As those of you who follow my personal Twitter feed (@rtidwell730) may have noticed, I have been completely caught by a new BBC series The Crimson Field.  TCF is the story of a WWI field hospital and the nurses and doctors that work there.  Richard Rankin (@RikRankin, who did the Scottish words and noises videos for the Heughligans) is one of the stars. Oona Chaplin from Game of Thrones is another and Outlander’s own Richard Clark directs 2 episodes. I really hope that this series is brought to US television at some point as it is excellent.

Anyway, to make a long story short (too late, I know), this week’s music is a beautiful song in Gàidhlig sung by Julie Fowlis called ‘An Eala Bhàn (The White Swan)’.  In addition to being beautiful, this song was written by Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna (Donald MacDonald of Coruna), a Scottish-Gaelic poet from North Uist, whilst fighting in the battle of the Somme, in the trenches of the Great War, for his love, Mhagaidh Nic Leòid (Maggie MacLeod).  (http://youtu.be/6qWWgntTdO0)

I also really like this video as it has lyric subtitles in both Gàidhlig and English.

Julie Fowlis – An Eala Bhàn/The White Swan