[Dòmhnall] Bha thu a’ tòiseachadh a’ cluiche agus a’ gabhail ùidh ann an ceòl an uair sin, nach robh?
[Donaidh] Bha. Bha mi air sin a dhèanamh mus do dh’fhàg mi sgoil agus … Ach chuir mi romham nuair a chaidh mi dhan chollege gun sguirinn dhen sin … bha mi a’ smaointinn gum biodh e, nach biodh tìde agam air a shon. Agus tha mi creidsinn gun robh dà bhliadhna nach do rinn mi mòran gun a thòisich mi an uair sin anns an treas bliadhna a’ cluich anns na taighean-seinnse ann an Glaschu fhèin agus dannsan agus mar sin.
[Dòmhnall] Dè bha thu a’ cluich an uair sin?
[Donaidh] Uill, bhiodh giotàr sa mhòr-chuid ach bha mi air banjo a cheannach nuair a chaidh mi sìos a Ghlaschu an toiseach. Agus feumaidh mi ’g ràdh gun … fhuair mi am banjo a bha seo ann am bùth ris an canadh iad Sound Sense agus fhuair mi am banjo agus thòisich mi ga chluich. Thug mi an uair sin air ais a Leòdhas e agus chluich mi e aig dannsa ann an Talla an Àird agus bha mi smaoineachadh gun robh cùisean a’ dol ceart gu leòr agus nuair a cheannaich mi an uair sin packet sreanganan as ùr bha e follaiseach dhomh nach robh am banjo agam leis na … cha robh e tuned agam ceart agus mar sin dheth thàinig e orm ionnsachadh a-rithist.
[Dòmhnall] Dh’ionnsaich thu dà uair e!
[Donaidh] Dh’ionnsaich mi dà uair e, dh’ionnsaich.
[Dòmhnall] Nise, an robh aig an àm sin do mhàthair, air an robh sinn a’ bruidhinn, Cairistiona, an robh ise air tòiseachadh a’ sgrìobhadh òrain ’s an robh thusa air tòiseachadh a’ cluiche nan òran aice?
[Donaidh] Uill, thig air ais mionaid bheag a-nis gu na Greumaich agus fad an robh iad a’ toirt an samhradh .. ’s ann acasan a bha Brodick Castle ann an Arainn agus ’s ann shuas ann an seòmar àrd ann an sin a bha i gu math aonranach aon uair agus sgrìobh i Ciaradh an Fheasgair. Agus bha sin a’ crìochnachadh le “B' annsa leamsa àirigh mòintich na bhith 'n lùchairt an rìgh”.
[Dòmhnall] Bha.
[Donaidh] Nise, ’s e sin a’ chiad òran agus thàinig na h-òrain eile bhon fhear sin. Agus nuair a bha i a’ teagaisg tron .. nuair a bha mise a’ dol tron sgoil, Sgoil Sgiogarstaigh. Thòisich i a’ sgrìobhadh òrain, dìreach bàrdachd airson gum biodh a’ chlann .. gum biodh rudeigin às ùr aca, gus am biodh ciall aca mu dheidhinn a’ chultair a bha i a’ faicinn a bha gar fàgail a thaobh innealan is rudan mar sin agus bhiodh facail mar sin a’ tighinn a-steach dhan bhàrdachd. Ach bhiodh a’ chlann gan aithris aig a’ Mhòd ionadail a bhiodh ann an Steòrnabhagh. ’S ann as an Ògmhios a bhiodh am Mòd, aig deireadh na bliadhna.
[Dòmhnall] Agus an e sin na h-òrain a thòisich thusa a’ seinn air a’ cheann thall?
[Donaidh] ’S e. Feadhainn aca, bha aon... tha cuimhne agam air aon pìos bàrdachd a sgrìobh i agus ’s ann mu dheidhinn .. eil fhios agad is fàbhar mise .. dè a’ Ghàidhlig an-dràsta... an e rothar gaoithe a th’ air “windmill”? Uill fear mòr .. mar a bhios aca anns an Òlaind.
[Dòmhnall] Aidh.
[Donaidh] Agus leithid an rud sin, bha i a’ bruidhinn mu dheidhinn sin agus bha e a’ tòiseachadh le Is fàbhar mise tha mi cho mòr agus ’s e sin an aon phìos a dh’ionnsaich mise agus dh’aithris mi e aig a’ Mhòd sin agus cha do chuir mi riamh ceòl air an fhear sin agus cha robh e furasta dhomh ceòl fhaighinn air.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Thuige Seo, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2014.
[Donald] You were starting playing and taking an interest in music then, weren’t you?
[Donnie] Yes. I had done that before I left school and ... But I decided when I went to (the) college that I would stop that ... I thought that it would, that I wouldn’t have time for it. And I think that there was two years that I didn’t do much until I started then in the third year playing in pubs in Glasgow itself and dances and the like.
[Donald] What were you playing then?
[Donnie] Well, there would be a guitar in most of it but I had bought a banjo when I went down to Glasgow at first. And I must say that ... I got this banjo in a shop that they called Sound Sense and I got the banjo and I started playing it. I took it then back to Lewis and I played it at a dance in Aird Hall and I thought that things were going fine and when I then bought a packet of new strings it was clear to me that my banjo wasn’t ... I didn’t have it tuned correctly and therefore I had to learn it again.
[Donald] You learnt it twice!
[Donnie] I learnt it twice, yes.
[Donald] Now, at that time was your mother, who we spoke about, Catriona, had she started writing songs and had you starting playing her songs?
[Donnie] Well, go back a wee minute now to the Grahams and whilst they spent the summer .. Brodick Castle in Arran belonged to them and it was up in a high room there that she was once very lonely and she wrote Ciaradh an Fheasgair (The Shieling at Sundown). And that ended with I would rather have the fields of the glen than the king’s palace.
[Donald] Yes.
[Donnie] Now, that’s the first song and the other songs came from that one. And when she was teaching through the .. when I was going through the school, Skigersta School. She started writing songs, just poetry so that the children would .. that they would have something new, so that there would be an understanding about the culture that she saw was leaving us due to machinery and things like that and words like that would come into the poetry. But the children would recite them at the local Mòd in Stornoway. It was in June that the Mòd would be, at the end of the year.
[Donald] And is that the songs that you started singing eventually?
[Donnie] Yes. Some of them, there was one .. I remember one piece of poetry that she wrote and it was about .. do you know Is fàbhar mise .. what’s the Gaelic just now .. is it “rothar gaoithe” for ‘windmill’? Well a big one .. like they have in Holland.
[Donald] Aye.
[Donnie] And the likes of that thing, she spoke about that and it started with is fàbhar mise I am so big and that is the one piece that I learnt and I recited that at the Mòd and I didn’t ever put that one to music and it wasn’t easy to get music for it.
This programme, Thuige Seo, was first broadcast in 2014.
[Dòmhnall] Bha thu a’ tòiseachadh a’ cluiche agus a’ gabhail ùidh ann an ceòl an uair sin, nach robh?
[Donaidh] Bha. Bha mi air sin a dhèanamh mus do dh’fhàg mi sgoil agus … Ach chuir mi romham nuair a chaidh mi dhan chollege gun sguirinn dhen sin … bha mi a’ smaointinn gum biodh e, nach biodh tìde agam air a shon. Agus tha mi creidsinn gun robh dà bhliadhna nach do rinn mi mòran gun a thòisich mi an uair sin anns an treas bliadhna a’ cluich anns na taighean-seinnse ann an Glaschu fhèin agus dannsan agus mar sin.
[Dòmhnall] Dè bha thu a’ cluich an uair sin?
[Donaidh] Uill, bhiodh giotàr sa mhòr-chuid ach bha mi air banjo a cheannach nuair a chaidh mi sìos a Ghlaschu an toiseach. Agus feumaidh mi ’g ràdh gun … fhuair mi am banjo a bha seo ann am bùth ris an canadh iad Sound Sense agus fhuair mi am banjo agus thòisich mi ga chluich. Thug mi an uair sin air ais a Leòdhas e agus chluich mi e aig dannsa ann an Talla an Àird agus bha mi smaoineachadh gun robh cùisean a’ dol ceart gu leòr agus nuair a cheannaich mi an uair sin packet sreanganan as ùr bha e follaiseach dhomh nach robh am banjo agam leis na … cha robh e tuned agam ceart agus mar sin dheth thàinig e orm ionnsachadh a-rithist.
[Dòmhnall] Dh’ionnsaich thu dà uair e!
[Donaidh] Dh’ionnsaich mi dà uair e, dh’ionnsaich.
[Dòmhnall] Nise, an robh aig an àm sin do mhàthair, air an robh sinn a’ bruidhinn, Cairistiona, an robh ise air tòiseachadh a’ sgrìobhadh òrain ’s an robh thusa air tòiseachadh a’ cluiche nan òran aice?
[Donaidh] Uill, thig air ais mionaid bheag a-nis gu na Greumaich agus fad an robh iad a’ toirt an samhradh .. ’s ann acasan a bha Brodick Castle ann an Arainn agus ’s ann shuas ann an seòmar àrd ann an sin a bha i gu math aonranach aon uair agus sgrìobh i Ciaradh an Fheasgair. Agus bha sin a’ crìochnachadh le “B' annsa leamsa àirigh mòintich na bhith 'n lùchairt an rìgh”.
[Dòmhnall] Bha.
[Donaidh] Nise, ’s e sin a’ chiad òran agus thàinig na h-òrain eile bhon fhear sin. Agus nuair a bha i a’ teagaisg tron .. nuair a bha mise a’ dol tron sgoil, Sgoil Sgiogarstaigh. Thòisich i a’ sgrìobhadh òrain, dìreach bàrdachd airson gum biodh a’ chlann .. gum biodh rudeigin às ùr aca, gus am biodh ciall aca mu dheidhinn a’ chultair a bha i a’ faicinn a bha gar fàgail a thaobh innealan is rudan mar sin agus bhiodh facail mar sin a’ tighinn a-steach dhan bhàrdachd. Ach bhiodh a’ chlann gan aithris aig a’ Mhòd ionadail a bhiodh ann an Steòrnabhagh. ’S ann as an Ògmhios a bhiodh am Mòd, aig deireadh na bliadhna.
[Dòmhnall] Agus an e sin na h-òrain a thòisich thusa a’ seinn air a’ cheann thall?
[Donaidh] ’S e. Feadhainn aca, bha aon... tha cuimhne agam air aon pìos bàrdachd a sgrìobh i agus ’s ann mu dheidhinn .. eil fhios agad is fàbhar mise .. dè a’ Ghàidhlig an-dràsta... an e rothar gaoithe a th’ air “windmill”? Uill fear mòr .. mar a bhios aca anns an Òlaind.
[Dòmhnall] Aidh.
[Donaidh] Agus leithid an rud sin, bha i a’ bruidhinn mu dheidhinn sin agus bha e a’ tòiseachadh le Is fàbhar mise tha mi cho mòr agus ’s e sin an aon phìos a dh’ionnsaich mise agus dh’aithris mi e aig a’ Mhòd sin agus cha do chuir mi riamh ceòl air an fhear sin agus cha robh e furasta dhomh ceòl fhaighinn air.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Thuige Seo, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2014.
[Donald] You were starting playing and taking an interest in music then, weren’t you?
[Donnie] Yes. I had done that before I left school and ... But I decided when I went to (the) college that I would stop that ... I thought that it would, that I wouldn’t have time for it. And I think that there was two years that I didn’t do much until I started then in the third year playing in pubs in Glasgow itself and dances and the like.
[Donald] What were you playing then?
[Donnie] Well, there would be a guitar in most of it but I had bought a banjo when I went down to Glasgow at first. And I must say that ... I got this banjo in a shop that they called Sound Sense and I got the banjo and I started playing it. I took it then back to Lewis and I played it at a dance in Aird Hall and I thought that things were going fine and when I then bought a packet of new strings it was clear to me that my banjo wasn’t ... I didn’t have it tuned correctly and therefore I had to learn it again.
[Donald] You learnt it twice!
[Donnie] I learnt it twice, yes.
[Donald] Now, at that time was your mother, who we spoke about, Catriona, had she started writing songs and had you starting playing her songs?
[Donnie] Well, go back a wee minute now to the Grahams and whilst they spent the summer .. Brodick Castle in Arran belonged to them and it was up in a high room there that she was once very lonely and she wrote Ciaradh an Fheasgair (The Shieling at Sundown). And that ended with I would rather have the fields of the glen than the king’s palace.
[Donald] Yes.
[Donnie] Now, that’s the first song and the other songs came from that one. And when she was teaching through the .. when I was going through the school, Skigersta School. She started writing songs, just poetry so that the children would .. that they would have something new, so that there would be an understanding about the culture that she saw was leaving us due to machinery and things like that and words like that would come into the poetry. But the children would recite them at the local Mòd in Stornoway. It was in June that the Mòd would be, at the end of the year.
[Donald] And is that the songs that you started singing eventually?
[Donnie] Yes. Some of them, there was one .. I remember one piece of poetry that she wrote and it was about .. do you know Is fàbhar mise .. what’s the Gaelic just now .. is it “rothar gaoithe” for ‘windmill’? Well a big one .. like they have in Holland.
[Donald] Aye.
[Donnie] And the likes of that thing, she spoke about that and it started with is fàbhar mise I am so big and that is the one piece that I learnt and I recited that at the Mòd and I didn’t ever put that one to music and it wasn’t easy to get music for it.
This programme, Thuige Seo, was first broadcast in 2014.