Today's tunes are both from Scotland, and both are sung in the Gaelic language.
In the video above, Julie Fowlis performs a traditional Gaelic song, "Hùg Air A' Bhonaid Mhòir." Fowlis is a native Gaelic speaker, an amazing singer, and also a scholar of the social and cultural history of the Highlands and Western Isles. (She's from the Outer Hebrides herself.) This particular tune can be found on Songs from Cuilidh, but all of her CDs are equally good.
Below is Mànran, a Glasgow-based band that's been getting a lot of attention here -- created by six young musicians interested in promoting Gaelic-language music to a new generation. This performance was filmed on New Year's Eve, when they were the house band for the BBC ALBA Hogmanay show. I heard three of the band members interviewed recently, and they sounded sweet, sincere about their Gaelic-language mission, and also like they were having a lot of fun. They've got one single released so far (co-produced by the great Phil Cunningham), and an album is in the works.
