Music Memory Store - Philip Todd

Published: 29 Jun 2010

MMS 2nd June Philip Todd.pdf

MusicMemory Store – Philip Todd

Philip Todd is studying film and television at the RSAMD in Glasgow. He has many interests and passions but his ultimate dream is to be a film director, make good films and maybe change the world… even just a little bit. He loves to sing and since learning his first Gaelic song in 2007 he has enjoyed performing and competing quite regularly. He won the Silver Pendant in 2009, and he has also started learning to speak the language. At the Royal National Mòd in 2008 he came first in a traditional competition with the song An Eala Bhàn. Dual [CD] (Machair Records; Released Oct 2008 - A collaborative exploration of traditional Irish and Scottish music by Éamon Doorley, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Julie Fowlis and Ross Martin. A very popular Mòd song for soloists and choirs, this song was written whist fighting in France during the Great War, by the famous North Uist bard, Donald MacDonald (1887-1967) known as Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna (Red Donald of Coruna). He was a legendary war poet in the Scottish Gaelic language.

I like visual storytelling. I like cinema. I like ‘An Eala Bhàn’ because it is cinematic. Images in and of themselves can be powerful but cinema is about the contrasting of images to create meaning and emotion. ‘An Eala Bhàn’ is meaningful, emotive and visual. In it we have the high misty mountains, the glens, the lochs and the white swan, contrasted with cannon’s roar, smoke, and the trenches. A woman in a warm, sweet-smelling bed waking happy, whole… contrasted with a man sick at heart, losing hope of ever winning through. He is imbued with such utter longing, that his hair which once grew ginger has now turned all but white. When I hear or sing this song I somehow understand the emotions being communicated because I feel them just as Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna felt them. I am there in the freezing trench, I am gazing westwards and I am longing for home, and for her. The words and the melody blend together to create images, and spark feelings. Surely this is the magic of music. ‘An Eala Bhàn’ is an emotional journey of longing, a meaningful ballad of images: a visual story.

Is toigh leam sgeulachd fhaicsinneach. Is toigh leam an taigh-dealbh. Is toigh leam ‘An Eala Bhàn’ oir is e òran dealbhach a tha ann.Tha ìomhaighean gu math cumhachdach annta fhèin ach tha fiolm a’ cur ìomhaighean an aghaidh a chèile airson faireachdainnean agus smuaintean ùra a chruthachadh. Tha an t-òran ‘An Eala Bhàn’ brìoghmhor, gluasadach agus dealbhach. Tha am bàrd a’ sgrìobhadh mu bheanntan àrda, ceòthach, mu ghlìnn, lochan agus an eala bhàn. Tha sin gu tur eadar-dhealaichte ri fuaim a’ ghunna mhòir, ri toit agus na trainnsichean. Tha boireannach ann an leabaidh chùbhraidh bhlàth a’ dùsgadh toilichte, slàn… gu math eadar-dhealaichte ri fear briste na bhodhaig, a’ call a mhisneachd nach fhaigh e às is nach buannaich e.The e air a lìonadh cho mòr le fadachd gu bheil fhalt a bha uaireiginn meirgeach ruadh cha mhòr geal.Nuair a chluinneas mi an t-òran seo neo a sheinneas mi e tha mi a’ tuigsinn na faireachaidhean a tha a’ tighinn tarsainn dìreach mar a dh’fhairich Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna iad. Tha mi an sin anns na trainnsichean fuar, reòdhta, tha mi ag amharc dhan ìar agus tha mi a’ miannachadh a bhith aig an taigh agus a bhith faisg oirrese. Tha na focail is am fonn a’ tighinn gu chèile a’ cruthachadh ìomhaighean agus ag ath-bheòthachadh faireachaidhean. Nach e seo mìorbhail ciùil?


An Eala Bhàn – òran a tha drùidhteach le cianalas, òran làn de dh’ìomhaighean tuigseach: sgeul fhaicsinneach.

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