Rory Dall

The Gaelic harp tradition was intimately connected with Gaelic song, yet the music credited to Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Catháin is instrumental. Perhaps he did compose songs, but none survived; perhaps he performed other peoples' songs; perhaps he worked with a professional singer; perhaps he was an unusual innovator performing only instrumental music.

The 18th century Irish harpers did attribute one song to him; that is "Bacach Buidhe na Léimne". However it is so unlike his other work - the air is a common Gaelic song air, and the words are set in Ireland, especially the South - that we may doubt this attribution.

Ruaidhri Dall Mac Mhuirich composed seven songs which survive today. They use traditional Gaelic meters and song airs. The songs have been published with English translations: William Matheson, The Blind Harper, SGTS 1970.

Rory Dall would have played the harp to accompany his singing, presumably simply by playing the same melody as the song text. He possibly also improvised or worked out long, complex variation-sets similar to those played by pipers, perhaps as instrumental interludes between verses. We still know very little however about how the old Gaelic song was performed with harp accompaniment.

Perhaps his most famous song is the humourous Féill nan Crann, about a harper who loses his harp key, but he also composed songs in praise of his patron, McLeod of Dunvegan.

Listen to the first two verses of Oran do MhacLeòid Dhùn Bheagain sung by William Matheson. From his double CD Gaelic Bards and Minstrels, Scottish Tradition 16, Greentrax CDTRAX 9016D, 1993. Used with permission. Click here to order.
Duration 1:00
You can also listen online to an archive recording from Tobar an Dualchais: Marietta MacLeod sings Oran do MhacLeòid Dhùn Bheagain, recorded at a People’s Festival ceilidh in 1952. This song is a complaint about the neglect of the old Gaelic arts and of Rory in particular, after he was no longer employed at Dunvegan.

Another song of Rory Dall Morison that survived in the oral tradition into the 20th century is Oran do Iain Breac Mac Leòid, another poem addressed to Iain Breac MacLeod. This song is a poem in praise of his patron, and lamenting because Iain is away down south:
Listen online to an archive recording from Tobar an Dualchais: Margaret Ross sings Oran do Iain Breac Mac Leòid in a field recording from 1953
Listen online to an archive recording from Tobar an Dualchais: Calum Johnston sings Oran do Iain Breac Mac Leòid, to a different tune, in a field recording from 1953

William Matheson says that there is an archive recording in the School of Scottish Studies, of someone singing Rory Dall's poem Creach na Ciadainn. The reference he gives is SSS SA 1963.19.A2, but I am not finding it online yet at Tobar an Dualchais.