James Ruff,
tenor and early Gaelic harp

James will perform a Gaelic song on the Classic Scottish Concert

Saturday, January 27th at 9pm

and will give a lecture on female Gaelic poets with examples of their songs entitled: Women’s Work - Voices of the Highlands (Obair nam Ban: Guthan na Gàidhealtachd)

Sunday, January 28th - 10am

The Highland Oral Tradition encompasses a broad and impressive range of poetry and music. Though officially excluded from the bardic orders, women increasingly became important bearers of tradition in Scotland as harpers and singers, and as poets and composers of song – fully employing the intricate bardic poetic forms. In recent centuries, women proved important collectors of traditional song. James Ruff guides you through some of the rich Highland repertoire of the 16th to 18th centuries – composed, collected, or inspired by women. Come experience these songs, in Gaelic and Scots, by poets such as: Mary MacLeod, Sìleas na Ceapaich, Julia MacLeod, the Baroness Nairne where women lament their dead husbands, brothers and kinsmen…nobly celebrate their clan chiefs, and even beautifully bid farewell to the ‘Music of the Clarsach.’