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One of the pioneering
fieldworkers of the School of Scottish Studies, there are few others who can
parallel Calum Iain Maclean in terms of his contribution to the field of
Scottish Studies and to the preservation of a culture and way of life which
has changed dramatically in the 70 years since he began recording the songs,
stories and traditions of the Highlands on New Year's Day 1951. In his nine
years collecting on behalf of the School in Scotland, Maclean carried out
hundreds of recordings, which was said to amount to around one hundred miles
of tape. Particularly aware of the situation on the ground, however, Maclean
constantly stressed that more fieldwork was necessary, and he would make it
his life's work to record the folklore and way of life of the Highlands.
Born in Raasay on the 6th of September 1915, Calum Iain was the third son of
the tailor Malcolm Maclean (1880-1951) and Christina Nicolson (1886-1974).
Calum Iain was not alone in his scholarly achievements – his younger brother
Sorley was one of the most prominent Gaelic poets and scholars of the 20th
century, and among his other siblings there were two doctors and two
teachers. Maclean started his schooling in Raasay and then progressed to
Portree Secondary School in Skye. He then went on to read the Celtic
Languages at the University of Edinburgh, where – under the tutelage of
Professors William J. Watson and James Carmichael Watson – he graduated with
First Class Honours in 1939. Following his graduation he secured
scholarships to study Irish in Ireland, but following the outbreak of the
Second World War these came to an abrupt end.
Maclean remained in Ireland during the war, where he spent a large part of
his time in Indreabhán in Connemara, collecting folklore on a part-time
basis for the Irish Folklore Commission. In 1945 he secured a permanent role
at the Irish Folklore Commission, and in 1946 he was sent to Scotland to
collect material in Scottish Gaelic, due to the absence of a Folklore
Commission in Scotland. He was to spend the next five years working for the
Commission in Scotland, before transferring to the newly established School
of Scottish Studies in 1951. His warm and open personality were often said
to be a key factor in his success when carrying out fieldwork, as noted by
Seán Ó Súilleabhain in 1975:
"...above all else, his personality qualities stood him in good stead and
opened all doors and heart to him in his homeland, as in Ireland. He had
kindness, generosity, open-heartedness, candour and firmness of opinion he
was good-humoured and light of heart. He was unselfishly devoted to task. He
loved country people best of all perhaps, and his ability to sing or lilt or
play music or tell stories ensured that he was quickly accepted into the
company of strangers."
Calum Iain's career came to a premature end following his untimely death in
South Uist at the age of 44 in August 1960. His legacy, however, lives on,
and his recordings continue to provide a remarkable insight into Gaelic
culture and into a way of life which has all but disappeared in the past
sixty years. From stories about the shielings to tales of the Fianna, his
recordings are rich and varied and were recorded from people of all walks of
life.
The Tobar an Dualchais website is a treasure trove of Calum Iain's work. He
features in almost 4,000 tracks, with around a quarter of these coming from
South Uist. The remainder of his tracks were recorded in the rest of the
Highlands and Islands, and also in the Borders and Shetland. Among those
recorded are Kate MacDonald (Bean Eairdsidh Raghnaill) of Garryhallie, South
Uist, Duncan MacDonald (Donnchadh mac Dhòmhnaill 'ic Dhonnchaidh) of
Peninerine, South Uist, Angus MacMillan (Aonghas Barrach) of Griminish,
Benbecula, John MacDonald (Am Bàrd) of Highbridge, Lochaber, and John Hewit
of Heiton, Roxburghshire.
See his page at:
https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/person/273
Calum I. Maclean, The
Highlands, Edinburgh and London:
Mainstream Publishing, 1959
A Review of his book, The Highlander, by Elizabeth Ritchie, University of
Guelph can be read here in pdf format. |
