[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa, seinneadair, neach-ciùil, tidsear, eòlaiche foghlaim, sgrìobhadair, neach-poilitigs agus tha mi cinnteach g’ eil iomadach fear eile a dh’ fhaotainn a ràdh cuideachd, ‘s dòcha gun tig sinn thuca mus bi sinn deiseil, fàilte, oirbh, Anna.
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Tapadh leat, tha mi a’ faireachdainnean sgìth mu thràth.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Uill, ‘s ann mar a tha mi fhìn a’ faireachdainn, a’ leughadh eachdraidh ur beatha. Dh’fhaodainn ag ràdh gur ann, daoine a bhios a’ coimhead a’ phrògraim-sa, gur ann mar sheinneadair Gàidhlig, ‘s dòcha as motha tha iad eòlach oirbh. ‘Eil sibh toilichte bhith air ur faicinn mar sheinneadair Gàidhlig?
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Tha mi gu math toilichte, ‘s e sin a bhithinn-sa air son a bhith, nuair a thig e, chan ann thuige seo ach as-dèidh seo, mar gum b’ e aig ceann thall an latha, gur ann mar sin a bhiodh mi bhithinn airson ‘s gum biodh cuimhne aig daoine orm. Ach ann an corra àiteachan, chan ann mar sin a tha daoine gam fhaicinn idir.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Ciamar a tha iad gad fhaicinn?
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Uill, tha mi fhathast a’ dèanamh tòrr seinn agus bha mi riamh a’ dèanamh tòrr seinn air feadh Alba agus ann an àiteachan eile, ach tha mi fhathast ag obair gu h-àraidh ann an taobh an ear-thuath dhen dùthaich agus ann an siud tha iad ag iarraidh orm McGinty’s Meal and Ale is gnothaichean mar sin a sheinn agus tha mi a cheart cho cofhurtail, feumaidh mi ag ràdh, a bhith seinn ann an Gàidhlig agus Albais agus cànanan eile agus tha e a’ còrdadh rium a bhith ann an dòigh a bhith a’ seinn anns a’ chànan as motha a tha dlùth ri daoine ris an luchd-èisteachd agam.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Uill, tha sin na chomharra air an fharsaingeachd agam, tha mi cinnteach. Tha e nad bheatha agus thig sinn gun sin. Ach an t-ainm agaibh, Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa, ‘s ann tro sheinn Ghàidhlig a thàinig an t-ainm cuideachd.
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Uill, chan ann, ann an dòigh. Nuair a thòisich mi a’ seinn, bha mi a’ seinn ann an Gàidhlig mar Anna NicGillÌosa, ‘s e sin a bh’ ormsa, ach bhiodh iad ag ràdh rium “Anna NicGillÌosa camaig, às an Òban”, agus an uair sin, bha teile nach maireann, seinneadair, sàr sheinneadair a bh’ innte cuideachd às an Eilean Sgitheanach, a bha a’ pòsta aig a’ Cheanadach agus ‘s e Anna NicGillÌosa camaig an Eilean Sgitheanach a chanadh iad rithe-sa, ach nuair a thàinig mi gu bhith a’ seinn ann am Beurla air an tele, bha agam an uair sin ri ballrachd a thoirt a-mach às an aonadh agus bha ise na ball mu thràth agus mar sin, cha b’ urrainn dhomh Anne “Oban” Gillies a ràdh rium fhèin, ‘s e Anne Lorne Gillies a thuirt mi rium fhèin. Agus tha mi cho fortanach is gun d’ fhuair mi cead sin a dhèanamh agus gun do thaghadh mi. bha mi seachdainean a’ dol “Jessie McGinty” no …, eil fhios agad? Nuair a thòisicheas tu a’ smaoineachadh air ainm eile a chur ort tha e cianail doirbh, gu h-àraidh as-dèidh a bhith nad Anne Gillies airson iomadh bliadhna.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Uill, sin an t-ainm a thug sibh oirbh fhèin Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa, airson na sgìre agus tha an t-ainm sin oirbh fhathast …
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] ‘S e a bhios orm…
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] a bhios a-chaoidh is air a bheil daoine eòlach
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Seadh
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Agus ‘s ann air sgàth a’ cheangail leis an sgìre, le Latharna, le Earra-Ghàidheal. Nise, feumaidh mi aideachadh, bha mise a’ smaoineachadh gur ann gu daingeann do mhuinntir Earra-Ghàidheil a bha sibh, ach chan ann buileach.
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Chan ann agus tha fhios, uill anns na làithean-sa, ‘s e rud eadar-dhealaichte a th’ ann ach sna làithean sin, bhiodh tu, eil fhios agad, fichead no dà-fhichead, no leth-cheud bliadhna fuireach ann an Earra-Ghàidheal agus bhiodh daoine fhathast gad fhaicinn mar uilebheist a thàinig a-steach à taobh a-muigh.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Co às a thàinig an teaghlach a-steach?
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Uill, rugadh m’ athair agus mo mhàthair, mo dhithis phàrant, rugadh iadsan ann an Lunnainn. Bha Gàidhlig aig mo sheanair aig athair mo mhàthar agus bha m’ athair airson fuireach ann an Alba, gu h-àraidh air a’ Ghàidhealtachd agus fhuair esan obair ann an cuaraidh sglèat ann an Gleann Comhann agus an uair sin, nuair a dhùin na cuaraidhean a bha siud, fhuair e obair eile faisg air Sruighlea agus ‘s e sin bu coireach gun do rugadh mi fhèin is mo bhràthair faisg, ann an àite gu math iomallach, muigh air an dùthaich taobh a-muigh Sruighlea agus chaidh mise airson aon teirm sgoile gu bun-sgoil faisg air Sruighlea agus an uair sin cho luath ‘s a fhuair m’ athair obair anns an Oban bha an casan leis agus bha sinn air falbh agus tha cuimhne agamsa fiù ‘s nuair a bha mi nam leanabh beag bìodach, nam naoidhean gum biodh iad ag innse dhomh gun robh sinn gu bhith a’ fuireach air a’ Ghàidhealtachd agus gu h-àraidh ‘s e Earra-Ghàidheal a bha a’ còrdadh ri m’ athair.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Thuige Seo, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2009.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Anne Lorne Gilles, singer, musician, teacher, education expert, politician and I’m sure that there is many other things that can be said as well, maybe we will get to them before we are finished, Welcome, Anne.
[Anne Lorne Gilles] Thank you, I am feeling tired already.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Well, that is how I am feeling, reading your life. I could say that, for people watching this programme, that you are a Gaelic singer, maybe that’s what most people know you as. Are you happy to be seen as a Gaelic singer?
[Anne Lorne Gilles] I am very happy, that’s what I want to be, when it comes, not up to now, but after this, as it was, at the end of the day, that is how I want people to remember me. But in many areas, that is not how people see me at all.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] How do they see you?
[Anne Lorne Gilles] Well, I still do a lot of singing and I always did lots of singing all over Scotland and other areas, but I still work, especially in the north-east side of the country and there they want me to sing McGinty’s Mead and Ale and things like that and I am just as comfortable, I have to say, in Gaelic and Scots and other languages and I enjoy it in a way to sing in a language which is closest to the people in my audience.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Well, that’s the general conversation, I’m sure. It is in your life and we will come to that. But your name, Anne Lorne Gilles, it’s through singing that you got your name too.
[Anne Lorne Gilles] It’s not, in a way. When I started, I was singing in Gaelic as Anne Gilles, that’s what I was, but they would say “Anne Gilles, bracket, from Oban”, and that time, there was another lady who is late, a singer, she was an excellent singer too from the Isle of Skye, who was married to The Kennedy (Calum Kennedy) and she was Anne Gilles, bracket, the Isle of Skye, but when I went to sing in English on the tele, I had to take a membership out in the union and she was a member already and as such I couldn’t say Anne Oban Gilles of myself, I said Anne Lorne Gilles to myself. And I am so fortunate that I got permission to do that and that I chose it. I was weeks going “Jessie McGinty”, or… you know? When you start to think about a new name to give yourself, it is really difficult, especially after being Anne Gilles for many years.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Well, that’s the name you gave yourself, Anne Lorne Gilles, for the area and that is the name you have yet…
[Anne Lorne Gilles] And will be…
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] And will be forever and which people know you as
[Anne Lorne Gilles] Aye.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] And it’s because of the connection with the area, with Lorne, with Argyll. Now, I have to admit, I thought you were always from the people of Argyll, but not quite.
[Anne Lorne Gilles] I’m not and you know, well, these days, it is a different thing, but in those days, you would, you know, twenty or forty, or fifty staying in Argyll and people would still look at you as a monster which came in from the outside.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Where did the family come in from?
[Anne Lorne Gilles] Well, my father and my mother, both my parents, they were born in London. My Grandfather had Gaelic, my mother’s father and my father wanted to stay in Scotland, especially in the Highlands and he got work in the slate quarry in Glen Coe and then, when those quarries shut, he got work near Stirling and that is the reason that myself and my brother were born close, in an area that was very remote, out in the countryside outside of Stirling. And I went for one school term to a Primary School near to Stirling and then as fast as my father go work in Oban, he was off and we were away and I still remember, even when I was a wee tiny baby, a toddler, that they would tell me that we were going to live in the Highlands and especially, it was Argyll that my father liked.
This programme, Thuige Seo, was first broadcast in 2009.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa, seinneadair, neach-ciùil, tidsear, eòlaiche foghlaim, sgrìobhadair, neach-poilitigs agus tha mi cinnteach g’ eil iomadach fear eile a dh’ fhaotainn a ràdh cuideachd, ‘s dòcha gun tig sinn thuca mus bi sinn deiseil, fàilte, oirbh, Anna.
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Tapadh leat, tha mi a’ faireachdainnean sgìth mu thràth.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Uill, ‘s ann mar a tha mi fhìn a’ faireachdainn, a’ leughadh eachdraidh ur beatha. Dh’fhaodainn ag ràdh gur ann, daoine a bhios a’ coimhead a’ phrògraim-sa, gur ann mar sheinneadair Gàidhlig, ‘s dòcha as motha tha iad eòlach oirbh. ‘Eil sibh toilichte bhith air ur faicinn mar sheinneadair Gàidhlig?
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Tha mi gu math toilichte, ‘s e sin a bhithinn-sa air son a bhith, nuair a thig e, chan ann thuige seo ach as-dèidh seo, mar gum b’ e aig ceann thall an latha, gur ann mar sin a bhiodh mi bhithinn airson ‘s gum biodh cuimhne aig daoine orm. Ach ann an corra àiteachan, chan ann mar sin a tha daoine gam fhaicinn idir.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Ciamar a tha iad gad fhaicinn?
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Uill, tha mi fhathast a’ dèanamh tòrr seinn agus bha mi riamh a’ dèanamh tòrr seinn air feadh Alba agus ann an àiteachan eile, ach tha mi fhathast ag obair gu h-àraidh ann an taobh an ear-thuath dhen dùthaich agus ann an siud tha iad ag iarraidh orm McGinty’s Meal and Ale is gnothaichean mar sin a sheinn agus tha mi a cheart cho cofhurtail, feumaidh mi ag ràdh, a bhith seinn ann an Gàidhlig agus Albais agus cànanan eile agus tha e a’ còrdadh rium a bhith ann an dòigh a bhith a’ seinn anns a’ chànan as motha a tha dlùth ri daoine ris an luchd-èisteachd agam.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Uill, tha sin na chomharra air an fharsaingeachd agam, tha mi cinnteach. Tha e nad bheatha agus thig sinn gun sin. Ach an t-ainm agaibh, Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa, ‘s ann tro sheinn Ghàidhlig a thàinig an t-ainm cuideachd.
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Uill, chan ann, ann an dòigh. Nuair a thòisich mi a’ seinn, bha mi a’ seinn ann an Gàidhlig mar Anna NicGillÌosa, ‘s e sin a bh’ ormsa, ach bhiodh iad ag ràdh rium “Anna NicGillÌosa camaig, às an Òban”, agus an uair sin, bha teile nach maireann, seinneadair, sàr sheinneadair a bh’ innte cuideachd às an Eilean Sgitheanach, a bha a’ pòsta aig a’ Cheanadach agus ‘s e Anna NicGillÌosa camaig an Eilean Sgitheanach a chanadh iad rithe-sa, ach nuair a thàinig mi gu bhith a’ seinn ann am Beurla air an tele, bha agam an uair sin ri ballrachd a thoirt a-mach às an aonadh agus bha ise na ball mu thràth agus mar sin, cha b’ urrainn dhomh Anne “Oban” Gillies a ràdh rium fhèin, ‘s e Anne Lorne Gillies a thuirt mi rium fhèin. Agus tha mi cho fortanach is gun d’ fhuair mi cead sin a dhèanamh agus gun do thaghadh mi. bha mi seachdainean a’ dol “Jessie McGinty” no …, eil fhios agad? Nuair a thòisicheas tu a’ smaoineachadh air ainm eile a chur ort tha e cianail doirbh, gu h-àraidh as-dèidh a bhith nad Anne Gillies airson iomadh bliadhna.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Uill, sin an t-ainm a thug sibh oirbh fhèin Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa, airson na sgìre agus tha an t-ainm sin oirbh fhathast …
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] ‘S e a bhios orm…
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] a bhios a-chaoidh is air a bheil daoine eòlach
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Seadh
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Agus ‘s ann air sgàth a’ cheangail leis an sgìre, le Latharna, le Earra-Ghàidheal. Nise, feumaidh mi aideachadh, bha mise a’ smaoineachadh gur ann gu daingeann do mhuinntir Earra-Ghàidheil a bha sibh, ach chan ann buileach.
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Chan ann agus tha fhios, uill anns na làithean-sa, ‘s e rud eadar-dhealaichte a th’ ann ach sna làithean sin, bhiodh tu, eil fhios agad, fichead no dà-fhichead, no leth-cheud bliadhna fuireach ann an Earra-Ghàidheal agus bhiodh daoine fhathast gad fhaicinn mar uilebheist a thàinig a-steach à taobh a-muigh.
[Dòmhnall Moireasdan - Preseantair] Co às a thàinig an teaghlach a-steach?
[Anna Latharna NicGillÌosa] Uill, rugadh m’ athair agus mo mhàthair, mo dhithis phàrant, rugadh iadsan ann an Lunnainn. Bha Gàidhlig aig mo sheanair aig athair mo mhàthar agus bha m’ athair airson fuireach ann an Alba, gu h-àraidh air a’ Ghàidhealtachd agus fhuair esan obair ann an cuaraidh sglèat ann an Gleann Comhann agus an uair sin, nuair a dhùin na cuaraidhean a bha siud, fhuair e obair eile faisg air Sruighlea agus ‘s e sin bu coireach gun do rugadh mi fhèin is mo bhràthair faisg, ann an àite gu math iomallach, muigh air an dùthaich taobh a-muigh Sruighlea agus chaidh mise airson aon teirm sgoile gu bun-sgoil faisg air Sruighlea agus an uair sin cho luath ‘s a fhuair m’ athair obair anns an Oban bha an casan leis agus bha sinn air falbh agus tha cuimhne agamsa fiù ‘s nuair a bha mi nam leanabh beag bìodach, nam naoidhean gum biodh iad ag innse dhomh gun robh sinn gu bhith a’ fuireach air a’ Ghàidhealtachd agus gu h-àraidh ‘s e Earra-Ghàidheal a bha a’ còrdadh ri m’ athair.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Thuige Seo, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2009.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Anne Lorne Gilles, singer, musician, teacher, education expert, politician and I’m sure that there is many other things that can be said as well, maybe we will get to them before we are finished, Welcome, Anne.
[Anne Lorne Gilles] Thank you, I am feeling tired already.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Well, that is how I am feeling, reading your life. I could say that, for people watching this programme, that you are a Gaelic singer, maybe that’s what most people know you as. Are you happy to be seen as a Gaelic singer?
[Anne Lorne Gilles] I am very happy, that’s what I want to be, when it comes, not up to now, but after this, as it was, at the end of the day, that is how I want people to remember me. But in many areas, that is not how people see me at all.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] How do they see you?
[Anne Lorne Gilles] Well, I still do a lot of singing and I always did lots of singing all over Scotland and other areas, but I still work, especially in the north-east side of the country and there they want me to sing McGinty’s Mead and Ale and things like that and I am just as comfortable, I have to say, in Gaelic and Scots and other languages and I enjoy it in a way to sing in a language which is closest to the people in my audience.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Well, that’s the general conversation, I’m sure. It is in your life and we will come to that. But your name, Anne Lorne Gilles, it’s through singing that you got your name too.
[Anne Lorne Gilles] It’s not, in a way. When I started, I was singing in Gaelic as Anne Gilles, that’s what I was, but they would say “Anne Gilles, bracket, from Oban”, and that time, there was another lady who is late, a singer, she was an excellent singer too from the Isle of Skye, who was married to The Kennedy (Calum Kennedy) and she was Anne Gilles, bracket, the Isle of Skye, but when I went to sing in English on the tele, I had to take a membership out in the union and she was a member already and as such I couldn’t say Anne Oban Gilles of myself, I said Anne Lorne Gilles to myself. And I am so fortunate that I got permission to do that and that I chose it. I was weeks going “Jessie McGinty”, or… you know? When you start to think about a new name to give yourself, it is really difficult, especially after being Anne Gilles for many years.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Well, that’s the name you gave yourself, Anne Lorne Gilles, for the area and that is the name you have yet…
[Anne Lorne Gilles] And will be…
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] And will be forever and which people know you as
[Anne Lorne Gilles] Aye.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] And it’s because of the connection with the area, with Lorne, with Argyll. Now, I have to admit, I thought you were always from the people of Argyll, but not quite.
[Anne Lorne Gilles] I’m not and you know, well, these days, it is a different thing, but in those days, you would, you know, twenty or forty, or fifty staying in Argyll and people would still look at you as a monster which came in from the outside.
[Donald Morrison - Presenter] Where did the family come in from?
[Anne Lorne Gilles] Well, my father and my mother, both my parents, they were born in London. My Grandfather had Gaelic, my mother’s father and my father wanted to stay in Scotland, especially in the Highlands and he got work in the slate quarry in Glen Coe and then, when those quarries shut, he got work near Stirling and that is the reason that myself and my brother were born close, in an area that was very remote, out in the countryside outside of Stirling. And I went for one school term to a Primary School near to Stirling and then as fast as my father go work in Oban, he was off and we were away and I still remember, even when I was a wee tiny baby, a toddler, that they would tell me that we were going to live in the Highlands and especially, it was Argyll that my father liked.
This programme, Thuige Seo, was first broadcast in 2009.