The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #16595   Message #2882891
Posted By: Cuilionn
09-Apr-10 - 11:28 AM
Thread Name: Man/Woman songs
Subject: RE: Man/Woman songs
In my experience, singers of Scottish Gaelic songs seem to be less bothered by "engendered" lyrics. Men sing songs from a woman's perspective and women sing songs from a man's perspective without hesitation, and everyone--singer and hearers alike--focus their attention primarily on the beauty of the song itself, and how well it may be conveyed by any singer.

It may be a little different with traditional work songs. While Hebridean women have taken all manner of men's (mostly seafaring) work songs into the waulking song repertoire (for the purpose of singing while doing the nasty, arduous work of fulling wool cloth), I can't recall having ever heard a man sing a milking croon, and it's rare to hear men singing lullabyes, which are certainly a variety of work song as well!