Seamus Heaney, Alec Finn & ‘Slieve Gallen Braes’.
Alistair Taylor of Torphins was a great mentor to me as a young man beginning to explore the wide cultural landscape of Scotland. He introduced me to a broad range of literature from an early age, not least the great Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown. This led me towards the seminal works of Ireland’s Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney. Shortly after Alistair died, on 5th March 2001, his family cleared his wee council house in Torphins, which was filled with a treasure trove of books, papers, records, tapes, artworks and a lifetimes worth of reading material. My father and I accepted his extensive collection of poetry books.
Within that, we unearthed some early collections of the poetic works by Seamus Heaney, one entitled ‘Door into the Dark’ (1969) being his second published collection, complete in hardback with original dust jacket. ‘North’ (1975, paperback) and ‘Field Work’ (1979, hardback) were there too.
Door into the Dark - Seamus Heaney, 1969
At that time, the Edinburgh International Book Festival was reaching great heights, and we were able to hear wonderful talks from many great literary figures. In 2002, there was a huge excitement that Seamus Heaney was to be there. Tickets were like gold dust, but I managed to get hold of two.
Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2002
I love getting a book signed by authors, a chance to meet the author, chat briefly and say thank you for the work. So, I thought it appropriate to take Alistair’s three books along on the day in August 2002.
It was a marvellous talk, and here are some of the reviews thereafter.
There was a long queue at the book signing tent right afterwards, but I managed to get in the door before Seamus arrived. Then a rather awful situation developed. The first fellow in the queue, who had obviously not been at the event, walked up to the signing table with a bulging rucksack, and emptied out about 30 or more brand new copies of Heaney’s books, expecting them to be all signed, and then presumably sold on swiftly on the internet for considerable profit!
Seamus beckoned over the Festival director, indicating that this was not on, and that there were hundreds waiting in the queue, and the upshot was an announcement that only one book would be signed.
I was embarrassed for Heaney, and annoyed for the rest of us genuine fans. So, when my turn came, I told Seamus about my influential uncle, Alistair Taylor, and what these three books meant to me personally. He said how wonderful that was and said well, I’m going to sign them all, which he kindly did. He was also impressed to see the first edition copy of ‘Door into the Dark’, commenting that he hadn’t seen that copy for many years.
Pondering the moment later on, I remained annoyed and embarrassed for the awkward position Heaney had been put in. So, I decided to write to him somehow, and thank him for kindly signing all three books. I had no address, of course, but found reference to him living somewhere in a cottage in Glanmore, Co. Wicklow. So that’s where I sent the vaguely addressed letter. I also enclosed a copy of a recent cd ‘Polbain to Oranmore’ I had made with Irish bouzouki player Alec Finn, of De Danann. I didn’t really expect a reply and didn’t even keep a copy of my own missive, but thought it important to at least try and let the great man know my feelings of that day.
‘Polbain to Oranmore’, by Kevin Macleod & Alec Finn CDTRAX 239
Imagine my surprise when I received a beautiful personal letter back in September 2003! It was hugely moving in its content and thoughts. And also a complete surprise, a copy of the superb cd ‘The Poet and the Piper’, by Seamus Heaney and Liam Og O’ Flynn of the legendary Irish traditional band Planxty.
Letter from Seamus Heaney to Kevin Macleod, September 2003, side 1
Letter from Seam2aney to Kevin Macleod, September 2003, side 1
‘The Poet and the Piper’, by Seamus Heaney and Liam Og O’ Flynn
“Slieve Gallons Brae” is my Sing-it-at-my funeral tune. I grew up watching the mountain, learned the song at school, and fall for my wife even now when she sings it. Aye, aye, as McCaig would say.
In 2003 I asked my good friend and legendary bouzouki player, Alec Finn to come over from Oranmore, Co. Galway, to Scotland to do some recording. I wanted to create a cd ‘Polbain to Oranmore’ mainly with Scottish musical selections, and to challenge Alec to respond in his inimitable way to this different tradition. I also asked him to bring a couple of things himself, and he chose to perform two classic Irish slow airs; ‘Slieve Gallen Braes’ and ‘Sliabh na mBan’. (there are many spellings of these titles)
I was delighted with the results, and the recording of ‘Slieve Gallen Braes’ was done in Alec’s unique fashion on a 1950’s Fender Champion lapsteel guitar and an old 1930’s wooden tenor guitar, both belonging to myself. That tenor guitar came from the collection of instruments played by a certain Norman Stamp from Liverpool, an orchestral musician plying his trade in the 1930’s on the big liners crossing the Atlantic from Liverpool to New York between the wars!
The original track is within the video below, which I created to accompany this recollection.
I surmise that Alec Finn may have picked up the melody from the superb singing of Dolores Keane, his great friend and lifelong collaborator in song, and with De Danann. You can hear her exquisite voice here with John Faulkner accompanying.
I wrote a thanks, and in 2005 received a typed pro-forma letter via Faber & Faber, but with a delightful personal extra note to say that he played our cd still, which was lovely to read. By this stage, he was in huge demand, so to take time to reply personally was a delight indeed.
Letter from Seamus Heaney to Kevin Macleod, January 2005
Seamus Heaney returned to the book festival on 24th August 2010, and, once again there was a huge buzz and very high demand for tickets. I was lucky again to get there, to hear him read from what turned out to be his final collection ‘District and Circle’. When I reached the signing table after a long wait with dozens of other fans, he said that he remembered me from the previous letters, and thanked me for the cd personally. He died in 2013, aged 74, and is celebrated in the wonderful ‘Seamus Heaney Home Place’ in Bellaghy, in Northern Ireland. Seamus Heaney HomePlace | Co. Derry | Northern Ireland
Kevin Macleod & Alistair Taylor, Torphins, Deeside, 2001
So, I have my dear uncle Alistair Taylor to thank for inspiring me to delve into Scottish and Irish poetry, and many other aspects of our rich culture, and for inadvertently leading me towards this this small interaction with one of the world’s great literary figures, who took precious time to communicate with me, thus imparting a very fond memory of that great and kind man.
Kevin Macleod, December 2024