Un Çhengey: One Tongue

One Tongue melds three voices from three different Celtic song traditions – Scottish, Irish and Manx Gaels. Ruth Keggin is a leading singer of the young generation of the Manx Gaelic revival; broadcaster and singer Mary Ann Kennedy is the co-owner of the Watercolour Music studios in Ardgour, Lochaber where these sessions were recorded, while Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin is an acclaimed sean nós singer from a Connemara musical dynasty, who first came to the studio to record with Keggin on her debut, Sheear.

One thing led to another and the trio came up with a plan to record and tour a programme of traditional and newly composed songs and music in Scots, Irish and Manx Gaelic. The singers are joined by guitarist Finlay Wells, Dublin fiddler Ultan O’ Brien and double bassist Gordon MacLean. There are 13 songs, with the close-knit vocal harmonies of Keggin and Kennedy proving especially effective. The three voices combine on the likes of ‘Little Kenny, the Tailor and the Skipper’, which itself comprises three parts, including a Manx retelling of ‘William Taylor’.