Entertainment Dibhearsan

[Anna] A Dhòmhnaill, fàilte chun a' phrògraim. An toiseach, rugadh tusa ann an Grianaig ach thog sibh oirbh gu tìrean cèin gu math goirid as dèidh sin. Càite an deach sibh?

[Dòmhnall] Chaidh mo mhàthair air ais gu Sierra Leone far an robh i a' fuireach aig an àm. Bha m' athair air a bhith a' teagaisg ann an siud 's dòcha bliadhna no dhà mus do rugadh mi fhìn. Thàinig i air ais dhan dùthaich-sa gus an rugadh mise ann an ospadal ann an Alba, fhuair mi citizenship agus eile agus an uair sin, goirid as dèidh siud, chaidh i air ais a dh'Afraga agus chuir mise seachad a' chiad bhliadhna dhe mo bheatha ann an Sierra Leone, ged nach eil, mar a bhiodh dùil, càil a chuimhne agam fhìn air siud gu pearsanta.

[Anna] 'S an uair sin thill sibh a dh'Alba. Dè thachair an uair sin?

[Dòmhnall] Chan eil fhios a'm an e gun tàinig an cùmhnant aige-san gu crìoch no gun d' fhuair e obair eile air ais ann an Grianaig ach thàinig sinn an uair sin air ais gu Port Ghlaschu. Daoine a tha eòlach air an sgìre, Port Ghlaschu 's Grianaig gu math faisg air a chèile. Sin far an robh na pàrantan aigesan a' fuireach cuideachd agus bha sinn an sin greiseag.

[Anna] 'S chaidh sibh an uair sin a dh'Inbhir Nis agus chaidh ur togail mar theaghlach le Gàidhlig anns an dachaigh. An robh sin iongantach aig an àm?

[Dòmhnall] Uill cha do shaoil mise gun robh e iongantach ann an dòigh sam bith. Sin dìreach an dòigh anns an robh sinn air ar togail agus, ach cuideachd ma smaoinicheas mise air na teaghlaichean a bha a' fuireach faisg air làimh bha Màrtainn Dòmhnallach agus Niall Iain agus Seònaid a' fuireach dìreach cha mhòr an ath-dhoras. Bha iad beagan nas fhaide air falbh na siud. Agus Murchadh MacLeòid a bha an sàs ann am foghlam, agus Alasdair agus Aonghas, na gillean aca-san, so bha coimhearsnachd nas làidire, chanainn, ann an Inbhir Nis aig an àm a bha siud, ged anns a' bhaile fhèin bhiodh e neònach a bhith gad thogail anns a' Ghàidhlig.

[Anna] Thug thu iomradh air d' athair mar thidsear. Tha tòrr mòr a bharrachd dhaoine eòlach air mar fhear-ciùil.

[Dòmhnall] Tha mi a' smaoineachadh gu bheil, gun robh cliù aige mar fhear-ciùil gun teagamh, ge bith an ann a' seinn no a' cluich air a' phìob. Tha mi a' smaoineachadhgun robh e cliùiteach airson a bhith a' seinn ach chòrd e ris-an cuideachd a bhith a' cluich air a' phìob. Sin nuair a chaidh e chun an airm a dhèanamh an National Service aige bha e ann an Gearasdan Deòrsa faisg air Inbhir Nis còmhla ri Dòmhnall MacLeòid, am maighstir-pìoba ann an siud, duine a bha gu math cliùiteach e fhèin, agus, airson sin bha ceòl, pìobaireachd, seinn anns an dachaigh fhad 's a bha sinn a' fàs suas.

[Anna] So mar sin dheth bha an teaghlach aig Fionnlagh MacNèill gu math cliùiteach anns an sgìre airson iomadach seòrsa ciùil. Nise tha thu air leabhar a thaghadh dhuinn a-nochd a tha gu ìre gad cheangal ri d' athair fhathast.

[Dòmhnall] Tha sin ceart.

[Anna] Innis dhuinn mun chiad leabhar.

[Dòmhnall] A' chiad leabhar air a sgrìobhadh le Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea agus 's e an t-adhbhar a tha an ceangal a tha siud ann gun robh esan a' falbh gu Canada gach samhradh, ò bha airson ceithir bliadhna deug no mar siud, a bhith a' teagaisg pìobaireachd agus Gàidhlig aig colaiste samhraidh ann an siud ann an Ceap Breatainn agus 's math mo chuimhne a bhith air an raon-laighe anns an jet a bha seo ann am Prestwick a' dol a-null gu Halifax 's thug e dhomh lethbhreac dhen leabhar a bha sin airson a leughadh. Shaoil mise gun robh e beagan ... cha robh mise ach deich bliadhna a dh'aois aig an àm.

[Anna] An do thuig thu an sgeulachd?

[Dòmhnall] Tha mi a' smaoineachadh gun do leugh mi e. Tha mi a' creidsinn gun robh mi ... 's urrainn dhut a leughadh aig aon ìre agus aig aon ìre tha e gu math sìmplidh ach an do thuig mi na rudan eile a bha fodha? Droch theansa, tha mi a' smaoineachadh. Rudan mu dheidhinn foighidinn agus a bhith a' fàs sean agus eòlas agus eile. Tha mi cinnteach nach do thuig mi an t-seòrsa pàirt sin dheth ach bha an leabhar, lean e nam chuimhne mar gum biodh.

[Anna] Agus an sgeulachd a th' aig a' chridhe 's e rud gu math sìmplidh a th' ann. Dè tha a' tachairt thairis air na làithean anns an sgeulachd?

[Dòmhnall] 'S e sgeulachd gu math sìmplidh a th' ann. Bodach a' dol a-mach, iasgair. Tha e a' dol a-mach 's tha iad a' lorg tuna no a leithid - marlin, swordfish - èisg mhòra. Tha e stèidhichte ann an Cùba agus so 's e uisgeachan gu math torrach a tha siud. Agus am bodach a tha seo tha e air a bhith faisg air trì mìosan gun dad a ghlacadh. Balach òg a bha a' dol a-mach còmhla ris, tha na pàrantan aige-san air a thoirt air falbh a dhol còmhla ri cuideigin eile. Tha e a' dol a-mach. Tha e a' dol fada, fada, fada a-mach, seachad air far am biodh e a' dol gu nàdarra agus tha e a' glacadh iasg mòr, mòr a tha seo. Tha e ga thoirt suas. Tha e a' cur às dhan iasg, ga cheangal ris a' bhàta, ga thoirt air ais gu cala ach air an t-slighe air ais tha na cearbadan a' tighinn agus a' falbh leis a' mhòr-chuid dheth.

[Anna] 'S tha e a' tighinn a-steach agus chan eil càil air fhàgail aige.

[Dòmhnall] Ach na cnàimhean fhèin.

Chaidh am prògram seo, Leugh Mi, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2015.

[Anna] Donald, welcome to the programme. Firstly, you were born in Greenock but you went to foreign lands very shortly after that. Where did you go?

[Donald] My mother went back to Sierra Leone where she was living at the time. My father had been teaching there for maybe a year or two before I was born. She came back to this country so that I would be born in a hospital in Scotland, I got citizenship and things and then, shortly after that, she went back to Africa and I spent the first year of my life in Sierra Leone, although, as is to be expected, I myself have no personal recollection of that.

[Anna] And then you returned to Scotland. What happened then?

[Donald] I don't know if my father's contract ended or if he got another job back in Greenock but we then came back to Port Glasgow. People who know the area, Port Glasgow and Greenock are very near to each other. That is where his parents lived too and we were there a while.

[Anna] And you then went to Inverness and you were raised as a family speaking Gaelic at home. Was that unusual at the time?

[Donald] Well I didn't think that it was in any way unusual. That was just the way in which we were raised and, but also if I think of the families that lived nearby Martin Macdonald and Niall Iain and Seònaid lived almost next door. They were a little further away than that. And Murdo MacLeod that was involved in education, and Alasdair and Angus, their boys, so there was a stronger community, I'd say, in Inverness at that time, although in the town itself it would have been unusual to be brought up with Gaelic.

[Anna] You mentioned your father as a teacher. Lots more people know him as a musician.

[Donald] I think so, he was definitely well-known as a musician, whether for singing or playing the pipes. I think he was renowned for singing but he enjoyed playing the pipes. When he went to the army to do his National Service he was in Fort George near Inverness with Donald MacLeod, the pipe major there, a man who himself was renowned, and, so there was music, piping, singing at home when we were growing up.

[Anna] So therefore Finlay MacNeil's family were very renowned in the area for many types of music. Now you have chosen a book for us tonight that to an extent still connects you with your father.

[Donald] That is correct.

[Anna] Tell us about the first book.

[Donald] The first book is written by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea and the reason for that connection is that he went to Canada every summer, oh for about fourteen years, to teach piping and Gaelic at a summer college there in Cape Breton and I remember being on the runway in this jet in Prestwick going over to Halifax and he gave me a copy of that book to read. I thought that it was a little ... I was only ten years old at the time.

[Anna] Did you understand the story?

[Donald] I think that I read it. I think that I was ... you can read it at one level and at one level it is very simple but did I understand the other underlying matters? A slim chance, I think. Things about patience and growing old and knowledge and other. I am sure that I didn't understand that sort of part of it but the book was, it stuck in my mind as it were.

[Anna] And the story at the centre it is a very simple one. What happens over the course of days in the story?

[Donald] It is a very simple story. An old man goes out, a fisherman. He goes out and they are seeking tuna or the likes - marlin, swordfish - big fish. It is set in Cuba and so those are very fruitful waters. And this old man he has gone nearly three months without catching anything. A young boy who was going out with him, his parents have taken him away to go with someone else. He goes out. He goes really, really, really far out beyond where he would usually go and he catches this huge fish. He brings it up. He kills the fish, ties it to the boat, takes it back to the port but on the way back the sharks come and take most of it.

[Anna] And he lands and he has nothing left.

[Donald] Just the bones.

This programme, Leugh Mi, was first broadcast in 2015.