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01. Psalm 69: 35-36 - Torwood: Finlay MacDonald
02. Psalm 42: 1-2 - Glencairn: Torquil MacLeod
03. Psalm 43: 3-4 - Free Church: D R MacDonald
04. Psalm 46: Verse 1-2 - Stroudwater: Rev R F Morrison
05. Psalm 107: 28-30 - Kilmarnock: John MacMillan
06. Psalm 121: 1-3 - French: Murdo MacLeod
07. Psalm 118: 15-16 - Coleshill: D A Matheson
08. Psalm 62: 6-7 - St Marys: Rev K M Ferguson
09. Psalm 86: 15-16 - Evan: Rev James MacDonald
10. Psalm 122: 1-4 - St Paul: Rev Dr I D Campbell
11. Psalm 40: 1-3 - Ballerma: Murdo MacIver
12. Psalm 103: 13-14 - Morven: Calum Martin
13. Psalm 132: 14-16 - Bedford: Rev Calum MacLeod
14. Psalm 122: 7-9 - New Cambridge: Rev C J MacLeod
ARTIST
TITLE
Salm: Gaelic Psalms from the Hebrides of Scotland, Volume Two
FORMAT
LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
ALE 008LP ALE 008LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
12/14/2018

Following a sold-out run of Salm, Vol. 1 (ALE 007LP, 2018) Arc Light Editions closes the year with a second volume of Gaelic psalm singing. The recordings documented here are from the same psalm singing sessions as the first, and both together represent a complete collection. This is music that is transcendent and together, about the individual and the earth, movingly spiritual with or without belief. The sound comes in great waves, swells of sound that break and roll around the space. The texture relies on the individuals: this is group singing where the individual is preserved, elevated, but together. The recordings of Gaelic psalm singing presented in the release are among the best ever captured. They document a living tradition, a form of religious singing from the Hebrides in Scotland, which is still practiced in Lewis. In Gaelic psalm singing, a precentor leads, and from here voices follow, moving together in great swells like the murmurations of birds. These recordings of Gaelic psalm singing were originally made over two evenings in the Back Free Church on the Isle of Lewis in October 2003. The singing was spontaneous and totally unrehearsed. The recordings are now presented on vinyl for the first time by Arc Light Editions. A precentor leads off with the first lines of a psalm, and the congregation follows, some faster than others, and each one remains discernible. In his notes to the original release, Calum Martin writes that the form, called precenting (where one person puts out the line and the congregation responds), while not exclusive to Gaelic free church traditions, is in Lewis particularly influenced by the pibroch style of free ornamentation. It's through this, he says, that the distinctive emotional swell of sound emerges. The sound relies on the congregation's individual responses to the melody and the individual precentor's leading. The musical term is free heterophony. Arc Light Editions has worked directly with DR Macdonald at the Bethesda Hospice and Calum Martin on this release, and they are to be thanked for their time. A portion of the profits from this release go directly to Bethesda Hospice, in accordance with the original release. Kraftliner sleeves printed in white litho, artwork by Jennifer Lucy Allan, and photography by James Ginzburg.