Workshop, Song

Gaelic Waulking Songs with Katie Macfarlane

Presented by the Traditional Music Forum

(Sat 7 Jun: 11am)

Suitable for both Gaelic and non-Gaelic speakers, this workshop will focus on Scottish Gaelic songs that were used in the tradition of “waulking” the tweed - songs which were primarily composed and sung by women.

Katie Macfarlane is a Gaelic singer from Airdrie who is greatly influenced by her connections to North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. She has had a passion for Gaelic song all her life and has been a semi-finalist in both BBC Radio Scotland's Young Traditional Musician and BBC Radio 2's Young Folk Award competitions. In 2018, Katie carried out an exchange of Gaelic and Catalan song while living in Barcelona and later released her debut EP Ciùine Na Mara in 2019 which is a mixture of the two styles and self-penned folk song. In 2023 Katie released her debut album An Nighean Sheunta (The Enchanted Girl) which is a celebration of the people and cultures that have inspired Katie's singing throughout her life. With a mix of Gaelic, Catalan, Scots and English song, it is an exploration of Katie's ancestry, the places she has lived, the people she has learned from, and traditions which must be nourished and maintained.

Presented by the Traditional Music Forum, free for TMF members.

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Photo by Elly Lucas.

• Workshop
• £14.00
• 7 June 2025
• 90 minutes
• 11:00
• Scottish Storytelling Centre
• George Mackay Brown Library
• 16+