Nice guys finish later
Gaelic musicians release song more than 200 years old
“The song is about this really great guy and how everyone likes him. This is one of the happy Gaelic songs — there are about five of them.”
Ben Miller
SYDNEY — No one knows much about Alasdair but by all indications, he was a nice enough chap.
In fact, musicians are still singing about him more than 200 years after a song about him, “Alasdair nan Stòp,” turned up in the Eliza Ross Manuscript, a handwritten collection compiled in 1812 on the island of Raasay, off the coast of the Isle of Skye.
And according to piper Ben Miller, “Alasdair nan Stòp,” was probably around long before Eliza Ross found out about it.
“I would assume that the song would have been in local tradition there for much longer — it wasn’t written down as a newly composed piece,” said Miller. “Ross was collecting the music of the people on the island and what they were playing. It wasn’t a new piece — it could have been there for hundreds of years. No one really knows.”
Miller discovered the tune while working on a master’s degree in Scotland several years ago. Now he and musical partner, fiddler Anita MacDonald have recorded their arrangement of “Alasdair nan Stòp” on their latest album, “South Haven” along with a video of the song that was done at the New Dawn Centre for Social Innovation in downtown Sydney.
The duo, along with guitarist Zakk Cormier, will be performing the song at various showcases and events at this weekend’s East Coast Music Awards in Charlottetown, P.E.I., where they are also up for two ECMAs — instrumental recording of the year and Gaelic artist of the year.
The song is the second single from the album and the fact that it’s more than 200 years old and has never been recorded just adds to its appeal. But it’s also got something else going for it, says Miller.
“The song is about this really great guy and how everyone likes him,” said Miller, 30. “This is one of the happy Gaelic songs — there are about five of them.”
Miller, who plays Scottish Lowland pipes, grew up in New York State but his father was originally from New Brunswick. MacDonald, 27, is originally from Little Narrows and in addition to playing the fiddle since she was eight, she also sings.
The two met in 2013 at Celtic Colours, began playing together immediately and a month later, went on tour. They’ve been together ever since, and MacDonald is optimistic the future remains open for Gaelic music.
“The ECMA has been celebrating different people and cultures that make up the Atlantic provinces for a long time and we’re just really proud that Gaelic is now being featured and celebrated as part of that.”