Teach Your Children
Listening Post 366. It’s easy to observe that Lossan, a collaboration between Manx singer Ruth Keggin and Scottish harpist Rachel Hair, is an exquisite collection of ballads, lullabies and jigs from the Isle of Man—and difficult to overstate the album’s transcendent mission. Keggin’s voice is not only pure it’s also pivotal: In addition to a performer she is also the Manx Language Development Officer, so designated by Culture Vannin (the Manx Heritage Foundation), responsible for promoting and revitalizing her island’s endangered tongue, spoken by only two percent of its 85,000 inhabitants. Hair’s delicate, elevating harp is the perfect accompaniment, from a kindred Gaelic artist who also has a deep connection to Manx music. One key to Lossan’s revival aspect is that it includes both traditional songs, some going back to the seventeenth century, and freshly written ones, highlighting how a thriving culture rests on both old and new pillars. Annie Kissack, who contributed lyrics and music for several tracks, also has the official title of Manx Bard. The songs paint vivid scenes: Mish As Y Keayn (Me and the Sea, video 1) exudes an almost mystical mood of warmth and chill, evoking a small world set apart by water and sky. The cautionary Keayrt Hug Mee Graih (Once I Gave Love, video 2), portrays a man who sells his affection cheaply. Vuddee Veg (Sweet Little Girl, video 3) is a modern lullaby with an utterly timeless feel; while the mournful Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey (The Sheep Under the Snow, video 4) recalls the victims of a long-ago blizzard. And Eubonia Soilshagh (Shining Isle of Man, video 5) is a buoyant medley of drinking songs. In addition to their other vocations, Keggin, Hair and Kissack are all teachers, so it’s not surprising that Lossan also imparts a pedagogical truth: Offer songs for cradle, home and tavern and the language will flow. (March Hair Records)
Lossan*
Ruth Keggin: Voice
Rachel Hair: Harp
Guest Artists
Adam Brown: Bodhran
Isla Callister: Fiddle
Adam Rhodes: Bouzouki
*Lossan is a Manx word meaning “light,” “glimmer,” sheen,” or “flame.” It also suggests tiny particles of light in darkness.
Related posts. Ruth Keggin: Sheear, Listening Post 43, April 18, 2016. https://worldlisteningpost.com/2016/04/18/ruth-keggin-sheear/
Ruth Keggin: Turrys, Listening Post 108, July 20, 2017. https://worldlisteningpost.com/2017/07/20/ruth-keggin-turrys/
Mish As Y Keayn / Me and the Sea
Lyrics & music: Annie Kissack
(From the Manx lyrics)
Myself and the sea and the whole empty sky/And a rough cold wind fighting against us
Waves rising up in a grey-blue wall/And myself alone on the shore
Oh that I were still a cheerful young man/To run and play about the shore
To write my name in the damp sand/And to shout out ‘It’s mine’ to the bay
Will I see this wild place again in my lifetime?/I will have years before me in England, long and tedious
The ocean will separate me from my Island/But it will live in my memory and my heart
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Arrane ny Niee / Washing Song
Lyrics & music: Traditional
Hush my sweet one, hush my sweet/I will bathe your hands, I will bathe your feet
You’re beautiful, my child: a fair, well-behaved girl/With soft clothing of silk
You become more beautiful every day, my little curly-haired darling,
The King of the Stars showers blessings on you, Oh my heart, my treasure.
That which does not grow in the morning, let it grow in the evening twilight,
I will bathe your hands, I will bathe your feet
That which will not grow at midday, let it grow at night,
Bestowing every grace upon you.
Every day you become stronger, my little curly-haired darling,
The King of the Stars showers blessings on you, Oh my heart, my treasure
Keayrt Hug Mee Graih / Once I Gave Love
Lyrics: Colin Jerry/Music: David Speers
Once I loved a young lady, and she did not love me/She was lovely, delicate and pretty, the best lass in the treen
Often we would meet, walk the glens in the night/With loving words on our lips, starting our courtship
Another lad in that place became jealous of me/Who told lies about me, my state and my family to her father
He was completely against me, and he refused to grant me permission/To visit her anymore at home, or speak to her in the street
With the boldness of men I went to uphold my case/My sweetheart gave me a sign that she still loved me
But her father came with a large amount of gold, to buy my love/And, shame on me, I took it, turning my heart against her
I have to wander the world now, deeply troubled and miserable/I cannot ever find my peace or ever forget my love
Ladies listen to my story, here is the best wisdom/To avoid deceitful men that sell their love for gold
Vuddee Veg / Sweet Little Girl
Lyrics & music: Annie Kissack
Sweet little girl, child of my heart/look out of the window at the night clouds
Stretching out like the wing of a great black heron/bringing to darkness the end of the day.
Sweet little girl, give me your hand/your trusting, white hand that is marvelous to me
The road to your bed is so long when you’re tired/I’ll walk that road with you, Kitty my love
Sweet little girl, tomorrow will be fine/Will the sun not come up again warming the world?
The new grass will grow and on it you’ll run/you to play, me to sit for an hour or two
Sweet little girl, tucked up in bed/Safe and warm and sleep will come soon
Close your brown eyes, lay down your head/and take your rest in your snug little world
Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey / The Sheep Under the Snow
Lyrics & music: Traditional
After a winter of snow and a spring of frost/The old sheep were dead, and the little lambs were alive
Oh, rise up, my shepherds, and go to the mountain/The sheep are under the snow, as deep as they ever were
This is what Nicholas Raby said, as he was ill at home/The sheep are under the snow in Braaid Farrane Fing
Oh, rise up, my shepherds, and go to the mountain/The sheep are under the snow, as deep as they ever were
The people of the parish of Lonan rose up and went immediately/They found the dead sheep in the hollow of Barrule.
Oh, rise up, my shepherds, and go to the mountain/The sheep are under the snow, as deep as they ever were
The people of the parish of Lonan and Lezayre rose up/They found the little sheep in Laggan Agneash
Oh, rise up, my shepherds, and go to the mountain/The sheep are under the snow, as deep as they ever were
Eubonia Soilshagh / Shining Isle of Man
Lyrics: Samuel Rutter/Music: Annie Kissack
See, see the sun that rules the night/For light to them that cheerful sit
The proudest vine is envious/About this being counted best
Ye Manxmen, sing with me the praise/Of the good strong ale and the malt
For ev’ry trouble, ev’ry care/Goes away with the barley bree
If the dolt who’d not take advice/Had only drunk of this, though burned
The world, the earth and air around/He would be safe as we are now
O comrade, take this glass to thee/That through it I may see thy nose!
Like the rainbow behind the fire/Like what is seen by candlelight
O boys, do not pay any heed/To a pretty face that will fade!
Nothing better nature gives us/Then this which with its age improves
But as the sun is ‘neath a cloud/To him who’s blind or shuts his eye
Who’ll not drink ale when he’s dry/This is what turns the night to day
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Moirrey ny Cainle Jig / Mary of the Candle
Music: Traditional
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Grine veg Oarn / Grain of Barley
Lyrics: Traditional/Music: Annie Kissack
The wee grain of barley, it is good grain and it always grew in the home-field
To make the old men go like boys, and boys go like deer
The wee grain of barley, it is good grain and it always grew in the home-field
To let tongues run like streams and talk through the night
The wee grain of barley, it is good grain and it always grew in the home-field
To make old women go like the wind and leap about the house