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Origins: Som Islay'la (S ann an Ile)

27 Feb 17 - 04:44 PM (#3842007)
Subject: Som Islay'la
From: Haruo

This is cut no. 5 on the Ferryboat Musicians' 1984 recording "The Ferryboat Musicians: Steve Guthe / Kat Eggleston". What language is it in? What do the words mean?


27 Feb 17 - 06:18 PM (#3842015)
Subject: RE: Som Islay'la
From: Jack Campin

Never heard of it, but could it be this?

http://blog.islayinfo.com/article.php/a-gaelic-song-of-islay


28 Feb 17 - 01:49 AM (#3842033)
Subject: ADD: 'S ann an Ile
From: Joe Offer

Lyrics from the Website Jack linked to:



S ANN AN ILE

'S ann an Ile, 'n Ile, 'n Ile
'S ann an Ile rugadh mi
'S ann an Ile, 'n Ile, 'n Ile
'S ann Ile bhoidhich (repeat)

'S ann an Ile ghuirm an fheoir
A' rugadh mi 's a' thogadh mi
'S ann an Ile ghuirm an fheoir
A' rugadh mi 's a bha mi (repeat)

'S ann an Ile bhoidhich
A' rugadh mi 's a' thogadh mi
'S ann an Ile bhoidhich
A' rugadh mi 's a bha mi (repeat)

The English translates as:

It was in Islay, Islay, Islay
It was in Islay I was born
It was in Islay, Islay, Islay
It was in beautiful Islay

It was in blue-grass Islay
I was born and I grew up
It was in blue-grass Islay
I was born and I was

It was in beautiful Islay
I was born and grew up
It was in beautiful Islay
I was born and I was


http://blog.islayinfo.com/mediagallery/mediaobjects/orig/9/9_s-ann-an-ile.mp3


28 Feb 17 - 11:20 PM (#3842218)
Subject: RE: Som Islay'la
From: GUEST

Thanks, both of you. That may be it, though I think the CD has more than three verses, even after you subtract all the repeats... I couldn't figure out if it was Gaelic or Greek or Basque or Latvian or Bosnian or what. And being a language nut type the inability to ID the language was really eating at me. I will mark it "probably Gaelic" in my head. ;-)


01 Mar 17 - 05:56 PM (#3842349)
Subject: RE: Som Islay'la
From: Haruo

That was I. My phone forgot who I was.


01 Mar 17 - 08:37 PM (#3842367)
Subject: RE: Som Islay'la
From: michaelr

Definitely Gaelic, of the Scots variety.


02 Mar 17 - 06:18 PM (#3842538)
Subject: RE: Origins: Som Islay'la (S ann an Ile)
From: Joe Offer

I got an email from Kat Eggleston today. She says the song is indeed "S ann an Ile." Good call, Jack Campin. She learned the song phonetically when she was young, and didn't get it quite right. She recommended recordings by Julie Fowlis or Catherine-Ann McPhee.


Steve Guthe's recordings are available at: http://www.ferryboatmusic.com/

Kat Eggleston's Website is http://www.kateggleston.com. Her recordings are available through CDBaby.

-Joe-


02 Mar 17 - 10:57 PM (#3842564)
Subject: RE: Origins: Som Islay'la (S ann an Ile)
From: Haruo

She didn't do any worse than I would have. The first verse sounds to me like

Somnolina, lina, lina,
Somnolina, cook 'em a whiz
Somnolina, lina, lina,
Somnolina, dry off...

Glad to have the confirmation. I still think she has more stanzas than the lyrics posted here contain.


02 Mar 17 - 11:02 PM (#3842565)
Subject: RE: Origins: Som Islay'la (S ann an Ile)
From: Haruo

And thanks for the websites. I note with amusement or maybe sadness that Kat Eggleston is not mentioned on the Ferryboat history page, whereas I have two or I think maybe three "Ferryboat Musicians" CDs, which all feature Steve and Kat. And I have Hank Cramer CDs, including one of the Constellation, and don't see anything about Ferryboat on them. Revisionist history? They're all fine singers.


03 Mar 17 - 09:20 PM (#3842738)
Subject: RE: Origins: Som Islay'la (S ann an Ile)
From: Joe Offer

Here's Kat Eggleston's email, posted with her permission:

Hey Joe,

Oh dear. That was a million years ago. In any case, the comments on the thread are right, the song is "'S ann an Ile." I loved mouth music from Scotland all my life, with no-one to teach me. So I learned it phonetically as well as I could when I was young. Now I know a lot of Gaelic speakers and singers and I really wish I'd never recorded it. But the other Ferryboat Musician Steve Guthe passed away some years back and all those recordings were reprinted on CD from the original cassette tape version we used to sell while we were busking on the ferries. The cassette albums had been his property anyway.

Long-winded response. Does that answer your question?

Definitely look up a proper singer of puirt a beul like the wonderful Julie Fowlis for real versions of songs like those. Or Catherine-Ann McPhee. Check out Greentrax recordings.

I loved playing on the ferryboats in the eighties, I did that for a few years and it could be wonderful. But I haven't revisited any of that music in many years.

Thanks for the kind remarks.

- Kat


04 Mar 17 - 04:00 PM (#3842861)
Subject: RE: Origins: Som Islay'la (S ann an Ile)
From: GUEST,Anne Neilson

Remember learning this phonetically from a Gaelic-speaking teacher (Alan Steele) at my secondary school Rutherglen Academy in the late 1950s.
We were members of the Rutherglen Academy Ballads Club (formed by my English teacher and later MP Norman Buchan) and sang all sorts of material from bothy ballads to the Muckle Sangs via skiffle, street songs, music hall stuff and anything in between. We did enjoy this example of mouth music and may even have married it to a Lowland variety ' Jock, since ever I seen your face'.

At the same time a group of us also learned 'Mhic eorla nam bratach bhana' (?) -- and even recorded both songs for a BBC broadcast.


04 Mar 17 - 08:59 PM (#3842904)
Subject: RE: Origins: Som Islay'la (S ann an Ile)
From: Tattie Bogle

Pretty sure I posted the words of this (yes, in Scottish Gaelic) + translation, on another thread not so long ago. Will try to find it in the morning: too late tonight!