Tiree woman takes silver pendant title 20 years on
A TIREE woman who returned to Mòd solo competition nearly 20 years after a silver pendant heartbreak returned to the Hebridean island with this year’s prize.
Primary teacher Ishbel Campbell, 37, of Crossapol last entered the competition, the top solo award for learners, at the Mòd in 1999, also held in Lochaber.
But she was unable to even take the stage that year after failing the Gaelic card test that would allow her to compete.
Speaking after she won the silver pendant final last Wednesday afternoon, the teacher and mother of three said: ‘I last came to a Mòd in Lochaber as a teenager and had learnt my four songs for the silver pendant.
‘My tutor at the time said my Gaelic was good enough, so I sat my Gaelic card test on the day of the competition but didn’t get it. I got my card before I came this time!’
The silver pendant win was particularly pleasing for Ishbel’s tutor on Tiree, Mabel MacArthur, who narrowly missed out on the gold medal. Then, Mabel sang the lament Tuireadh Iain Ruadh, a song that Ishbel sang this year on her way to victory.
A former pupil of Lochaber High School, Ishbel has also lived in Fort William and on Uist, and says she has always been around Gaelic song, something that has helped her to learn the language. She is currently studying Gaelic through Strathclyde University.
It was third time lucky for fellow silver pendant winner Kenneth MacLeod, a native of Lewis, who had been runner-up in the silver medal in the previous two years.
Kenneth only moved back to Glasgow from London seven weeks before his competition but admitted he benefited from the resulting ‘intensive’ final weeks’ training with tutor Kirsteen Grant, who is also his conductor in Glasgow Islay Gaelic Choir.
The 43-year-old, who has a development role with European football’s governing body UEFA, only began singing solo at the 2015 Mòd in Oban.
He said: ‘I didn’t think I could do it [solo singing] before that. I always thought I was an okay choir singer, then I joined the quartet and that gave me some confidence.
‘I had a lead going into this year’s final and that made a huge difference; I was much more relaxed than in previous years. My final song was Òran a’ Bhotail, which is one of my favourites, so I knew if I gave it laldy and just enjoyed it I would be alright.’
Kenneth said he would love to do the Gold Medal competition but would probably take a year off solo singing to ‘have a life’.