Joy Dunlop performing the Scottish lament Òran na Bantraich.

Òran na Bantraich

Gur a mis’ tha fo mhulad
Air tulaich na h-airidh

Ho o rò o hug o ò
Falbh o ro hò na liu
Ho o rò o liu lo o

‘S mi ‘g amharc nan gillean
Air a linnidh gam bàthadh

Mo thriùir bhràithrean is m’ athair
Fear mo thaighe ‘s e chraidh mi

Bas Aonghais à Barraigh
A sgar mi ‘s a chraidh mi

Bhith gad thogail on tiurra
far ‘n do bhruchd a’ mhuir làn thu

Bhith gad ghiùlain aig fearaibh
Gu baile na traghad

Gu Eaglais na Trianaid
Far am bu lìonmhor do chàirdean

‘S truagh a Dhia mar a tha mise
Bean gun mhisneachd gu bràth mi

Tè gun mhac, gun fhear taighe
Tè gun aighear gun slàinte.

The widow’s song

It is I that is so sad
On the hill by the sheiling

Ho o rò o hug o ò
Falbh o ro hò na liu
Ho o rò o liu lo o

Watching the young men
Drowning in the Sound

My three brothers and my father
My husband, that grieved me.

The death of Angus of Barra
Has broken and tormented me

Lifting you from the water’s edge
Where the sea had cast you

Men carrying you
To the village by the beach

To the Church of the Trinity
Where there are plenty of your relations

Oh God, how miserable I am
A wife without spirit forever

One without son, without husband
One without joy, without health