Raghnall Mac Ailein Òig is also known as Ranald MacDonald of Morar, or of Cross; his name is also spelt Ronald, or Raonuill.

Ranald is said to have been born in 1662, and may have died around 1712. He is known in Scottish tradition as a first-rate performer on the pipes, the fiddle and the clarsach. He is said to have composed some of the finest examples of ceòl mór, the ‘great music’ of the old Gaelic world.

Ranald is celebrated as a local hero and strong man, the subject of innumerable traditional tales and stories.

If he really was a player of the clarsach in the early 18th century, Ranald would have been one of the last generation of the old harpers in Scotland.

These pages explore what is known about the man, his life and his works.

I presented a talk about Ranald, based on these web pages, at Scoil na gCláirseach, Kilkenny, in August 2014. You can see a video of the entire talk courtesy of the Irish Traditional Music Archive.