In May & June each year many class teachers, instrumental music teachers and parents would normally be busy preparing pupils for local Mòds and end of term concerts, however unfortunately this year some of these will not be taking place.  During lockdown staff from the Education, Skills & Children’s Services department have been busy working on a programme of Friday focus events on various topics entitled ‘Deanamaid Dihaoine – Let’s Do It Friday’.

As part of this programme, and in collaboration with the Instrumental Music Service and Multimedia Unit of the Comhairle, an event has been organised for primary pupils throughout Comhairle nan Eilean Siar schools to celebrate our Gaelic language, music & culture which will allow our pupils to showcase their skills and talents in music, dance & language.

Friday 29th May will see the 1st -Cèilidh nan Òg take place throughout the day and will take the form of broadcasts in a similar format to the successful fortnightly e-Ceilidhs. These will be hosted by local music teachers, using pre-recorded items submitted by pupils, covering each of the following categories – Gaelic Singing, Oral, Instrumental & Highland Dancing.

The event is non-competitive and all items are own choice so these needn’t necessarily be songs, poems, pieces, dances etc. which the pupils have been working on recently – indeed it can be anything they have learnt in the past.

Sing-along and play-along sessions will also be included for any pupils who would like to take part but who perhaps do not wish to send in a video performance for the broadcast. You can find details of these including lyrics, sheet music and backing tracks to download on the “play-along & sing-along sessions” page of this blog.

e-Ceilidh nan Og has its own space on the e-Ceilidh website www.eileansiareceilidh.com and contains further details of the event. Past broadcasts can also be accessed in the archive section.

The emphasis for e-Cèilidh nan Òg  is on inclusiveness, maximising participation, having fun and celebrating the Gaelic language & culture, so we hope to have contributions from as many pupils as possible in each of the 4 categories from P1 through to P7.

The programme for the event on Friday 29th May can be found below

e-Ceilidh nan Og programme 29th May

Due to the phenomenal response we had from pupils wanting to take part we were unable to programme all the videos received into the event on the 29th May.

We will be hosting further e-Ceilidh nan Og broadcasts in June and after the summer holidays. Details of these will be sent to schools and posted on this blog and the website once dates have been finalised.

Watch out for details in the “News” section of this blog.