Join us as Liam Cassidy, Scott Morrison, and Rick Gwynallen discuss those events known as a Mòd, a celebration and competition of Scottish Gaelic verbals arts with over 130 years of history in North America. 

William Cassidy (Liam Ó Caiside): President of An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach; Board Member of Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir; and co-founder of Gàidhlig Photomac.

Scott Morrison (Scott MacIlleMhoire): Co-founder and Ceannard Sgoile (Head of School) of Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir.

Rick Gwynallen: Co-founder and Administrator of Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir; Board Member of An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach

This year has seen an explosion of interest in local or regional gatherings. In 2023, there has been a Mòd in New York City for the first time since the 19th cenury, the first ever Mòd in Kentucky, and a longer standing Mòd at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina. In August there will be a new Mòd in Maryland, and in November An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach - The American Scottish Gaelic Society, will hold the 36th US National Mòd / Mòd Naiseanta Aimeireagaidh.

A’ dèiligeadh le ar n-eachdraidh - Gàidheal Ameireagaidh a Tuath / Facing Our History - The North American Gael broadcasts from unceded lands of the Piscataway and Susquehannok people, what is now called Central Maryland.

In this podcast we are speaking with two Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir students, Gloria Ngo and Farida Shourbaji. Don't sound like particularly Scottish names? True. While many people may feel they have a sense of what a Gael looks like, there are speakers of color in the Gaelic learning community that through the language and culture forge a bond that makes them part of the wider Gaelic community.  In fact, people of diverse ethnic backgrounds have long had a claim on the language. This may be particularly true in the United States where cultures have mixed through marriage and proximity regularly.  This challenges a common perception that Scottish ethnicity is essential and biological.

Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir adheres more to the idea expressed in the editorial in the Summer 2001 issue of Naidheachd and included by Michael Newton in his paper "This Could Have Been Mine: Scottish Gaelic Learners in North America: 

"Cuimhnichibh gur sluagh sibh," Màiri Mhòr nan Òran urged Highlanders in the 19th century, "Remember that you are a people." Her words have meaning for those of us studying and promoting Gaelic in 21st century North America as well. We are not a people defined by locality or even ethnicity, but we are a "sluagh" who share an identity shaped by common purpose, by common goals, and, for some of us, common experience.   

In Scottish Gaelic, there are different ways to ask where someone is from.  You might ask Cò às a tha thu?,  or Cò muinntir dha bhiel thu? or Cò do chuideachd?

In each case, the question roughly translates in English as who are your people?  They are questions that explore "belonging to a people".

Listen as we explore how Gloria and Farida opened the gate to incorporate Scottish Gaelic into their sense of belonging.

“A’ cheud sgeul air fear an taighe agus sgeul gu latha air an aoidh.”
“The first story from the host and a tale until dawn from the guest.”

This podcast is a conversation about the tradition of Scottish Gaelic storytelling. Storytelling has been a central part of Gaelic life since time immemorial, and remains to this day a part of Gaelic communal identity.  Stories have provided entertainment certainly, but they have also been a means of sharing and expressing a common cultural heritage, social history, and values, and of contemplating the human condition. The three guests in this dialog discuss not just the role and function of traditional tales in the past but what they still have to offer us in the present.

“Stories can make spaces places.”
~ Nancy Marie Brown, Looking for the Hidden Folk

This podcast is a collaboration between three North American organizations serving the Gaelic community: An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach (the American Scottish Gaelic Society), the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, and Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir (The Gaelic School of Baltimore).

Credits:

• Introductory segment of a story recited by Michael Newton
• Harp music at beginning and end of episode played by Maraji Gwynallen
• Recording Engineering by Tim Thompson

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America: Seachdain na Gàidhlig: Latha 7 – Keeping Gaelic Voices Alive in North America.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America explores the authentic voices of Scottish Highland immigrants in North America. Up to about the First World War most Highlanders spoke Scottish Gaelic as their native language, and some knew no other language. It is not hard to find the celebration of Scottish Highland heritage in the forms of kilts and Highland Games, but few people today seem to realize that these immigrants left us a record of their experiences, thoughts, and feelings in the form of songs and poems, and that this was in fact their favored form of cultural expression as individuals and communities. If we care about the history of Scottish Highlanders as immigrants, and want to understand their lives and perspectives, we need to listen to those voices in their native language – even if we need to translate those Gaelic voices to English.

This podcast will be broadcast during Seachdain na Gàidhlig / World Gaelic Week, March 21st through 27th. A new podcast episode will be released every day to explore a different region of North America, discussing the history of Scottish Highland immigrants to the area and the songs and stories that survive to attest to their lives and struggles.

This podcast is a collaboration between three North American organizations serving the Gaelic community: An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach (the American Scottish Gaelic Society), the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, and Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir (The Gaelic School of Baltimore).

Audio Engineer: Tim Thompson, Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir Gaelic learner and Board of Trustees member.

Opening song: We Will Go to America, from the CD, “Songs of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States”, by Na Fògarraich.

Na Fògarraich Members:
Michael Newton - solo vocals, keyboards *
Peg Aloi - backing vocals
Benjamin Bruch - backing vocals *
Jonathan Dembling - backing vocals *
Bennett Hammond - guitar
Michael MacNintch - bagpipes
Ed Pearlman - fiddle *
Dan Pitts - step-dancing
Susanna Porte - cello

* - the members with asterisks are playing on “We will go to America”.

Show less

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America: Seachdain na Gàidhlig: Latha 6 – Missing Evidence, Ethnic Myths, and Gaels of Many Colors.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America explores the authentic voices of Scottish Highland immigrants in North America. Up to about the First World War most Highlanders spoke Scottish Gaelic as their native language, and some knew no other language. It is not hard to find the celebration of Scottish Highland heritage in the forms of kilts and Highland Games, but few people today seem to realize that these immigrants left us a record of their experiences, thoughts, and feelings in the form of songs and poems, and that this was in fact their favored form of cultural expression as individuals and communities. If we care about the history of Scottish Highlanders as immigrants, and want to understand their lives and perspectives, we need to listen to those voices in their native language – even if we need to translate those Gaelic voices to English.

This podcast will be broadcast during Seachdain na Gàidhlig / World Gaelic Week, March 21st through 27th. A new podcast episode will be released every day to explore a different region of North America, discussing the history of Scottish Highland immigrants to the area and the songs and stories that survive to attest to their lives and struggles.

This podcast is a collaboration between three North American organizations serving the Gaelic community: An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach (the American Scottish Gaelic Society), the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, and Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir (The Gaelic School of Baltimore).

Audio Engineer: Tim Thompson, Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir Gaelic learner and Board of Trustees member.

Opening song: We Will Go to America, from the CD, “Songs of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States”, by Na Fògarraich.

Na Fògarraich Members:
Michael Newton - solo vocals, keyboards *
Peg Aloi - backing vocals
Benjamin Bruch - backing vocals *
Jonathan Dembling - backing vocals *
Bennett Hammond - guitar
Michael MacNintch - bagpipes
Ed Pearlman - fiddle *
Dan Pitts - step-dancing
Susanna Porte - cello

* - the members with asterisks are playing on “We will go to America”.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America: Seachdain na Gàidhlig: Latha 5 – Gaels in The Pacific West from Alaska to California.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America explores the authentic voices of Scottish Highland immigrants in North America. Up to about the First World War most Highlanders spoke Scottish Gaelic as their native language, and some knew no other language. It is not hard to find the celebration of Scottish Highland heritage in the forms of kilts and Highland Games, but few people today seem to realize that these immigrants left us a record of their experiences, thoughts, and feelings in the form of songs and poems, and that this was in fact their favored form of cultural expression as individuals and communities. If we care about the history of Scottish Highlanders as immigrants, and want to understand their lives and perspectives, we need to listen to those voices in their native language – even if we need to translate those Gaelic voices to English.

This podcast will be broadcast during Seachdain na Gàidhlig / World Gaelic Week, March 21st through 27th. A new podcast episode will be released every day to explore a different region of North America, discussing the history of Scottish Highland immigrants to the area and the songs and stories that survive to attest to their lives and struggles.

This podcast is a collaboration between three North American organizations serving the Gaelic community: An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach (the American Scottish Gaelic Society), the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, and Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir (The Gaelic School of Baltimore).

Audio Engineer: Tim Thompson, Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir Gaelic learner and Board of Trustees member.

Opening song: We Will Go to America, from the CD, “Songs of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States”, by Na Fògarraich.

Na Fògarraich Members:
Michael Newton - solo vocals, keyboards *
Peg Aloi - backing vocals
Benjamin Bruch - backing vocals *
Jonathan Dembling - backing vocals *
Bennett Hammond - guitar
Michael MacNintch - bagpipes
Ed Pearlman - fiddle *
Dan Pitts - step-dancing
Susanna Porte - cello

* - the members with asterisks are playing on “We will go to America”.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America: Seachdain na Gàidhlig: Latha 4 – Gaels in the Upper Mid-West States and the Canadian Prairies.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America explores the authentic voices of Scottish Highland immigrants in North America. Up to about the First World War most Highlanders spoke Scottish Gaelic as their native language, and some knew no other language. It is not hard to find the celebration of Scottish Highland heritage in the forms of kilts and Highland Games, but few people today seem to realize that these immigrants left us a record of their experiences, thoughts, and feelings in the form of songs and poems, and that this was in fact their favored form of cultural expression as individuals and communities. If we care about the history of Scottish Highlanders as immigrants, and want to understand their lives and perspectives, we need to listen to those voices in their native language – even if we need to translate those Gaelic voices to English.

This podcast will be broadcast during Seachdain na Gàidhlig / World Gaelic Week, March 21st through 27th. A new podcast episode will be released every day to explore a different region of North America, discussing the history of Scottish Highland immigrants to the area and the songs and stories that survive to attest to their lives and struggles.

This podcast is a collaboration between three North American organizations serving the Gaelic community: An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach (the American Scottish Gaelic Society), the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, and Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir (The Gaelic School of Baltimore).

Audio Engineer: Tim Thompson, Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir Gaelic learner and Board of Trustees member.

Opening song: We Will Go to America, from the CD, “Songs of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States”, by Na Fògarraich.

Na Fògarraich Members:
Michael Newton - solo vocals, keyboards *
Peg Aloi - backing vocals
Benjamin Bruch - backing vocals *
Jonathan Dembling - backing vocals *
Bennett Hammond - guitar
Michael MacNintch - bagpipes
Ed Pearlman - fiddle*
Dan Pitts - step-dancing
Susanna Porte - cello

* - the members with asterisks are playing on “We will go to America”.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America: Seachdain na Gàidhlig: Latha 3 – Gaels in New York, Ontario, and Quebec.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America explores the authentic voices of Scottish Highland immigrants in North America. Up to about the First World War most Highlanders spoke Scottish Gaelic as their native language, and some knew no other language. It is not hard to find the celebration of Scottish Highland heritage in the forms of kilts and Highland Games, but few people today seem to realize that these immigrants left us a record of their experiences, thoughts, and feelings in the form of songs and poems, and that this was in fact their favored form of cultural expression as individuals and communities. If we care about the history of Scottish Highlanders as immigrants, and want to understand their lives and perspectives, we need to listen to those voices in their native language – even if we need to translate those Gaelic voices to English.

This podcast will be broadcast during Seachdain na Gàidhlig / World Gaelic Week, March 21st through 27th. A new podcast episode will be released every day to explore a different region of North America, discussing the history of Scottish Highland immigrants to the area and the songs and stories that survive to attest to their lives and struggles.

This podcast is a collaboration between three North American organizations serving the Gaelic community: An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach (the American Scottish Gaelic Society), the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, and Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir (The Gaelic School of Baltimore).

Audio Engineer: Tim Thompson, Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir Gaelic learner and Board of Trustees member.

Opening song: We Will Go to America, from the CD, “Songs of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States”, by Na Fògarraich.

Na Fògarraich Members:
Michael Newton - solo vocals, keyboards *
Peg Aloi - backing vocals
Benjamin Bruch - backing vocals *
Jonathan Dembling - backing vocals *
Bennett Hammond - guitar
Michael MacNintch - bagpipes
Ed Pearlman - fiddle *
Dan Pitts - step-dancing
Susanna Porte - cello

* - the members with asterisks are playing on “We will go to America”.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America: Seachdain na Gàidhlig: Latha 2 – Gaels in New England and the Canadian Maritimes

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America explores the authentic voices of Scottish Highland immigrants in North America. Up to about the First World War most Highlanders spoke Scottish Gaelic as their native language, and some knew no other language. It is not hard to find the celebration of Scottish Highland heritage in the forms of kilts and Highland Games, but few people today seem to realize that these immigrants left us a record of their experiences, thoughts, and feelings in the form of songs and poems, and that this was in fact their favored form of cultural expression as individuals and communities. If we care about the history of Scottish Highlanders as immigrants, and want to understand their lives and perspectives, we need to listen to those voices in their native language – even if we need to translate those Gaelic voices to English.

This podcast will be broadcast during Seachdain na Gàidhlig / World Gaelic Week, March 21st through 27th. A new podcast episode will be released every day to explore a different region of North America, discussing the history of Scottish Highland immigrants to the area and the songs and stories that survive to attest to their lives and struggles.

This podcast is a collaboration between three North American organizations serving the Gaelic community: An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach (the American Scottish Gaelic Society), the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, and Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir (The Gaelic School of Baltimore).

Audio Engineer: Tim Thompson, Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir Gaelic learner and Board of Trustees member.

Opening song: We Will Go to America, from the CD, “Songs of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States”, by Na Fògarraich.

Na Fògarraich Members:
Michael Newton - solo vocals, keyboards *
Peg Aloi - backing vocals
Benjamin Bruch - backing vocals *
Jonathan Dembling - backing vocals *
Bennett Hammond - guitar
Michael MacNintch - bagpipes
Ed Pearlman - fiddle *
Dan Pitts - step-dancing
Susanna Porte - cello

* - the members with asterisks are playing on “We will go to America”.

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America: Seachdain na Gàidhlig: Latha 1 – Gaels of the Atlantic Seaboard From Virginia to Florida and the Caribbean

More Than Kilts and Cabers: Scottish Gaelic Voices from North America explores the authentic voices of Scottish Highland immigrants in North America. Up to about the First World War most Highlanders spoke Scottish Gaelic as their native language, and some knew no other language. It is not hard to find the celebration of Scottish Highland heritage in the forms of kilts and Highland Games, but few people today seem to realize that these immigrants left us a record of their experiences, thoughts, and feelings in the form of songs and poems, and that this was in fact their favored form of cultural expression as individuals and communities. If we care about the history of Scottish Highlanders as immigrants, and want to understand their lives and perspectives, we need to listen to those voices in their native language – even if we need to translate those Gaelic voices to English.

This podcast will be broadcast during Seachdain na Gàidhlig / World Gaelic Week, March 21st through 27th. A new podcast episode will be released every day to explore a different region of North America, discussing the history of Scottish Highland immigrants to the area and the songs and stories that survive to attest to their lives and struggles.

This podcast is a collaboration between three North American organizations serving the Gaelic community: An Comunn Gàidhealach Ameireaganach (the American Scottish Gaelic Society), the Hidden Glen Folk School of Scottish Highland Heritage, and Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir (The Gaelic School of Baltimore).

Audio Engineer: Tim Thompson, Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir Gaelic learner and Board of Trustees member.

Opening song: We Will Go to America, from the CD, “Songs of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States”, by Na Fògarraich.

Na Fògarraich Members:
Michael Newton - solo vocals, keyboards *
Peg Aloi - backing vocals
Benjamin Bruch - backing vocals *
Jonathan Dembling - backing vocals *
Bennett Hammond - guitar
Michael MacNintch - bagpipes
Ed Pearlman - fiddle *
Dan Pitts - step-dancing
Susanna Porte - cello

* - the members with asterisks are playing on “We will go to America”.