One foot on either side of the chasm: Mary Jane Lamond’s Gaelic language choice

Abstract

Mary Jane Lamond has recorded five albums of Scottish Gaelic songs known and sung in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. Yet fewer than 500 native Gaelic speakers are estimated to remain in Cape Breton. Song lyrics are central to traditional Gaelic performance and aesthetics and yet the majority of Lamond’s audience is a mainstream, non-Gaelic speaking one. Reviewers of Lamond’s albums mention her powerful vocals but can only draw meaning from the sound of her voice, rather than from the words themselves. Lamond’s language choice identifies her as a Cape Breton Gael to both local and inter/national audiences, but the ways in which her lyrics are considered meaningful vary. Lamond is a cultural activist who has deep respect for the Cape Breton Gaelic tradition. But is it possible to bridge the chasm between traditional and popular Gaelic music audiences when language is central to the former, but incomprehensible to the latter?