Ah think the bairns are aye brilliant, but Ah'm nae sairtain whit tae think o their Gaelic. They thraw a few wairds oot during concerts, but when I ca'd Gaelic back tae them, ye suid hae seen the confusion-- like a hantle o wee deer in the heidlichts, they were! Ah'm thinkin they're aff tae a grand stairt an there's nae question aboot their talent, but if they're tae be "packagit" as a band o young Cape Breton Gaels, they ocht tae hae mastery o mair than ane or twa phrases. Lairnin Gaelic sangs phonetically DISNAE coont, nae matter how bonnie the singin. The culture desairves muckle mair than lip sairvice.
Ah'm luikin for'ard tae mair frae the Cottars, tae be sure. Ah saw 'em at an open-air concert last summer, an 'twas a grand nicht indeed. As their musicianship matures, tis ma earnest hope that they embrace, an wrestle wi, the complex heritage they claim tae represent.