As I sat here just now listening to The Wild Geese as sung by JIm Reid
I am minded of an old puzzle for me. That is to sing in a dialect that is not my own. I already feel it is pretentious as all hell to sing a song in a language that either I or my audience doesn't know but what about dialect.

I know what Dinna Ken means and I guess I have learned over the years what a lot of Scotts and Irish dialect means. But am I going beyond the realm of good performance or maybe better stated, honest performance when I change Ken to "Know" or "Blawin' Frae the Land" to "Blowin' From the Land"?

The translation of the words from Scotts English to modern English has its disappointments no doubt. Some of the color of the song may be lost if the words are read off the sheet that way but is it possible to sing the translated song with the right emotion in the performance and still keep the color of the song intact? ( I hope that is clear?)

There is a fine line between doing song for the sake of the song and doing it for the sake of scholarship.

Don