Argyll choirs of the century remembered at Rockfield

The Argyll Choirs ‘pop-up’ exhibition will run up until and throughout the nine days of the Royal National Mòd, which returns to its birthplace of Oban on Friday October 11.

This time, ahead of Scotland’s premiere celebration of Gaelic language and culture, it is the choirs that are in the spotlight at Rockfield. 

The Heritage Hunters, a small group based at The Rockfield Centre, manages the centre’s local social history collection. They have collected photos and clips of choirs from Mòds far gone-by.

For many, the Mòd is keenly associated with choral singing, and this is as true in Argyll as it would be anywhere, with the district having produced huge successes in choral competitions, as well as a generally healthy roster of choirs of varying sizes and styles.

Organisers estimate around 20 Gaelic choirs have operated in Argyll over the last 60 years, including four from Mull, with the longest standing – Oban Gaelic Choir – dating back to 1892.

The exhibition will showcase photos, many of which are shared courtesy of the Oban Times, alongside old programmes from the heritage group’s archives, all showing Argyll’s long-held love affair with singing Gaelic songs with one another. 

Archive video footage courtesy of BBC ALBA will also bring the sounds of Argyll choir members back to life and give visitors the opportunity to roll back the years and experience Mòd performances of years gone by.

A new short film, created by Oban filmmaker Anna Garvin, will also feature as part of the exhibition, giving an insight into what it’s like to be part of a Gaelic choir and showing the commitment and passion people give to these groups and the joy and sense of belonging they receive in return.

Eleanor Mackinnon, one of the curators at this exhibition, said: “Like all of our exhibitions, with Argyll Choirs we offer a space to unleash memories and continue conversations across all generations to continue to share our cultural heritage.

“Our heritage group realised we had a rich back catalogue of photos and other material within our local social history collection that we were able to make publicly available to visitors, so we set about creating this exhibition.

“Our aim is to offer a space to unlock memories and continue conversations across all generations about the incredible history of Gaelic choirs in Argyll.

"The exhibition would not have been possible without the support of the Oban Times and the response from the Gaelic and local community who have shared choir photos and other material with us from over the years.

“This is our way of welcoming the Mòd back to Oban this October. To be able to share our cultural heritage with thousands of visitors is a special thing."

Argyll Choirs is open now at the Rockfield Centre, Oban, and will run for over a month.