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

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

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!

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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-

Subject: RE: Som Islay'la
From: michaelr
Date: 01 Mar 17 - 08:37 PM

Definitely Gaelic, of the Scots variety.

Subject: RE: Som Islay'la
From: Haruo
Date: 01 Mar 17 - 05:56 PM

That was I. My phone forgot who I was.

Subject: RE: Som Islay'la
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Feb 17 - 11:20 PM

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. ;-)

Subject: ADD: 'S ann an Ile
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Feb 17 - 01:49 AM

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

Subject: RE: Som Islay'la
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 Feb 17 - 06:18 PM

Never heard of it, but could it be this?

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

Subject: Som Islay'la
From: Haruo
Date: 27 Feb 17 - 04:44 PM

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?