Little by Little Beag air Bheag
Seallaibh Curaigh Eòghainn
This is a lovely wee Scottish Gaelic song which Joy has hand-picked to celebrate Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters. It’s about a man called Eòghann (or Ewan) who is the captain of a magnificent coracle or boat and the singer is urging us to look at it as it passes the White Point. This is a popular type of Gaelic reel called Port à Beul, meaning ‘a tune from the mouth’ or ‘mouth music’. Port à Beul is often light-hearted, occasionally bawdy, in nature. This is Seallaibh Curaigh Eòghainn and this version is sung by Joy Dunlop. Watch the video then learn the song line-by-line. This video was originally filmed for LearnGaelic’s popular social media strand ‘Learn a Gaelic song’ and the format is slightly different.
Joy is so passionate about Gaelic she’s even urging you on in the language. Let’s get to grips with Joy’s enthusiastic praise!
Halò a chàirdean agus fàilte oirbh gu òran na seachdaine còmhla riumsa, Joy Dunlop
Hello friends and welcome to song of the week with me, Joy Dunlop
try that
great
very good
and again
then
1, 2, 3
fantastic
Now we have all that, you can praise everyone you meet today in Gaelic! Let’s learn the first line of the first verse:
Oh, look at Ewan's coracle
A coracle is a boat.
Learn the tune.
Oh, look at Ewan's coracle
Let’s learn the second line. To make life easy, Joy has broken this down into two parts. Please note the sentence makes more grammatical sense than the two parts individually.
And five oars
twenty on her
Put that together.
With twenty-five oars on her.
Sing along with Joy!
With twenty-five oars on her.
Put the first two lines together and sing loud!
O, seallaibh curaigh Eòghainn,
Is còig ràimh fhichead oirre.
Oh, look at Ewan's coracle
With twenty-five oars on her.
The third line is almost a repeat of the first line, but drop the O.
Look at Ewan's coracle
Let's learn how to sing it!
Look at Ewan's coracle
Let’s sing the first three lines now!
O, seallaibh curaigh Eòghainn,
Is còig ràimh fhichead oirre.
Seallaibh curaigh Eòghainn
Oh, look at Ewan's coracle
With twenty-five oars on her.
Look at Ewan's coracle
Joy has broken down the final line of the verse into two parts just for you.
And she is passing ...
... The White Point
Put the whole sentence together.
'S i seachad air a' Rubha Bhàn.
And she is passing the White Point.
Let’s sing it
'S i seachad air a' Rubha Bhàn.
And she is passing the White Point.
And we will sing lines three and four together.
Seallaibh curaigh Eòghainn
'S i seachad air a' Rubha Bhàn.
Look at Ewan's coracle
And she is passing the White Point.
Are you feeling confident? Let’s put all the lines together and start to work on the complete first verse. Sing it twice!
O, seallaibh curaigh Eòghainn,
Is còig ràimh fhichead oirre.
Seallaibh curaigh Eòghainn
'S i seachad air a' Rubha Bhàn.
O, seallaibh curaigh Eòghainn,
Is còig ràimh fhichead oirre.
Seallaibh curaigh Eòghainn
'S i seachad air a' Rubha Bhàn.
Oh, look at Ewan's coracle
With twenty-five oars on her.
Look at Ewan's coracle
And she is passing the White Point.
Oh, look at Ewan's coracle
With twenty-five oars on her.
Look at Ewan's coracle
And she is passing the White Point.