Gillebrìde MacMillan from South Uist is one of the few people to have won all major prizes at the Royal National Mod as an adult and as a child. He won the Traditional Gold Medal at the 2000 Mod in Dunoon and The Royal National Gold Medal in Perth in 2004. He comes from a family with a strong tradition of Gaelic singing.
Gillebrìde writes: “I still vividly remember the day that I decided that I wanted to start singing again. I had sung as a child and after winning both main prizes for children at the Royal National Mod in Dingwall I decided to retire for a while.
I had not sung in public since I was 13, and I was 21 when my desire to sing returned. I had just returned home from university and on the radio was the Mod Traditional Gold Medal Final. It was the infamous Skye mòd when the awful weather meant that the final had to be delayed. That very day, listening to the radio, I felt that I wanted to be involved in such a thing.
A couple of weeks later, I phoned Ishabel T. MacDonald to ask if she would teach me songs. I can say that really, since that day that I have been learning songs and enjoying my singing. For the 7 years that I’ve been singing as an adult I’ve been lucky enough to sing in many countries and places.”
This album contains a fine selection of Gaelic songs with a strong Uist bias, not surprisingly. It ranges from the songs of Bàird Baile or village poets, to those of the better known songwriters from the islands.
Gillebrìde is accompanied on the album by Mary Ann Kennedy, who also produced the album, and Aaron Jones, Allan Henderson, with Gaelic singers Rachel Walker, Angus MacPhail, James Graham, and Gillebrìde’s sister, Mairi.
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