{"id":105,"date":"2012-10-24T22:41:39","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T22:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/?page_id=105"},"modified":"2013-01-08T09:48:25","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T09:48:25","slug":"donald-m-macleod","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/donald-m-macleod\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald M Macleod"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Donald M MacLeod is one of the truly great Gaelic singers, a peerless communicator of the language\u2019s narrative song tradition in general and a stout upholder of the songs particular to his native island, the southernmost of the Hebrides, Islay.<\/p>\n

Donald was born in Glasgow on May 11, 1926 and within a few days was ensconced in the family home in the village of Portnahaven on Islay. The family were all Gaelic speakers and Gaelic was the first language of the community in those days, spoken in a dialect that, in keeping with Islay\u2019s geographical proximity to, and historical trading links with, Ireland was in many ways closer to Irish Gaelic than the Scottish version.<\/p>\n

There was no electricity in Portnahaven as Donald was growing up, and no street lights, but the family\u2019s battery-operated wireless was often tuned to Scottish country dance music. Donald also remembers being taken to visit neighbours as a boy and because he couldn\u2019t join in the adults\u2019 conversations, sitting transfixed by the sound of the light tenors of the day, such as John Bannerman, coming from the wind-up gramophone.<\/p>\n

At school in Portnahaven and later at Bowmore secondary, Donald sang in concerts and would join in at the many ceilidhs that were part of the island\u2019s social fabric, learning local songs and stagecraft from his mentor, Kenneth MacRae, as well as the songs of Islay bard Duncan Johnstone and songs collected in the broader Gaidhealtachd by Marjorie Kennedy Fraser. He won first prize at the local mod as a junior in 1939 and as a senior in 1949 and after leaving school to work in his grandfather\u2019s joinery business and completing his national service in the Royal Air Force, he joined the choir in the neighbouring village of Port Charlotte.<\/p>\n

Under choir master Robert MacArthur\u2019s leadership the Port Charlotte choir went on to enjoy quite a reputation and swept the boards in the rural choir section at the Royal National Mod in Inverness in 1949. It was this success that inspired Donald to try for the individual Gold Medal and after much practice at weekend ceilidhs and local concerts and while working away at an island joiner\u2019s stock-in-trade of the time \u2013 carts, cartwheels and coffins \u2013 he won this coveted prize at Rothesay in 1952.<\/p>\n

As a National Mod Gold Medal winner Donald was soon invited to sing far and wide. He was a regular guest of the Glasgow Islay Association and sang often in concerts at St Andrew\u2019s Hall. He has also sung in London and in the U.S., Canada and Ireland, and he has particularly fond memories of singing at Ballycastle Fair as Portnahaven, which was a thriving port with boats queuing outside the harbour when Donald was growing up, historically had strong trading links with the Irish town.<\/p>\n

Together with fellow Islay native, bandleader John Carmichael, Donald also made many broadcasts for the BBC, some of which were collected on Donald\u2019s CD, An t-Eilean Mor, which also featured the late Bobby MacLeod \u2013 a huge admirer of Donald\u2019s singing \u2013 and all proceeds from which were donated to Islay & Jura Sick Children\u2019s Fund.<\/p>\n

Although now retired from singing, Donald still takes a keen interest in Gaelic song and is very proud of the Islay Gaelic choir, which has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years. He remains an inspiration to singers and instrumentalists alike and will long be remembered as one of Gaeldom\u2019s golden voices.<\/p>\n

Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame is run by
\nHands Up for Trad<\/a>.<\/p>\n