Emily Marie Palmer Instagram – This beautiful song has captured my whole heart. ♥️
Ailein duinn (Dark-Haired Alan) is a traditional Scottish Gaelic ballad — said to be written by Annag Chaimbeul (Annie Campbell) after her fiancé Ailein Moireasdan (Alan Morrison) was caught in a storm and lost at sea in the Spring or 1788. The story goes that Annie wasted away from the grief, and could be heard walking the shoreline singing this song — calling out for her lost love… 💔
A few months later, she succumbed to her grief and died of a broken heart. There was not enough soil to bury her on the barren island of Scalpay, so her father placed her coffin on a boat to transport her body to another island. A storm swiftly rolled in, and swept her coffin out to sea. It is said that Annie’s coffin washed up on the very same island where Alan’s body had been found. 🌊♥️🐚
There are many versions of the story and the lyrics — and I am fairly certain that this English translation does not match the Scottish Gaelic I am singing here — but I find all of the versions so beautiful… ✨
“How sorrowful I am
When I rise early in the morning
Ò hì, I would go with you
Hì ri bhò hò ru bhì
Hì ri bhò hò rinn o ho
Dark-haired Alan, ò hì, I would go with you
If the sand be your pillow
If the seaweed be your bed”
I don’t quite know how to explain it, but folk music is medicine to me. Is it so with you? ♥️
*please forgive me any pronunciation errors – this was my first attempt at Scottish Gaelic, which I am learning by ear from Flora MacNeil’s 1953 recording ☺️
#aileinduinn #folk #folksong #celtic #scottishgaelic #singer #singersongwriter #nature #wistful #heartbreak #ballad #poem #storytelling #soulmedicine | Posted on 05/Mar/2024 23:19:51
