Gaelic Song: Christine Primrose singing 'Mo Cheist Am Fear Ban' (My Darling Is the Fair One)

Posted by Temple Records:

From the 25th January, this song will be available as a digital download only single, direct from www.templerecords.co.uk & all the major online music download retailers.

Congratulations to Christine Primrose, who won a well deserved award for 'Gaelic Singer of the Year' at the Scots Traditional Music Awards in November 2009. Christine is a great singer, and a trailblazer, who has been singing traditional Gaelic song all her life, and who has played a pivotal role in a revival of interest in Gaelic song that has swept far beyond Scotland. With a voice that is clear, pure and dignified, she has forged a path that many singers have followed, from Arthur Cormack to Karen Matheson of Capercaillie and Cape Bretons Mary Jane Lamond to another fine Lewis singer Catriona Watt. Christine delivers all the emotions of the songs through two very simple things; the voice and the word. She has rightly become a highly regarded and sought after tutor & artist, who has been vital in introducing the music to a wider non-Gaelic speaking audience and it's excellent to see her receiving this recognition for her achievements.

Originally from Carloway, a village on the west side of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Christine is a native speaker of Scottish Gaelic. Her first album, 'Àite mo Ghaoil', (Place of My Heart)was released on Temple Records in 1982 - at a time when traditional Gaelic singing was not widely known or appreciated - and this recording broke many barriers, becoming in retrospect, an album that redefined perceptions of Gaelic song for many. Since then she has released several other highly acclaimed albums, and is now based on the Isle of Skye at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic College where she teaches Gaelic song. Christine also continues to record & tour.

The song Mo Cheist Am Fear Ban is a traditional one, and features a familiar story in Gaelic song: that of a girl who marries a wealthy man and bitterly regrets it. Having turned her back on her first true love, who she refers to as Am Fear Ban (The Fair One), the song looks back on much happier times spent with her darling when they were very much in love. She is now broken-hearted and full of remorse. This scenario appears quite regularly in song as quite often family circumstances would dictate who the daughter married.