Showcasing Scotland
The Royal National Mòd makes a triumphant return to Perth for the first time since 2004, highlighting the best of Gaelic music and culture
PERTH will host a party that’s been 18 years in the making when it rolls out the red carpet for the Royal National Mòd this month. The annual showcase of Gaelic music and culture is returning to the city for the first time since 2004.
It will be the first full live programme since the Covid pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 event in Inverness, and led to a hybrid format last year.
And it comes as enthusiasm for Gaelic – from schools to social media – is on the up.
It’s safe to say Perth is in line for one of the most eagerly-anticipated gatherings in the 130-year history of the Royal National Mòd – the packed programme will feature nine days of competitions, performances, exhibitions and sporting events from October 14-22.
Around 1000 participants are expected to converge on Perth from across Scotland, as well as from overseas.
And while competition has been the focus of the event since it was founded, the non-competitive “fringe” has grown substantially in recent years to include performances from some of Scotland’s top traditional musicians and Gaelic singers.
The entertainment will kick off with the Mòd 2022 opening concert – Cuirm-fosglaidh a’ Mhòid 2022 – in Perth Concert Hall on Friday, October 14.
The musical directors – BBC Radio Scotland’s Take The Floor host Gary Innes and his Mànran bandmate Ewen Henderson – will lead an all-star band, performing with singers such as Mairi Macinnes, Arthur Cormack, Ceitlin Lilidh and Darren Maclean.
On Saturday, October 15, homegrown talent will shine at an event titled Our Language, Our Music (Ar Cànan ’S Ar Ceòl). This will be hosted by Perthshire fiddler Patsy Reid, who performed with Kylie Minogue and Dougie Maclean at the 2014 Commonwealth Games closing ceremony and was the youngest winner of the Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship.
The concert features some of the best-known names on the Perthshire trad music scene, including Ross Ainslie & Ali Hutton’s Symbiosis and Margaret Bennett, as well
as community groups such as Perth Gaelic Choir, the Gordon Duncan Experience and Tayside Young Fiddlers.
The Leonard Brown Scottish Dance Band will perform at a ceilidh in the Salutation Hotel Ballroom on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.
And a first for this year’s Royal National Mòd will be a Battle of the Bands (Cogadh nan Còmhlain) competition for younger musicians. Bands will be hoping to win a recording session with the Wee Studio in Stornoway
– the under-13 winners will be chosen on Monday, October 17, and the under-19s a day later.
Of course, competition remains at the heart of the Royal National Mòd and this year’s programme has attracted a huge field of entries. Venues across Perth will be hosting categories including singing, bàrdachd, instrumental, drama and Highland dancing.
New elements for 2022 include an accompanied choir competition aimed at harmony singing groups of between five and 10 singers. A solo singing contest, The Calmac Competition, is open to adult learners.
The senior piping events will now feature A & Premier and B Grade competitions, each with a Pìobaireachd, and a March, Strathspey and Reel event.
In addition to the full line-up of junior and senior in-person classes, organisers have decided to retain some of the online competitions introduced during the pandemic, since these have allowed Gaelic performers from around the world to join in.
The Mòd Grand Finale (Cuirm Crìochnachaidh a’ Mhòid) will bring this year’s gathering to a close, with Glasgow-based band Trail West performing at Perth Concert Hall.
For many, however, the last word will go to the singers, whose spine-tingling massed choirs event has become a highlight of the Mòd.
Gaelic choirs from across the country will parade through the city on October 22, the final Saturday morning, before gathering for “one last song” at the plaza outside Perth Concert Hall.
The Royal National Mòd is about much more than music, though. The City Contemporary Gallery will host the Highland Art Prize (Duais Ealain na Gàidhealtachd) – an exhibition of works from associations and galleries that celebrate art and culture from across the Highlands and Islands. And there will be shinty and football at Bell’s Sports Centre.
Local groups, including the Gaelic Society of Perth
“For a lot of people it’s all about the atmosphere”
and Culture Perth and Kinross, will be celebrating the area’s rich Gaelic heritage as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories.
Young people will be encouraged to develop their Gaelic conversational skills at an event called Sruth, on Monday, October 17, and Tuesday, October 18, where they’ll be able to chat with some of Gaeldom’s best-known faces. There’s even a Gaelic Tiktok competition. And, of course, plenty of folk just come for the craic.
James Graham, chief executive of Royal National Mòd organisers An Comunn Gàidhealach, predicts Perth will be buzzing for the duration of the programme.
“Lots of people will be coming for the competition, of course,” he says. “But for a lot of people it’s all about the atmosphere – just being there.
“We’ve been working with local pubs and lots of them are interested in hosting musicians. So hopefully people will be walking through the streets and hearing music pouring out of bars, and everyone will just be joining in.”
James, the first Gaelic singer to win the BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year award, took over as chief executive of An Comunn Gàidhealach in spring 2020, just as the first Covid lockdown was introduced.
He’s been competing in mòds since the age of nine and is thrilled to see the big one return to its full pomp after the disruption of the last couple of years.
This year’s Royal National Mòd takes place against a backdrop of renewed energy in the teaching of Gaelic in schools – and a wider enthusiasm for the language.
The Gaelic course on the Duolingo language app has signed up more than a million learners since it was launched on St Andrews Day in 2019.
And a new generation of social media influencers – such as TV presenter and outdoor swimming ambassador Calum Maclean – are repositioning Gaelic as a living, breathing culture that has found its cool.
“The excitement among this year’s competitors is palpable,” says James. “Particularly the choirs. They really suffered during the pandemic, because for them it’s such a social thing.
“They come to the Mòd to compete, but that’s only a tiny part of why they do it. Normally they’re meeting every week, rehearsing year in, year out. Choir is a huge social thing in people’s lives and, when they weren’t able to come together to sing, they missed it terribly.
“They did their best on Zoom, like the rest of us, but it wasn’t the same. So to be able to come back for a full competition is just a great feeling. They really can’t wait.
“This year’s massed choir event on the Saturday morning, with pipe bands and the voices of hundreds of choristers, is going to be something really special.”
For more information on the Royal National Mòd go to www.ancomunn.co.uk
Tickets are available from Horsecross Arts box office at www.horsecross.co.uk
“The excitement among this palpable” year’s competitors is