Tag Archives: Scotland

The Outlander Effect or (in Gàidhlig) “Buaidh Outlander”

 Outlander and Scottish tourism

Now that a premiere date for Outlander has been announced, we are slowly yet surely seeing press coverage about the series tick up. One such article published recently got me to thinking. Outlander already has a large and loyal fan base. What impact has there been, if any, on Scotland’s economy and culture? And what can we expect to change after the series starts airing?

First, let me start with the article that intrigued me, published by a site called “We Love Soaps,” who bill themselves as the “World’s biggest champion of scripted, serialized storytelling on TV & the web.” I guess the Outlander TV series does fit that description, although I would never call it a Soap! The bit of the article to catch my eye was this:

The fervent on-line fan base totals over a half-million and when the ‘first-look’ photo of Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser posted on the Starz social channels, it outperformed other introductions of lead characters for properties such as The Great Gatsby (Gatsby), Hunger Games (Katniss), Game of Thrones (Ned Stark), and NBC’s Dracula (Dracula). Additionally, when Sam was cast as Jamie Fraser, the fans took it upon themselves to make their voices heard and put him on E! News’ “Hottie of the Week” charts two weeks in a row (which is very rare, if not unprecedented). In addition, #Outlander trended (was one of the top ten things being talked about on Twitter) numerous times during NY ComicCon.  Starz Summer 2014 New Series: ‘Power’ and ‘Outlander’

It is apparent the size and fervency of the Outlander fan base has already been noticed and its impact noted. One example is the recent Twitter trending event held on May 19 for #WorldWideTVNeedsOutlander. The tag trended globally and the fact was highlighted in the introduction of Outlander during the L.A. Screenings event for international TV buyers that same day. You can see Diana Gabaldon — author of the bestselling Outlander series of novels — tweet about that here:

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Great Scot! Music Monday – Julie Fowlis – An Eala Bhàn/The White Swan

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

 

Great Scot! Music Monday – The Dirty Beggars – Come Away With Me

Today’s music recommendation combines two of my favorite things, Scotsmen and bluegrass.  Thanks to a tweet from Brian Ferguson (@brianjaffa) looking for help finding a venue for this guys in DC for July, I was introduced to the music of The Dirty Beggars. In addition to covers of some really great songs,  they have some original material as well.

The Dirty Beggars –  Come Away With Me.

Also, here is a great video of them playing on the roof of Studio Fàs on the Isle of Skye.

The Dirty Beggars – Unforgiven

 

Be on the lookout for these guys touring the USA this summer. You can follow them on Twitter (@TheDirtyBeggars) or find them on Facebook.

 

Great Scot! Music Monday – Fiona Mackenzie ‘Stories That Tie’/’Hallelujah’

This week’s music recommendation is courtesy of Fiona Mackenzie. You may remember that we were introduced to Fiona in a blog post a few weeks ago and that she has been helping to add to the Outlander Clan’s Gaelic expertise on Twitter as @gaelicsinger.

The song that is being featured today I feel is particularly relevant as it is about an American (Margaret Fay Shaw) who went to Scotland and ended up creating a very important collection of Gaelic folklore.

The song is hauntingly beautiful and has lyrics in both English and Gaelic. Some of the lines vividly recall for me my trip to Scotland:

Safe in shadows of peaks in the veil of dawn
Embraced in green blanket where bluebells abound

Bluebells in Perthshire

 

As you listen to ‘Stories That Tie’ here be sure to read the full lyrics as well. You can find much more about Fiona and her music on her website.

As a bonus, I also couldn’t resist including this version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah sung by Fiona in Gaelic. Enjoy!

Great Scot! Music Monday – Eilidh Grant – The Lea Rig

After a brief hiatus, I’ve decided to make the Great Scot! music recommendation a weekly occurrence.  So today marks the first Great Scot! Music Monday. I am featuring a Scottish singer named Eilidh Grant. Although the song featured isn’t in Gàidhlig, her first name is! Ginger and Summer over at the Outlander Podcast had the wonderful opportunity to speak with her in Episode 6 of the Outlander Podcast here.

Eilidh was born in Glasgow and grew up in and around folk music. She won the Danny Kyle Award at the 2004 Celtic Connections music festival and also won a Scottish New Music award for best Folk/Traditional Recording of the year in 2011.

This particular song is a favorite. I hope you enjoy and check out Eilidh’s web site.

 

Eilidh Grant – The Lea Rig

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