Handed Down
Handed Down celebrates traditional songs and the people who sing them. The show is presented by Jenny Shaw, an amateur musician and professional writer. Each episode is full of music, tales and curiosities as we delve into the history a single song, often with the help of a fellow folk musician, to uncover the strange stories and colourful characters that lie beneath.
These are the songs that have been handed down from our ancestors. This podcast and the people involved in it help keep them alive so that we can hand them down in turn to future generations.
Handed Down
The Christ Child Lullaby (Tàladh Chrìosda) - a Christmas Eve Special
This song is traditionally sung on Christmas Eve in the Outer Hebrides. Here, we have the full text of this long outpouring of Christmas joy, of which only three or four verses are usually sung today.
The introduction is a variant of the tune, a lovely version of which can be found here.
For the long reading of the full text, I've made some stylistic edits to the English translation found on Wikipedia, the original being in Scottish Gaelic. The harp music that accompanies it is mainly noodling, but I have included a version of Soay from The Lost Songs of St Kilda. If you've not heard of this, do yourself a favour and head over to the website. What an amazing story it is!
For the version of the song at the end of the show I've edited the usual text, pulling in some of the middle section from the original to make a new English verse.
Scottish waves and seabirds by inchadney on Freesounds.
Have a wonderful festive season, see you in 2022.
Jenny xxx