A new video recording of one of the Isle of Man’s most beautiful and mysterious pieces of traditional music has now been released online.
One of the Isle of Man's leading young harpists, Mera Royle, has recorded a version of ‘Arrane Ghelby’ (‘Dalby Song’ in Manx Gaelic), which has a strange and mysterious story attached to its origin.
Collected in Dalby in 1913 by Sophia Morrison, the tune was said to have been sung by an old man with long white hair who rowed off Niarbyl Point on summer evenings but never came close to land. The people of Dalby would gather on the shore to hear the song but they could never quite hear the words.
“And no one knew whence he came, nor whither he went, nor who he was, but the people of Dalby knew his song and taught it to their children’s children.”
The song without words was recorded by Mera Royle on a recent visit to Culture Vannin in St. John’s. As a member of Scran, the group of young traditional Manx musicians, and as a student of the professional Scottish harpist, Rachel Hair, Mera is a regular visitor to Culture Vannin. It was on a recent trip there that she worked with Culture Vannin to produce the short recording.
The short film can be found via the Culture Vannin website: www.culturevannin.im
Mera Royle can next be seen performing with Scran at the Cooish concert in the Masonic Hall in Peel at 8pm on Friday 20th October. Visit www.manxmusic.com for more information.
Photo - Mera Royle.
