“It’s pronounced ‘Mo Vaaaaair’,’ Mary Beth Carty emphasizes of her new Scottish Gaelic single, “Mo Mhathair,” meaning “My Mother.” No stranger to working in both French and English (not to mention a certain fluency in accordion, which seems to be a language all of its own), Carty has crafted a modern-day Rosetta Stone just in time for both Mother’s Day and Gaelic Awareness Month in Nova Scotia.
The daughter of a languages professor, Carty seems to have inherited a love for languages herself and now spends eleven hours a week studying Gaelic. Which sounds just about right; if you’ve ever taken a look at Gaelic and its unorthodox use of consonants you will quickly recognize that, despite the best hopes and intentions of those interested in preserving their heritage, it can prove quite challenging.
“It makes sense when you do it for a long time,” says Carty. “My grandmother’s first language was Gaelic and I began learning at age ten; went to summer camps and Gaelic weekends growing up. Last month, I was studying online through Daltachas, Gaelic College, and Gaidhlig aig Baille.
“I am conversational in Gaelic and it’s great that it’s on Duolingo now. There is so much vocabulary because it’s the oldest Western European language. ‘You can never learn all the Gaelic’ my friend once told me. [It’s a] lifelong journey.”
“Mo Mhathair” was originally written in the 1920s by Neil MacLean, also known as the Govan Bard, though it was the Callum Kennedy version that originally hooked Carty’s ear. The song’s melody is borrowed from a slow air popular among musicians in Cape Breton.
“The melody is on a few fiddle albums I like: Glendale 77 and Kyle MacDonald’s album,” says Carty. When things opened up last year, my mother came home singing the melody because the organ player at church, Margaret MacDonald, was playing it. Margaret told my mother the song didn’t have words but I knew it did and decided I would set out to learn it.
“I learned to sing this song by listening to Callum Kennedy on repeat. I am grateful for the help tutoring offered by retired Gaelic professor and friend Catriona Parsons. She was my next-door neighbor in the early ‘90s as well as my first Gaelic language and song teacher.”
The song itself includes themes of immigration, starting off with the line, “Send my greetings across the seas.” It’s a fitting subject matter, considering the number of Gaelic speakers that can still be found in Cape Breton.
“As I sing ‘Mo Mhathair,’ I think of my own immigrant ancestors, immigrants in my community today, and the world as a history of migration,” says Carty. “In spite of the distances, we can still maintain cultural traditions, even halfway around the world, through centuries of time.”
The single release also makes a nod to Carty’s own great-grandmother, who was a native Scottish Gaelic speaker and whose photograph, taken roughly during the same time the song was originally written, has inspired the single’s cover art.
“She was known as a healer, and I hope to channel a bit of her healing energy in my recording of this song.”
The real treat for philologists, however, is the three available translations of the song, in Gaelic, English, and French. There’s no guarantee you’re going to work out the correct pronunciation from reading it alone but, along with Mary Beth Carty’s recording, it’s a great place to start tuning your ears up.
Mo Mhathair – My Mother (English Translation)
Bring my greetings across the seas
To my mother, far away from me
The great distance of the ocean will not keep her love from my heart
She nursed me when I was a child
I was brought up in love
Oh, my respect for her will never fail
Although I have wandered here
In a land on the other side of the world
And though oceans are spread between her and me
It is my wish to go home
To my mother in the village
Oh I long to be in my youth again
I think of her when I wake up
In my sleep she is close to me
She always cares about me in everything
And her hospitable personality is cheerful
In my eyes, all the time
The aim of my heart is to get to her
Mo Mhathair (Scottish Gaelic)
Thoir mo shoraidh nunn thar chuantan
Gu mo mhàthair, ‘s fhada bhuam i
Cha chùm astar mòr a’ chuain a gaol o m’ chridh’
‘S i rinn m’ altram ‘s mi nam phàiste
‘S ann na gràdh a fhuair mi m’ àrach
O, chan fhàillinnich gu bràth mo spèis-sa dhi
Ged a tha mi seo air faondradh
Ann an tìr taobh thall an t-saoghail
‘S ged tha cuantan sgaoilte eadar mise ‘s i
‘S e mo dhùrachd a dhol dhachaigh
Gu mo mhàthair anns a’ chlachan
‘S a bhith ‘g àileis bhith nam chailiag bheag a-rì
Tha mo smuaintean oirr’ nam dhùsgadh
Na mo chadal tha i dlùth dhomh
Tha i daonnan air mo chùram anns gach nì
‘S tha a pearsa aoigheil shunndach
Na mo shùilean fad na h-ùin
‘S e bhith faighinn null d’ a h-ionnsaigh rùn mo chridh’
Mo Mhathair (French Translation)
Apportez mes salutations à travers les mers
À ma mère, elle est loin de moi
La grande distance de l’océan ne gardera pas son amour de mon cœur
Elle m’a soigné quand j’étais enfant
J’ai été élevé dans l’amour
Oh, mon respect pour elle ne faillira jamais
Bien que j’aie erré ici
Dans un pays à l’autre bout du monde
Et bien que les océans soient répartis entre elle et moi
C’est mon souhait de rentrer à la maison
Chez ma mère dans le village
Et trop envie d’être à nouveau dans ma jeunesse
Je pense à elle lorsque je me réveillent
Dans mon sommeil, elle est près de moi
Elle se soucie toujours de moi dans tout
Et sa personnalité hospitalière est joyeuse
Dans mes yeux tout le temps
Le but de mon cœur est de l’atteindre
“Mo Mhathair” is the first single to be released from Mary Beth Carty’s upcoming album, Crossing the Causeway, which is set for release on October 1, 2021.