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Folksongs and Folklore of South Uist

© Stephen William Gray

In November last year the Times carried the story of the 100th birthday of Margaret Fay Shaw. Shaw is one of the last of the great folklorists, collecting and recording traditional culture in the British Isles.

She was based, for her fieldwork on South Uist, where she lived for six years in the early thirties in an earth-floored croft with the sisters Peigi and Mairi Macrae. Learning Gaelic she recorded the folk tales and songs around her. Her book, Folklore and Folksongs of South Uist, was described by the Times as "one of the classics of Hebridean scholarship". I immediately ordered a copy.

Yes, it is a scholarly book - but don't let that description put you off. It is a fascinating work which I am sure I will be dipping into for inspiration for many years to come. As well as an introduction by Shaw into the life she was leading on South Uist, it includes proverbs and sayings, stories, cures, recipes for dying wool and more conventional recipes (mainly with oatmeal as the main ingredient).

Some examples of the proverbs are:

A man will be a long time abroad before he brings back a bad report of himself.

What is done in the back corner will eventually come to the front door.

Whatever the scratching hen may get, the cackling hen gets nothing.

The majority of the book is given over to the songs. There are songs of love, of war, of the sea and of hunting. There are songs for milking, spinning and waulking (no, I haven't spelled it wrong). And there is a collection of vocal dance music. All have musical notation as well as Gaelic lyrics, with English translation where appropriate.

I am still reading through the lyrics and have yet to try the dots on my mandolin, but one of the songs which has already leapt out is the song of the Politician. This was the ship that ran ashore on Hartamul in 1941 with a mixed cargo, which included 32 brands of the finest Scotch whisky bound for America, and inspired the novel and film "Whisky Galore".

I can certainly recommend the book for anyone with an interest in history, folklore and folk song. However it was originally published almost half a century ago. With the advances in publishing and technology I cannot help wondering how much more fulfilling it would be if Fay's work were re-examined and interpreted with original texts and notes and more importantly with audio on DVD or on a web-accessible database. Maybe a new generation of folklorist/researchers could obtain access to the source material and make this possible, building on the tremendous work of Margaret Fay Shaw?

The copyright of the article Folksongs and Folklore of South Uist in Folk Music is owned by Stephen William Gray. Permission to republish Folksongs and Folklore of South Uist in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.