Celtic Link - Your weekly roundup - Issue 6

The pick of must-read news stories from around the Celtic World

Dec 09, 2023

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In this week’s newsletter:

🎶 Galway Bay: Some NYPD magic for Shane MacGowan’s iconic song
🇮🇪 Ireland named in the world’s top ‘unspoilt’ spots list
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scottish band Talisk feature on a new Nintendo game set in the Highlands
🧏 Boost for Gaelic and Scots languages
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Want to own a piece of one of the Seven Welsh Wonders of the World?
🌊 Cornwall’s Mousehole lights and a maritime tragedy
🧚 New guide to the folklore and mythology of the Isle of Man
🔗 Celtic link of the week: The EPIC Irish Emigration Museum
🎶 Celtic Song Contest winner to launch Cornish language EP

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The Celtic World This Week

📣 Featured News Item

‘The boys from the NYPD choir’ bring Shane MacGowan’s Christmas classic to life

The sad news of the death of Pogues front-man Shane MacGown was announced on 30th November. His most famous song, Fairy Tale of New York, has been a festive favourite since its release in 1988.

Who can resist joining in with the chorus, which starts with the line: ‘The boys from the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay…’? But there has never been an ‘NYPD choir’ to sing the classic melody penned by Irish emigrant Dr. Arthur Colahan as a tribute to his homeland. Until now, that is.

By coincidence, Dublin’s EPIC Irish Emigration Museum decided this year that it was time to remedy this omission. So they brought together some retired NYPD officers with a local choir and recorded Galway Bay in a Brooklyn studio.

The result, you’ll agree is a breathtaking rendition of "Galway Bay’", which EPIC hopes will be shared with and reach the Irish around the world, wherever they might be spending Christmas this year.

A fitting tribute to Shane MacGowan and the song that became a favourite of Irish emigrants the world over.

Read the full story from the EPIC Irish Emigration Museum HERE

📰 In other news…

Ireland

Ireland ranks 3rd in the world for unspoilt landscapes

Walking holiday company Inghams came up with an intriguing way to identify the places around the globe most often considered ‘unspoilt’.

They did this by analysing more than 100,000 Instagram posts, revealing that Iceland, Australia and Ireland were the places most often tagged as ‘unspoilt’.

Donegal came top of the list within Ireland, with the the highest percentage of 'unspoilt' posts on the island.

Glenveagh National Park, County Donegal (Ireland.com)

Of Donegal, Inghams said:

In this north-western part of Ireland, explorers will find wild sandy shorelines, expansive mud flats excellent for bird-watching, rich emerald green hills and atmospheric lakes; golden eagles can be spotted in these parts as well as puffins, petrels and guillemots.

Ulster came second in the ‘unspoilt’ rankings for the island of Ireland.

Check out the full article HERE

Scotland

Highland Song: ‘A moving, magical-realist journey through Scottish scenery and mythology’ (The Guardian)

Multi award-winning Scottish band Talisk feature on a new Nintendo game set in the Scottish Highlands.

A Highland Song is the journey of fifteen-year-old Moira McKinnon, who lives in a small house on the edge of the Scottish Highlands. One day she receives a letter from her Uncle Hamish urging her to come to the coast. If she can reach his lighthouse for Beltane (the Gaelic May Day festival), a wonderful surprise will be waiting.

Talisk, who feature heavily on the game’s soundtrack, have been described as ‘Ground-breaking, chart-topping, genre-bending, globetrotting, instantly enthralling… it’s little wonder that Talisk rank highly amongst the most in-demand folk-based groups to emerge from Scotland in the last decade and more.’

Here’s now Nintendo describe the game’s soundtrack:

A Highland Song’s soundtrack is composed by Laurence Chapman alongside two multi-award-winning giants of the Scottish folk scene, TALISK and Fourth Moon. Royalty of the festival circuit, these two bands combine virtuosic instrumental playing with fast, inventive rhythms, to produce new tunes in traditional styles played with beauty, energy and swagger.

The Guardian newspaper reviewed the game and said:

The story draws on plenty of Scottish history and mythology, drip-feeding you lines of poetry and flashbacks and snippets of Jacobean-era history. Scotland isn’t set-dressing here, it is the game – the contours of the peaks, the soundtrack comprised of folk music, wind and weather, the wildlife, the mystical quality of the light…

Check out the Guardian review HERE

Gaelic and Scots languages get more legal support

Scottish Legal News may not be high on many people’s weekend reading list, but a recent article in the publication highlighted an important initiative to protect and promote Scotland’s native languages.

The new Scottish Languages Bill proposes the creation of new Areas of Linguistic Significance to give Gaelic communities a greater say in how the language is supported locally. It also provides greater support for Gaelic medium education.

It will also establish legislative protection for the Scots language. Schools will be supported to introduce Scots into their curriculums, recognising its place as an invaluable part of Scotland’s culture.

“We know the central role Gaelic and Scots play in our culture – and as we mark our National Day, it is important that Scotland unites behind a commitment to ensure our languages have a positive future for years to come.”

Confused about the difference between Gaelic and Scots?

Gaelic is Celtic in origin, is considered a founding language of the country and is spoken (by around 60,000 people) mainly in the Highlands and Islands.

Scots, in contrast, is a germanic language with a close association to English, and is spoken predominantly in the Lowlands.

Here’s a summary in less than 60 seconds!

You can read the original article HERE

Wales

Lifestyle opportunity at one of the ‘Seven Wonders of Wales’

Looking for the chance to run a business at one of the most beautiful spots in Wales?

The tea rooms, plus other properties at Pistyll Rhaeadr (Llanrhaedr Waterfall) are on the market and the setting is certainly spectacular. Located west of Oswestry and Shrewsbury in the north east corner of Wales, Pistyll Rhaeadr at 80m high, is claimed to be Britain's tallest single-drop waterfall.

Llanrhaedr waterfall (Photograph: Rightmove)

For the £950,000 asking price, Tan-y-Pistyll, ''little house under the waterfall'',comes with a tea room, accommodation, chalet, camping field, customer car park, public toilets, three bedroom detached house for the owners and approximately 25 acres of land.

Pistyll Rhaeadr is often referred to as one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. The waterfall is formed by the Afon Disgynfa falling in three stages over an 80m cliff-face, into the Afon Rhaeadr below. It is the highest waterfall in England or Wales and has wonderful rock formations. There are footpaths to the top of the waterfall.

Interested? Then check out the listing HERE

Cornwall

Mousehole lights

On 11th December, the Christmas lights will be turned on in the harbour of the west Cornwall fishing village of Mousehole (pronounced ‘Mowzle’) in what has become one of the most beloved traditions of the local festive season.

The illuminations will remain on until 6th January with the exception of December 19th when the lights are dimmed in memory of the 16 people who lost their lives in the Penlee lifeboat disaster in 1981, leaving just the Cross and Angels shining down across the village and out to sea.

Eight of the 16 were aboard the Solomon Browne lifeboat, crewed almost entirely by Mousehole men, which went out in foul weather to attempt to rescue the crew of a stricken coaster.

The greatest act of courage that I have ever seen, and am ever likely to see, was the courage and dedication shown by the Penlee [crew] …They were truly the bravest eight men I've ever seen. (RNAS helicopter pilot)

In a land surrounded by the sea on three sides, the Penlee story has a particular place in Cornish hearts.

Isle of Man

Culture Vannin, which has been supporting and promoting Manx culture for more than 40 years, has published a new book described as ‘a comprehensive guide to the breadth and variety of the traditional folklore of the Isle of Man’.

A Guide to the Folklore Sites of the Isle of Man is the conclusion of more than five years’ work in researching and locating traditional tales. Folklore and superstition are woven deep into the fabric of everyday Manx life, with stories of ghosts, goblins, giants and other creatures which supposedly inhabit the Island - stories passed down from generation to generation..

The authors say that some of these stories and places covered in the guide have never been located or before, with written sources, plans and old maps referenced before visits to each site.

Gathered from thousands of sources across hundreds of years of folklore collecting, ranging from medieval stories of vengeful saints through to ghostly figures still being seen today, this book offers a comprehensive guide to the breadth and variety of the traditional folklore of the Isle of Man.

A link to the book can be found HERE

Celtic Link of the Week

Every week we highlight one of our favourite Celtic links (see what we did there?)

This is a website, Facebook page, You Tube site or Instagram account that inspires / informs / educates / amuses and generally enriches our Celtic life.

This week it’s the EPIC Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin. This is the organisation responsible for the ‘Boys from the NYPD choir’ collaboration described at the beginning of this newsletter.

But there’s much more to the museum, which celebrates the impact that the 10 million Irish men and women who left Ireland have had on the world.

Here’s a brief taster:

And finally…

🎶 Cornish music from the Pan-Celtic Song Contest winner

Back in April 2023, Annie Baylis won the Pan-Celtic Song Contest with the Cornish language track Oll An Dra (Run the Show).

In February 2024 she plans to record a four-track EP in Cornish with the winning song, Oll An Dra, as the title track

The EP will be released in March, with Annie and her band going on tour to promote it in spring and summer.

The third track on the EP is called ‘Hireth Rag Caetharlach’, written in memory of our trip in Carlow, Ireland and a sense of feeling at home in a Celtic Nation, a sense of ‘Hireth’, the Cornish and Welsh word for 'a deep sense of longing and yearning for a place'

Annie has set up a Crowdfunder campaign to raise money to make the recording. Check it out HERE and consider a small contribution to help the project and get more Cornish music out into the world!

Thanks for reading.

Look out for the next edition and please share this with your family and friends to join us on our mission to promote Celtic Culture globally!

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