Success For Gaelic Singing Group
Fionnar, the Gaelic vocal harmony group for teenagers established by the Mairi Mhor Gaelic Song Fellowship for The Highland Council has won one of the premier competitions at this years International Pan Celtic Festival held in Letterkenny, Donegal this week.
The group won the trophy for the Group Traditional Singing Competition against stiff competition from groups from Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man, all singing in their native languages. They performed two songs, one of which was written by Gaelic singer and broadcaster Mary Anne Kennedy specifically for young people to sing.
"Fionnar", features singers and musicians from Glasgow, Argyll, Fort William, Oban, Ullapool, Strathpeffer, Dingwall and Inverness and is led by Fiona Mackenzie, Gaelic Song Fellowship Officer with The Highland Council.
She said: "The girls were absolutely delighted to win the competition especially with the song 'Seinn o ho ro Seinn' by Mary Ann Kennedy. Mary Ann came and did a workshop with the girls, focussing on the song and the girls thoroughly enjoyed learning and developing their vocal arrangement of the song.
“The song was written for young people and it looks at the importance of our language and culture, both the old song traditions and the new song traditions yet to come. The girls gave it a fresh new treatment, totally a capella and the adjudicators and audience alike were struck by the contemporary yet traditional way the group had in tackling the song.”
There were other successes during the festival. Group member Katie Mackenzie from Dingwall won the competition for self accompaniment on Clarsach and Gaelic Song and Marie Keir of Inverness won the 12-15 years Clarsach competition.
Fionnar, who took part at the Pan Celtic Festival at the invitation of the Royal National Mod, also undertook several concert performances during the week as well as performing at open air concerts throughout the town of Letterkenny.
Fiona added: "Appearing at the Pan Celtic is a great chance for the girls to be exposed to other Celtic cultures and meet people from these countries, exchanging songs and learning about the similarities between our languages and we hope to form future culture exchange partnerships."