Saturday 22 August 2009
Tune of the Day: Tha Mi Sgith
Traditional Scottish song
“Tha mi sgìth ‘s mi leam fhein” (Gaelic for “I am tired of being by myself every day in the blessed hills”), also known as “Buain na rainich” (“Cutting the bracken”), is an old Gaelic song, collected in the Hebrides.
There are many variations of the story relating to this song, but one version says that the song was originally sung by a fairy who caught sight of a beautiful girl when he was cutting bracken. They fell in love, but alas there was no fairytale ending. When her family learned of the love, they stopped the girl from seeing the fairy and they locked her away. His song mourns the situation.
The tune of this song is very old and it is often used as a lullaby. In Cape Breton though, they've sped it up, so it's almost a dance piece.