, sounds the same, means the same - ‘One Tongue’.
Three superbly expressive voices from the three Gaelic nations as one voice, reuniting
the Scottish, Irish and Manx Gaels. Aon Teanga:Un Çhengey (say it the way it looks in Manx) celebrates the
linguistic, musical and cultural connections of Gaelic as one language between
the sister-nations for the first time in centuries.
A chance meeting in 2013 at the legendary Watercolour Music
studios in Ardgour lies at the heart of this Gaelic meeting of minds and
voices. There, Mary Ann Kennedy, co-owner of the studios and one of Scotland’s
most influential musicians and broadcasters, met Ruth Keggin, the leading vocalist
of the young generation of the Manx Gaelic revival. Ruth had come to Lochaber
to record her debut album, Sheear,
and had invited along another young Gael – Dubliner Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, acclaimed
seann-nòs singer from a highly
regarded Connemara musical family.
The inevitable late night chatter around the kitchen table
revealed a meeting of like minds and a common passion for Gaelic song as an
expression of a language with past and future.
The scene was set, the voyage charted and Aon
Teanga:Un Çhengey was launched.
With the help of Isle of Man Arts Council’s Island of
Culture 2014 and PRS for Music Foundation’s Beyond Borders commissioning
programme for new music, Comar and Watercolour Music have teamed up with
Belfast’s Gaelic arts centre, Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, to enable Ruth, Mary Ann and Eoghan to
develop an album and live tour of traditional and new-composed songs and music
in Scots, Irish and Manx Gaelic. As befits a people for whom the main highways
were ever seaways, the ocean is never far from the music, whether it be classic
sailor’s ballads, tragic drowning laments, magical songs of sea creatures or
wry commentary on human exploitation of the marine environment.
The three singers are joined by Clare fiddler
Ultan O’ Brien. Aon Teanga:Un
Çhengey is grateful to Enterprise Music Scotland and Colmcille (The Columba
Project) for their support of live performance in Ireland, Scotland, and the
Isle of Man.
“Perfect” Glasgow
Herald, June 2015
