Ossian (Gaelic Oisin) is the Irish warrior-poet of the Fenian cycle of hero tales about Fionn MacCumhaill (Finn MacCool) and his war band, the Fianna Éireann. Iain Òg Ìle (John Francis Campbell) collected many of them orally in Scotland and from manuscripts in the 19th century, published in Leabhar na Fèinne. They include ballads which have recently been set to a new arrangement (An Là, BBC ALBA, 25/09/23).

Almost 1000 Choir of the Earth members recorded their voices at home during the pandemic and they were mixed together to create this amazing piece of work in which I had the privilege to participate.

The pieces are in Church Slavonic (the liturgical language of the Russian Orthodox Church):

1. “Come, Let us Worship” by Rachmaninoff
2. “Rejoice O Virgin” by Rachmaninoff
3. “Glory to The Father” by Golovanov
4. “We hymn Thee” by Chesnokov
5. A new arrangement of “Let My Prayer Arise” (also by Chesnokov) written specially for us by Richard Gowers.

“Làn Mholadh” better known as “Total Praise”, translated into Gaelic and performed by the world’s only Gaelic Gospel Choir. (BBC ALBA)

Members come from all over Scotland and the choir meets in various locations on an irregular basis.

A female wildlife ranger from Zambia and marine ranger from Mozambique tell me about their challenges on World Ranger Day (An Là, BBC ALBA, 1/8/23).

Loch Ness Exploration’s Alan McKenna says he heard four distinctive “bloops” on the hydrophones deployed from a boat, but was it the monster? My report live on DW (27/08/23).

Huge media interest from around the world. What’s the story? Listen here in Gaelic, Scots, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Irish, Swedish

Loch Ness bereitet sich vor auf die größte Suchaktion nach dem Monster: Nessie. Zum ersten Mal kommen Dronen mit Infrarotkameras zum Einsatz. Aber da Nessie zum ersten Mal im 6. Jh gesehen wurde, müßte es heute ca. 1500 Jahre alt sein! Mein Interview im Deutschlandfunk “Europa Heute”, 24.8.23.

Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Pagan, Baháʼí faith represented at an Interfaith Retreat on the Holy Isle off Arran. Most major religions teach love and compassion towards your neighbour, whatever their faith. (“An Là”, BBC ALBA, 7/8/23)

Confession: This includes myself. “The Language Event” in Edinburgh hears from poet and activist, Lennie Pennie (seen with myself in the thumbnail picture), that the Scots language shouldn’t only be for comedy, warns of dangers in potential misunderstandings of non-verbal communication and generally celebrates multi-lingualism (An Là, BBC ALBA, 24/4/23)

15000 people marched through Paraguay’s capital Asunción recently, demanding a land reform. The “Gran Marcha Campesina” has been going for 29 years. Marcial Gomez from the National Small Scale Farmers Federation says their country is in first place when it comes to concentration of land in the hands of an elite. Despite being the only country in South America where almost everyone speaks the native language (Guaraní) this doesn’t seem to translate into indigenous peoples’ rights. Mario Rivarola, an indigenous leader, says many live in extreme poverty.

Toby Hill from Global Witness describes they face complete destitution when they are evicted from land. This practice got worse during the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner until 1989, but it continues to this day to increase soy production. Mario Rivarola says some land owners have questionable titles. Some candidates in a recent presidential election had promised reform. (An Là, BBC ALBA, 24/04/23)

UPDATE: The ruling Colorado Party have won the elections.