Young Gaelic speakers take message overseas

Representatives of Ceòlas, the Uist-based arts and heritage organisation, have had an exceptionally busy July, travelling to the Willie Clancy Summer School in Milltown Galway, County Clare, and the HIGA gathering in Gasteiz, Spain, in addition to the regular events programme.

 

As the largest traditional music summer school in Ireland, attended by thousands of students every year, the Willie Clancy event provided an interesting comparison to the much smaller and more community-oriented Ceòlas summer school, and a large potential market for international students.

 

Iain MacDonald, Dòmhnall Iain MacDonald, Màiri MacInnes and Liam Crouse attended the school, participating in sean-nós dancing and Irish language classes and attending concerts, joining a further contingent of Uist and Scottish tradition musicians. Dòmhnall Iain and Liam showcased the steps learned during the week at the Sean-nós concert.

 

The international trade mission received support from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Creative Scotland.

 

Liam, Ceòlas’ communication’s officer, also attended HIGA 2018, the second global summit of young speakers of minority languages, taking place in the Basque country. Also representing the Scottish Gaelic language was Joe Sanders, from the University of Glasgow.

 

They joined more than 70 other participants from over 30 minority languages including Basque, Saami, Silesian, K’iche and others from five continents.

 

Liam, who took his pipes, engaged in a rich cultural exchange among the other young speakers, teaching others cèilidh dances from Scotland and learning about Basque, Breton and Galician pipes.

 

The Ceòlas group felt their Uist-based summer school, which was partially modelled after the Willie Clancy school, compared well to the larger Irish festival.

 

Despite following Ceòlas’ busiest summer school ever, future growth in student numbers will hopefully be further driven by international participants.