Over the sea with Skype for Gaelic choir

THEY may be in harmony, but they could never be described as close.

A new Gaelic choir which will perform for the first time at the Royal National Mod next month, is having to practise on Skype as its members live hundreds of miles apart.

The 13-strong Carloway choir – named after a village on the isle of Lewis – has been formed by conductor Mairi Macleod, whose father John, was born in the area. Twice a week, from her Somerset home 700 miles away, she contacts the seven Carloway-based singers to practise for the prestigious Lorne Shield competition.

Meanwhile, the other choir members – her father, a tenor who lives in Edinburgh, brother Calum, a bass in Manchester, two Oban sopranos, another bass in Aberdeen and a tenor in Dingwall – listen in.

The first time the whole group, a mixture of male and female singers aged from 17 to 50, will have their first gathering in one place is next Saturday, just five days before competing in Stornoway.

Macleod started to conduct the choir while based in Manchester where she studied at the Royal Northern College of Music before getting a job as a music teacher in a boarding school in south-west England.

“It was going to be a long-distance situation anyway, but it became even longer and meant there was no way I could get back to the island for rehearsals,” she said. “It was then we decided to look at other options.”

New technology was employed, although time delays on connections meant the choir could not sing together.

“As we couldn’t physically sing together, we provided different sections of the choir with CD recordings to learn their parts and hear others singing theirs.

“Literally the first rehearsal we will all have together is Saturday, five days before the competition. It’s going to be exciting and very interesting to have a few days of intensive rehearsal in the same place.

“They are all strong solo singers but some of them have never sung in a choir before. I trust them to know their words and their parts but only the 15 October will tell us if it has worked or not.”

She said the group has persisted with the long-distance effort as they are all passionate about the Gaelic language and entering the Mod.

Mairi’s father, a retired policeman who is also president of Mod organisers An Comunn Gaidhealach, said: “It’s been challenging but we were determined to keep it going.

“It’s interesting for a choir to try to learn a song over the internet, but why not? The technology is there and it’s good we can use it and adapt it to our needs.”

The Royal National Mod, the annual national festival of Scottish Gaelic song, arts and culture, starts on Friday 14 October and runs until Saturday 22 October.