Music

I rarely specify what music I listen to, because I don't listen to music that often. However, this evening, I'm playing Gaelic music, in this particular instance a haunting track which has a title in English called I'm a Gael The backing Glasgow Orpheus Choir makes for a haunting 5 minutes 18 seconds.

My favourite band is Runrig, which has a varied collection of songs in its repertoir. The favourite song is Chi mi 'n Geamhraigh (I See Winter), which takes me back to the winter of 2004/5, when I was staying 20 miles from Stornoway in the village of Kershader. I cannot forget that late evening, when a light snowfall covered the road outside. A few sheep wandered across in the light of the streetlamps, to disappear in the darkness beyond the village.
The Mighty Atlantic, the song that was playing when I wrote the entry about Valerie's return to J-land is a magnificent orchestral piece which totally evokes the movement of a great ocean. The Atlantic is never far away - it's just 11 miles from my current position.

Capercaillie is another famous Gaelic folkrock band which has been going for slightly less than Runrig's 28 years. They originate from near Oban and have an equally wide if different repertoire. My favourite from their collection is Calum's Road, the instrumental tribute to Calum MacLeod of Raasay, who single-handedly built two miles of road to link his isolated community of Arnish to the highway at Brochel. By the time the road was finished, Arnish was all but deserted.
Another favourite is Heart of the Highlands, which always transports me back to the Sprinter trains chugging up the line from Glasgow to Crianlarich, Fort William and Mallaig. "Up on Lomondside, where the train divides", a line with some poetic license, as the train splits at Crianlarich, 10 miles beyond Loch Lomond, with one section going to Oban and the other to Fort William. Woebetide the passenger who sleeps through the division and finds himself going down the wrong line!