Monday, December 8, 2008

Beautiful Christmas Lullaby

This time of year as we pull out our Christmas music, I like to find something new to mix in with the tried and true. A few years back my dad gave me a disc of eclectic Christmas music that he had gathered from all over, and one of the songs on there became one of my all time Christmas favorites!

Taladh Chriosda (TA-lugh KHREE-us-ta), translated as The Christ Child's Lullaby, is from northern Scotland circa the turn of the 19th century. I found what appears to be all the lyrics (26 verses!) in Gaelic on a Gaelic Christmas songs page and here is a translation of some of those verses with a melody arrangement. In The Celtic Breeze by Heather McNeil and Nancy Chien-Eriksen it says:
The words are from Father Allan MacDonald, king-priest of Eriskay, and the melody is said to have been "a Northern Sailor's folksong heard by Chopin in the Mediterranean."
This particular recording is by The Barra MacNeils from Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada. Enjoy!

2 comments:

Kirsti said...

Hi all - the 'play' feature doesn't seem to work when you click on the song, but it gives a download option that works. Sorry!

Anonymous said...

I am glad that you have come to like some of the songs I gave you so much. And one is a favorite. Wow.