@@cfneal1459 The two main Free Churches. They pass round the collection plate in Gaelic speaking areas but usually won't even put Gaelic language signs outside such chapels.
@@anonb4632 Thank you for your courteous reply. You say they "usually won't put Gaelic language" signage up? Perhaps there are reasons beyond finances why they do not. What do they say?
@@cfneal1459 The churches all have signs outside them. 9/10 they're written up in English only, and have been even when most of the services in these places were conducted in Gaelic.
My Gran used to sing at this church. she went to all three services during the week. I grew up in back and coll til aged 5. This music speaks of the island and its people. Beautiful.
The older gentleman at the front of the church is "lining out" the psalm. He is telling the congregation the words for the next line to be sung. This was a practice in Scottish Presbyterian churches from about the mid-1600s, indeed to help the illiterate, those without a physical copy, or those with poor eye sight. The role was called a precentor, meaning literally "to sing before." This had mostly died about by the early 1800s, except in these ultra-traditional churches.
Could you point in the direction of more recordings and perhaps some musicological sources? This sounds just like what I imagine faroese church music sounded like before the danish introduced church organs at the end of the 19th century, and we almost only have very sparce field recordings of very old people trying their best to show what it was like. I think we on the Faroe Islands could get some much needed context from this Presbyterian tradition
Beautiful beyond words! I am a Primitive Baptist in Southwestern Virginia in the U.S.. Our Singing reflects this in so many ways I can not begin to describe. I understand our Scotch-Irish ancestors brought this tradition with them and I am humbly grateful. There is no music on earth like the music created with a God given instrument............our voices! Thank you for posting this, you do not realize how appreciative, I am.
One could point out that the term scotch Irish is a political term made up to deny the Irish Ness of the protestants of Ireland if you were to go to Ireland you would find that there are protestants all over Ireland I was recently in Cork and there’s a lovely protestant church and I had a long talk with an old man coming to visit his father‘s grave and this person‘s all over Ireland and their Irish whether they are descended from immigrants from England or Scotland or Germany or England there are Irish they are Irish The irony is that the Scottish people of the Scottish highlands remain Catholic to this day and the Gaelic language spread to Scotland from Ireland it’s historically accurate to say that the Scottish are actually Irish the Lowland Scots both the language and the people are the language is basically old English it’s got nothing to do with Gaelic and the people are a mixture of English and to some degree Scottish Ironically with an Ireland outside the native Gaelic speaking areas of the western southwest it’s protestants that are tend to speak Irish language more than Catholics
Amen to that! That's myself as well-Scots-Irish stock of NC-grew up FWB-these tones remind me of the way my grandma and her sisters would sing-think "Star of Bethlehem" song of Appalachia
this reminds me of being outside my granny's wee house on a Sunday morning on Berneray, listening to this music coming from the Church on the hill. I was only a wee girl then, but it still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!
My great great grand parents immigrated to Canada from Lewis. I so wish my gram was alive to share this recording with. She was the last of our family to speak Gaelic. And she had a Gaelic book of psalms. Our family are still Presbyterian mostly. This video stirred my soul.
I can relate very well. I used to be Amish and the Amish sing German songs that sound a lot like this in the USA. They migrated to America from Germany and Switzerland. When I here singing like this it does something to my soul that I can't explain but also makes me feel sad or forlornly.
My heart feels this so deeply. The language is old but the blood runs strong. Whenever I hear Gaelic being sung I feel closer to my ancestors and it stirs my soul.
I'm absolutely stunned. Listening to that singing has been an incredibly powerful emotional and spiritual experience for me: tears are flowing down my cheeks. It feels as if something innate but lost has been returned.
@@breakingbadest9772 this is not just a human aspect if you came from these Islands you wouldn't say that . This was there way of life their culture and how they lived .Nothing to do with wanting to be part of a community . Desires doesn't come into these islanders vocabulary desires is a word that belongs to a foreign European biblical concept country . not a scottish gealic vocabulary. Of the Highlands .
I was amazed, floored, etc. To FINALLY find the singing style that reveals the common heritage with the Primitive and Old Regular Baptists of eastern Kentucky and south-western Virginia! I knew it had to still exist somewhere back in the "old country! And the same effect too, a few tears and the hair standing on the back of the neck. Thanks greenmagoos.
The music of Appalachia & smoky mountains originated from Scotch- Irish immigrants who settled that are originally. Great movie about this with Irish American actor Aidan Quinn is called The Songcatcher.
Yes this music is truly beautiful worship. Sorry for my other comment. I love music so much I went a little crazy. It makes me cry also. Love these psalms in Gaelic. Love to hear worship music sung in language of my ancestors. Thanks to RUclips so much out there.
It was brave of the people of Back Free Church to permit their beautiful psalm singing to be recorded and shared on the internet. A very moving experience, thank you.
I am so blessed and privileged to have grown up with this and to this day recall the hairs on my arms and neck standing on end at a Gaelic service with my beloved gran back home on the Isle of Lewis ! X
@@bb3ca201 "An Ataireachd Ard" has an attractive melody, and is understandably a very popular song. If I mind right, it's a Lewis song. However, this definitely has a hugely more powerful impact.
I was brought up with this and took it as accepted practice at church in Harris every Sabbath day.. I have been a long time away from home, but it still sends a tingle down my spine every time I hear it. Beautiful praise of the Lord in a pure and unalloyed form. Priceless.
My wife is from Point and I've been lucky enough to hear these songs in person in church multiple times and is one of those things that will stay with you forever.... Thank you for posting, will push replay for the 10th time now 😊
When the faithful sing, we join the neverending chorus of angels and saints, in all tongues, dialects and accents, singing praises to God. This was a powerful reminder of this; thank you.
This sounds exactly like the singing that I remember from the churches here in eastern Kentucky. I always wondered where this originated and now I know.
0:41 Psalm 118v15 to the tune Coleshill 2:11 Psalm 16v8 to the tune Kilmarnock 3:34 Psalm 107v 28-29 to the tune Kilmarnock 5:05 Psalm 48v14 to the tune St. David
Thank you so much..the news today is that I am very ill, have C.O.P.D and caught flu, only today have remotely felt well....Please can you all say a prayer for me today..My life is changing.....I am in despair at the moment, but know this will alter..thank you for sending video...x
My grandmother is an old regular baptist here in Kentucky and their church sings this exact same style. It's actually my favorite type of singing since I have heard it all my life.
I didn't know that . Treise libh! Power to ye! My head rejects Protestantism but my heart aches for this ancient psalmody (which is much older than the 16th century). And lost - as I had thought - elsewhere.
My ancestors came from Scotland. They came to North Carolina in the United States. They moved up to Kentucky where they settled in the Appalachian hills. They were like their own homeland. I’ve heard this singing of hymns all of my life. My grandfather was a deacon of his church. He traveled around preaching in other church’s also. This type of singing is beautiful ❤️
@@beverlyegner3932 Wow. I wasn't expecting another reply. I just showed a friend this just the other day. This type of singing is still going on in Kentucky as well in the Old regular Baptist parts atleast. I'm afraid 1 day as generations pass, that this type of thing will be gone here.
This is beautiful, so sensitively sung, very moving. I honestly believe this kind of singing is God- given, God inspired. The precanter reminds me of some African singers who do the same, as the others sing the rest. Again, witnessing this, especially if you're at a church service, is very moving. Let's pray our Lord draws the online hearers of this to Him 💓
This sounds very different from classically influenced ecclesiastical music. Very haunting and primal. You can nearly imagine this type of chanting stretching back in the 6th century and the age of Celtic missionaries.
(Hope you don't mind me replying so late.) You're right. At least some of the Irish missionaries that brought Christianity to Scotland were educated by the Coptic church. You can see another connection in the visual style of the oldest surviving illustrated Scottish & Irish texts -- those big-eyed, stylised faces. It seems some Irish monks studied in Egypt and perhaps in Ethiopia (which still has similar free hetereophonic psalm-singing by the congregation). The leather cover of a loose-leaf folder of psalms from around 800AD, found in Co Tipperary in Ireland in 2006 (The Faddan More Psalter) is lined with Egyptian papyrus.
jistaface "the Irish missionaries that brought Christianity to Scotland" ???? HELLO!!!! St. Ninian??? St. Alban???? St. Mungo????? St. PARTICK was a 'Briton'! Probably from what is now Scotland, on the river Clyde, the BRITS brought Christianity TO IRELAND eejit, not the reverse, ffs!!!!! The 'Irish' are Britons from SW Scotland, who landed in this blessed isle, just after the last Ice Age, LOL!!!! We are 1 & the same people as the BASQUES............the last, of the indigenous Europeans...........The "Atlanteans", the peoples from Northern Portugal to the Shetland Isles, are of the SAME DNA: R1b Y-DNA to be exact, as those who live from Lisbon, to Oslo!!! (Native Europeans: formerly called 'The Celts'!).
"the Irish missionaries that brought Christianity to Scotland" Yes, indeed. You're right that Patrick is thought to have come possibly from Dumbarton - the Antonine wall area. (though his story of the late 400s is conflated with that of Palladian) He was from a romanised class/culture on the edge of the empire as the empire faded. That HE was a Christian does NOT mean the future Scotland was Christian. The northern and eastern parts of Scotland were proselytised by the collegiate, scholarly missionaries of Ireland. Ninian who proselytised to the "southern" Picts and Northumbrians was a good few decades later than Patrick - and it's thought he may have beenFinian from Moville in Ireland. Finian's most famous pupil? Columba. Mungo (aka Quentigernus) was 200 years later than Patrick.
jistaface You're talking absolute SHITE!!! "Ninian who proselytised to the "southern" Picts and Northumbrians was a good few decades later than Patrick" ?? HERE are the actual FACTS: "More certainly, Ninian was the first bishop of Galloway. That he established his see at Whithorn, Caledonia, is a supposition borne out by modern anthropology. There, in about 397, he built a whitewashed stone church (hence Whithorn, or White House, from the Anglo-Saxon Huitaern; Latin Candida Casa)-a notable departure from the customary wooden churches of the Britons. The monastery that he established at Whithorn was, by the 6th century, a leading Anglo-Saxon monastic centre. Historically, there is little doubt that Ninian carried out his mission in Scotland, although there is some confusion about the areas that he visited. Modern scholars believe that, though his influence among the Picts may have been overestimated, his success with the Celts was evidently much greater. Indisputable evidence of his influence survived in the large number of churches dedicated to him throughout Scotland and in several locations in northern England, and it is generally agreed that his missionary work prepared the foundation for the later efforts of Saints Columba and Kentigern. St. Ninian’s shrine at Whithorn drew many pilgrims, among them King James IV of Scotland, who was a regular visitor. The Roman Catholic diocese of Galloway retains Candida Casa as its official name." www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/415740/Saint-Ninian Ninian had ESTABLISHED his Monastic Centre BEFORE Patrick ever set foot in Ireland, ffs!!!
jistaface More much needed education for ye son: "Ninian is also called Nynia, Ninias, Rigna, Trignan, Ninnidh, Ringan, Ninus, or Dinan. He was a Celt, born in southern Scotland in about 360, and is regarded as the FIRST MAJOR PREACHER of the Gospel to the people living in BRITAIN NORTH of the Wall--that is, living outside the territory that had been under Roman rule. He is said to have studied in Rome (note that he is contemporary with Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine), but was chiefly influenced by his friendship with Martin of Tours, with whom he spent some considerable time when he was returning from Italy to Britain. It is probable that he named his headquarters in Galloway after Martin's foundation in Gall. Martin had a monastery known as Loco Teiac, a Latinized form of the Celtic Leug Tigiac. Leug means "white, shining," and Tig means "house" (a shanty, or Shan-tig, is an old house). The suffix -Ac means "little." Thus, Martin's monastery had a name which in Celtic means "little white house." At about the time of Martin's death in 397, Ninian built a church at Galloway, in southwest Scotland. It was built of stone and plastered white, an unusual construction in a land where almost all buildings were wood. He called it Candida Casa (White House) or Whithorn, presumably after Martin's foundation at Tours. Archaeologists have excavated and partially restored his church in this century. From his base at Galloway, Ninian preached throughout southern Scotland, south of the Grampian Mountains, and conducted preaching missions among the Picts of Scotland, as far north as the Moray Firth, He also preached in the Solway Plains and the Lake District of England. Like Patrick (A GENERATION LATER!) and Columba (a century and a half later), he was a principal agent in preserving the tradition of the old Romano-British Church and forming the character of Celtic Christianity. Some historians think that the number and extent of his conversions has been exaggerated, but throughout southern Scotland there are many and widespread churches that bear his name, and have traditionally been assumed to be congregations originally founded by him." justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/245.html
This sounds so similar to Native American Baptist church hymns where I’m from. Except my Native American side is Muscogee and sing in Muscogee. It makes sense though because they were influenced by the Scottish and Ulster-Scots. The other part of my family is Scottish and some moved to Ulster. Then they came to the U.S. I wonder how close the hymns are to the Muscogee ones. We sing it the same way in a call and response with no instruments. Also it’s beautiful to hear it in Gaelic. Mvto! (Thank you!)
Old Regular Baptist sings their hymns like this. In the United States in Kentucky. I was raised in a church like this. Heard it all of my life. My ancestors were Scots Irish. They settled in the hills of Kentucky
The people’s from Northwest England, Ireland and Scotland, Protestants most of them conquered, CONQUERED, North America, their musical style, a church style, created many popular genres of today.
Lucky enough to have my wife being from there and her family. This singing I heard for the first time on her aunties funeral who we all loved very much. Magical is the only thing I can call it what I feel when I listen to it.
My Families last names are Back and Boggs. We are all members of the Old Regular Baptist Church in Kentucky. Our singing sounds almost exactly like this. Not in Gaelic of course, but the sounds are the same. I am sure the roots of our Churches and music are part of the same tree.
I grew up in the Appalachian mountains, a descendant of highland and lowland Scots. I listened to this the first time with tears in my eyes. It touches me so deeply. It evokes a lot of emotion and is beautiful beyond description. I wish I could put it on loop and listen to it over and over. Please post more!
I have deep family roots in Appalachia and have lived here most of my life. Before becoming psalm-singers we attended Appalachian churches where the sound of the singing was reminiscent of that in this Gaelic congregation, although in English and merely uninspired compositions.
@@meredithwilliams4671 There is a slightly mournful tone to both, as if the singing comes from some sort of deep sorrow in the soul. It always seems to me to be a sort of soft, low, and gentle wail.
@@westminstercovenanter912 Fair enough. :) I do love both styles, but having grown up with Roscoe Holcomb and Ralph Stanley, I'm probably more than a bit biased. As a fellow Appalachian, the pain and hardship I hear in the traditional Baptist music is also my own. At any rate, thank you for keeping things civil and courteous. God bless you. :)
my grandparents live on lewis and my uncle is from Back....he is a Maclennan,this brings back memories of going to church with my grandparents....the isle of lewis and my family there will always have a special place in my heart even though i am now in NZ...thanks for the great sounds and for bringing back great memories
This is almost exactly like Old Order Amish “slow tunes” from their words only hymn book, Ausbund used in church services. A “Vorsinger,” an older man with ability, leads out from his seat, and the entire congregation, also seated, finishes the line or phrase.
My best friend’s granddad used to be the presenter - the man who starts the psalm. I’m from the highlands but her family are from North Uist in the Hebrides. When I visit Lewis I like to listen outside the church - they still do this. I’m 46 now and still live in the Highlands and as kids we learned to speak and sing in Gaelic as well as English. It’s a gorgeous language and we have many Gaelic choirs throughout Scotland….i was in Strath Gaelic Choir until my children came along very close to one another and I didn’t have the time.
Just home from a week in north uist we attended free church this almost made me cry hairs on the back of my neck were standing up praise The Lord praise The Lord Eddie / Elaine
Absolutely beautiful! I'm getting into the music of the Christian church (historically speaking) and have enjoyed Byzantine and Gregorian chanting. But as a reformed protestant i thought it ended with us until i found out about Psalm singing. God bless you guys!
Psalm 133:1. Just a reminder for the arguers below. 🙂 Look at the live broadcast services and you'll find some Gaelic Psalms being included; not in all churches, true, but it hasn't disappeared.
my grandparents live on lewis and my uncle is from Back....he is a Maclennan,this brings back memories of going to church with my grandparents....the isle of lewis and my family there will always have a special place in my heart even though i am now in NZ...thanks for the great sounds and for bringing back great memories..also just realised this was filmed on my birthday....
Thank you for uploading this truly spiritual music. I have been fortunate enough to attend a similar service in the Western Isles - what an experience!
My head rejects Presbyterianism but my heart aches for this ancient psalmody (which is much older than the 16th century). And lost elsewhere. These guys are not playing games. Moladh go deo le Dia.
Michael O'Farrell I’m visiting a Presbyterian Church, since it’s very near my home. Can you please tell me what it is about the Presbyterian faith and doctrine that your head rejects. I realize one objection of yours could be “ Baptism with sprinkling of water” however this Church gives a choice of the type of Baptism” you want. I certainly would appreciate your honest view on this because I’m searching for a Church home.
@jane pollock thank you, Jane ... I try to keep them in synch. I love listening to this psalmody but I won't become a Presbyterian because I see that they are wrong about Sola scriptura and many other things
The hymns sound so much like the Amish sing in church! Except the song leader will start only one syllable at the beginning of each line. This gave me chills! I grew up Amish and miss hearing this!
I get so upset when I hear the Gaelic singing. Such power and emotion make me cry. I played some in my earphones while sitting on Strathaidh beach... I was in bits. And it was sad to see that the Free Kirk that my Great Grandmother (and mother when she visited) is now a ruin.
If you listen to this enough, it will, from time to time mysteriously appear and gently wake you in the morning and you may hear it sublimely lull you to sleep at night.
Amazing! We´ve had this simular song tradition in the Faroes, but sadly on a decline now. There´s just in one church and one choir, where they still sing in the old manner.
When I got to the part of The Blackhouse where Fin revisits the Gaelic church of his youth and recalls the singing of Gaelic psalms I wanted to hear firsthand to have a fuller effect than simply reading about them! What a marvelous video! Marvelous sounding singing! Loved it!
There is something about this type of singing tied in with the spirit of the islands. When I was stationed there in the mid 80s with the RAF, we often had to change shifts at the Aird Uig transmitter station on the Sunday, (now sadly derelict and gone along with the likes of us RAF personnel) and we often took the milk out from the dairy and delivered it to a few houses in the way as we passed. You could bet that the milk would still be on the doorstep until Monday morning. Very very austere, because there weren’t any drinking holes open on ‘the sabbath’ in town, the local sinners would often come up to the RAF Stornaway bar at the site on the junction of the road into Stornaway and the Melbost Road.. The afternoon would be a piss up and one of the local guys, Donny the MT driver and Pete the RAF MT Sgt would both be in attendance enjoying cheep NAAFI beers and Spirits. Donny being such a small chap would be seated on his stool at the bar and you knew when had reached his fill when he would often fall off his perch...so funny.. Also on a Saturday night there would be the bop at our place as at that time there wasn’t really a proper place for young folk to go so debauchery was often on the menu ... such fun. ( . )( . ) I even got chatted up by one of the local Lesbians who I believe was off to Norway or somewhere to be one of the first people to have a gay marriage .... in the 80s on Stornaway can you believe it? Lol... Ah happy days though, great islands
I was quite flattered to be chatted up by any woman in those days as I was still a cherry boy then with never having had sex at the age of 19 I would have given her one except she had the breath of the devils arsehole so I was a bit put off...rarely enough my honour was preserved until I was married a few years after...another rare thing in the 80s..chuckle ...God I am a sinner ...lol
Very beautiful, haunting. I speak Gaelic, but cant understand the words here, wish i could. How wonderful the Reformed Church has kept up this tradition and in the Gaelic tongue
This is the most magnificent congregational singing I've ever heard. The Welsh and Irish are great hymn-singers too. Must be a Celtic thing. If American congregations sang like this, our churches would be packed.
Hi Wayne, this singing did make it to America and survive there. Look for Primitive Baptist churches in the Appalachians, South Georgia, etc. Also old line African-American Primitive Baptists.
In my mother's Old Landmark church, we sang psalms, only, just like these. We called the style of "lining out" the next line and the singers responding as "Call and Response."
They love to take the Gaels' money but do little to support the language.
Perhaps you would care to elaborate:
For instance, "they" who?
What kind of support would you suggest?
@@cfneal1459 The two main Free Churches. They pass round the collection plate in Gaelic speaking areas but usually won't even put Gaelic language signs outside such chapels.
@@anonb4632 Thank you for your courteous reply.
You say they "usually won't put Gaelic language" signage up? Perhaps there are reasons beyond finances why they do not.
What do they say?
@@cfneal1459 The churches all have signs outside them. 9/10 they're written up in English only, and have been even when most of the services in these places were conducted in Gaelic.
@@anonb4632 That sounds like typical big government ineptitude. Could the local congregation make its OWN signage?
Shalom from Kuwait 🇰🇼 Glory Hallelujah
My Gran used to sing at this church. she went to all three services during the week. I grew up in back and coll til aged 5. This music speaks of the island and its people. Beautiful.
Even as a non-Gaelic speaker from the west of scotland, this resonates somewhere deep in my soul, Thank you Lord
Amen to that, brother. always brings me to tears. +blessed be His Name.
Take a jaunt on the ferry to one of the islands and you’ll hear this, especially at the Free Church.
The older gentleman at the front of the church is "lining out" the psalm. He is telling the congregation the words for the next line to be sung. This was a practice in Scottish Presbyterian churches from about the mid-1600s, indeed to help the illiterate, those without a physical copy, or those with poor eye sight. The role was called a precentor, meaning literally "to sing before." This had mostly died about by the early 1800s, except in these ultra-traditional churches.
Could you point in the direction of more recordings and perhaps some musicological sources? This sounds just like what I imagine faroese church music sounded like before the danish introduced church organs at the end of the 19th century, and we almost only have very sparce field recordings of very old people trying their best to show what it was like. I think we on the Faroe Islands could get some much needed context from this Presbyterian tradition
Some churches in Appalachia still line out hymns.
They used to do this in Miabhaig church in Uig.
Beautiful beyond words! I am a Primitive Baptist in Southwestern Virginia in the U.S.. Our Singing reflects this in so many ways I can not begin to describe. I understand our Scotch-Irish ancestors brought this tradition with them and I am humbly grateful. There is no music on earth like the music created with a God given instrument............our voices!
Thank you for posting this, you do not realize how appreciative, I am.
One could point out that the term scotch Irish is a political term made up to deny the Irish Ness of the protestants of Ireland if you were to go to Ireland you would find that there are protestants all over Ireland I was recently in Cork and there’s a lovely protestant church and I had a long talk with an old man coming to visit his father‘s grave and this person‘s all over Ireland and their Irish whether they are descended from immigrants from England or Scotland or Germany or England there are Irish they are Irish
The irony is that the Scottish people of the Scottish highlands remain Catholic to this day and the Gaelic language spread to Scotland from Ireland it’s historically accurate to say that the Scottish are actually Irish the Lowland Scots both the language and the people are the language is basically old English it’s got nothing to do with Gaelic and the people are a mixture of English and to some degree Scottish Ironically with an Ireland outside the native Gaelic speaking areas of the western southwest it’s protestants that are tend to speak Irish language more than Catholics
Isn’t the Gaelic language beautiful. Thank god something like this survives today because it wasn’t meant to.
I live in Belfast and am Scots-Irish myself so I loved your comment. We have soooo much in common. Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. Thank you.
Amen to that! That's myself as well-Scots-Irish stock of NC-grew up FWB-these tones remind me of the way my grandma and her sisters would sing-think "Star of Bethlehem" song of Appalachia
this reminds me of being outside my granny's wee house on a Sunday morning on Berneray, listening to this music coming from the Church on the hill. I was only a wee girl then, but it still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!
Picked winkles ❤❤❤😊
God bless you, Scotland. Such a beautiful sound, which echoes down the centuries.
My great great grand parents immigrated to Canada from Lewis. I so wish my gram was alive to share this recording with. She was the last of our family to speak Gaelic. And she had a Gaelic book of psalms. Our family are still Presbyterian mostly. This video stirred my soul.
I can relate very well. I used to be Amish and the Amish sing German songs that sound a lot like this in the USA. They migrated to America from Germany and Switzerland.
When I here singing like this it does something to my soul that I can't explain but also makes me feel sad or forlornly.
My heart feels this so deeply. The language is old but the blood runs strong. Whenever I hear Gaelic being sung I feel closer to my ancestors and it stirs my soul.
Praise God and praise Him for those faithful Christians in the Free Church of Scotland!
Chills every time I hear it. Breathtaking. Imagine that kind of singing every day in heaven. What a beautiful place that will be.
I'm absolutely stunned. Listening to that singing has been an incredibly powerful emotional and spiritual experience for me: tears are flowing down my cheeks. It feels as if something innate but lost has been returned.
Se ur beatha! (You're welcome!)
THIS is where you come from.............and we're still here........just, LOL!
It's because of the human aspect, nothing to do with god. You feel a desire to be in a community.
@@breakingbadest9772 this is not just a human aspect if you came from these Islands you wouldn't say that . This was there way of life their culture and how they lived .Nothing to do with wanting to be part of a community . Desires doesn't come into these islanders vocabulary desires is a word that belongs to a foreign European biblical concept country . not a scottish gealic vocabulary. Of the Highlands .
Ann Macleod thanks loved itt
ullscarf stunted as well
From Scotland to Appalachia. WOW
I know, so cool!
So beautiful makes shivers run up and down my spine Scotland's true heritage.
We remember wwg1wga
A blessing to see such a large congregation singing the praises of our God!
a true living Protestant Reformed Church. may God bless you and keep you in His grace forever and ever. Amen
A return to my Free Presbyterian upbringing...24 yrs in the Scots Guards and now, I once again head home..my duty done.
I was amazed, floored, etc. To FINALLY find the singing style that reveals the common heritage with the Primitive and Old Regular Baptists of eastern Kentucky and south-western Virginia! I knew it had to still exist somewhere back in the "old country! And the same effect too, a few tears and the hair standing on the back of the neck. Thanks greenmagoos.
Tru Dat
The music of Appalachia & smoky mountains originated from Scotch- Irish immigrants who settled that are originally. Great movie about this with Irish American actor Aidan Quinn is called The Songcatcher.
Saoirse Grace I will check out Songcatcher. Thanks!
Yes this music is truly beautiful worship. Sorry for my other comment. I love music so much I went a little crazy. It makes me cry also. Love these psalms in Gaelic. Love to hear worship music sung in language of my ancestors. Thanks to RUclips so much out there.
It has the same effect on me!
I love how they honor the Lord by wearing their Sunday best. Pure class.
It was brave of the people of Back Free Church to permit their beautiful psalm singing to be recorded and shared on the internet. A very moving experience, thank you.
I am so blessed and privileged to have grown up with this and to this day recall the hairs on my arms and neck standing on end at a Gaelic service with my beloved gran back home on the Isle of Lewis ! X
I have no gaelic but this calls to me, like the waves of the sea
...there's actually a Gaelic song with a smiliar name "An Ataireachd Ard" (the high surge of the sea). (This is more beautiful to me, tho :)
@@bb3ca201
"An Ataireachd Ard" has an attractive melody, and is understandably a very popular song. If I mind right, it's a Lewis song. However, this definitely has a hugely more powerful impact.
I was brought up with this and took it as accepted practice at church in Harris every Sabbath day.. I have been a long time away from home, but it still sends a tingle down my spine every time I hear it. Beautiful praise of the Lord in a pure and unalloyed form. Priceless.
My wife is from Point and I've been lucky enough to hear these songs in person in church multiple times and is one of those things that will stay with you forever.... Thank you for posting, will push replay for the 10th time now 😊
When the faithful sing, we join the neverending chorus of angels and saints, in all tongues, dialects and accents, singing praises to God. This was a powerful reminder of this; thank you.
Our traditional tone of singing in the cook islands ( imene tuki) originated from gaelic ways of singing. Really I could listen to this all day
This sounds exactly like the singing that I remember from the churches here in eastern Kentucky. I always wondered where this originated and now I know.
What a joy and privilege to go to bed hearing this. God is good; so good.
0:41 Psalm 118v15 to the tune Coleshill
2:11 Psalm 16v8 to the tune Kilmarnock
3:34 Psalm 107v 28-29 to the tune Kilmarnock
5:05 Psalm 48v14 to the tune St. David
I have been to this church. The best spiritual experience I have ever had....wonderful...
Thank you so much..the news today is that I am very ill, have C.O.P.D and caught flu, only today have remotely felt well....Please can you all say a prayer for me today..My life is changing.....I am in despair at the moment, but know this will alter..thank you for sending video...x
I have replied to you. As far as I know, my spiritual mother was Abigale...not sure though.Thank you for answering me....
I could feel the Holy Spirit move within me as I listened
JesusLivesandRules yeah man , what a feeling .
My grandmother is an old regular baptist here in Kentucky and their church sings this exact same style. It's actually my favorite type of singing since I have heard it all my life.
I didn't know that . Treise libh! Power to ye! My head rejects Protestantism but my heart aches for this ancient psalmody (which is much older than the 16th century). And lost - as I had thought - elsewhere.
@@numealinesimpetar1 The regular Baptist's sing hymns in this style, not psalms
Our"hills"here became our ancestors replacement for the highlands.no wonder ya heard this kinda singing all ur life.👍
My ancestors came from Scotland. They came to North Carolina in the United States. They moved up to Kentucky where they settled in the Appalachian hills. They were like their own homeland. I’ve heard this singing of hymns all of my life. My grandfather was a deacon of his church. He traveled around preaching in other church’s also. This type of singing is beautiful ❤️
@@beverlyegner3932 Wow. I wasn't expecting another reply. I just showed a friend this just the other day. This type of singing is still going on in Kentucky as well in the Old regular Baptist parts atleast. I'm afraid 1 day as generations pass, that this type of thing will be gone here.
This is beautiful, so sensitively sung, very moving. I honestly believe this kind of singing is God- given, God inspired. The precanter reminds me of some African singers who do the same, as the others sing the rest. Again, witnessing this, especially if you're at a church service, is very moving. Let's pray our Lord draws the online hearers of this to Him 💓
These people love the Lord, there is power in this!
Praise be
Amen.
Amen
So much amen
This sounds very different from classically influenced ecclesiastical music.
Very haunting and primal. You can nearly imagine this type of chanting stretching back in the 6th century and the age of Celtic missionaries.
(Hope you don't mind me replying so late.) You're right. At least some of the Irish missionaries that brought Christianity to Scotland were educated by the Coptic church. You can see another connection in the visual style of the oldest surviving illustrated Scottish & Irish texts -- those big-eyed, stylised faces. It seems some Irish monks studied in Egypt and perhaps in Ethiopia (which still has similar free hetereophonic psalm-singing by the congregation). The leather cover of a loose-leaf folder of psalms from around 800AD, found in Co Tipperary in Ireland in 2006 (The Faddan More Psalter) is lined with Egyptian papyrus.
jistaface
"the Irish missionaries that brought Christianity to Scotland" ????
HELLO!!!! St. Ninian??? St. Alban???? St. Mungo?????
St. PARTICK was a 'Briton'! Probably from what is now Scotland, on the river Clyde, the BRITS brought Christianity TO IRELAND eejit, not the reverse, ffs!!!!!
The 'Irish' are Britons from SW Scotland, who landed in this blessed isle, just after the last Ice Age, LOL!!!!
We are 1 & the same people as the BASQUES............the last, of the indigenous Europeans...........The "Atlanteans", the peoples from Northern Portugal to the Shetland Isles, are of the SAME DNA: R1b Y-DNA to be exact, as those who live from Lisbon, to Oslo!!! (Native Europeans: formerly called 'The Celts'!).
"the Irish missionaries that brought Christianity to Scotland"
Yes, indeed. You're right that Patrick is thought to have come possibly from Dumbarton - the Antonine wall area. (though his story of the late 400s is conflated with that of Palladian) He was from a romanised class/culture on the edge of the empire as the empire faded. That HE was a Christian does NOT mean the future Scotland was Christian. The northern and eastern parts of Scotland were proselytised by the collegiate, scholarly missionaries of Ireland. Ninian who proselytised to the "southern" Picts and Northumbrians was a good few decades later than Patrick - and it's thought he may have beenFinian from Moville in Ireland. Finian's most famous pupil? Columba. Mungo (aka Quentigernus) was 200 years later than Patrick.
jistaface
You're talking absolute SHITE!!!
"Ninian who proselytised to the "southern" Picts and Northumbrians was a good few decades later than Patrick" ??
HERE are the actual FACTS:
"More certainly, Ninian was the first bishop of Galloway. That he established his see at Whithorn, Caledonia, is a supposition borne out by modern anthropology. There, in about 397, he built a whitewashed stone church (hence Whithorn, or White House, from the Anglo-Saxon Huitaern; Latin Candida Casa)-a notable departure from the customary wooden churches of the Britons. The monastery that he established at Whithorn was, by the 6th century, a leading Anglo-Saxon monastic centre.
Historically, there is little doubt that Ninian carried out his mission in Scotland, although there is some confusion about the areas that he visited. Modern scholars believe that, though his influence among the Picts may have been overestimated, his success with the Celts was evidently much greater. Indisputable evidence of his influence survived in the large number of churches dedicated to him throughout Scotland and in several locations in northern England, and it is generally agreed that his missionary work prepared the foundation for the later efforts of Saints Columba and Kentigern.
St. Ninian’s shrine at Whithorn drew many pilgrims, among them King James IV of Scotland, who was a regular visitor. The Roman Catholic diocese of Galloway retains Candida Casa as its official name."
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/415740/Saint-Ninian
Ninian had ESTABLISHED his Monastic Centre BEFORE Patrick ever set foot in Ireland, ffs!!!
jistaface
More much needed education for ye son:
"Ninian is also called Nynia, Ninias, Rigna, Trignan, Ninnidh, Ringan, Ninus, or Dinan. He was a Celt, born in southern Scotland in about 360, and is regarded as the FIRST MAJOR PREACHER of the Gospel to the people living in BRITAIN NORTH of the Wall--that is, living outside the territory that had been under Roman rule.
He is said to have studied in Rome (note that he is contemporary with Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine), but was chiefly influenced by his friendship with Martin of Tours, with whom he spent some considerable time when he was returning from Italy to Britain. It is probable that he named his headquarters in Galloway after Martin's foundation in Gall. Martin had a monastery known as Loco Teiac, a Latinized form of the Celtic Leug Tigiac. Leug means "white, shining," and Tig means "house" (a shanty, or Shan-tig, is an old house). The suffix -Ac means "little." Thus, Martin's monastery had a name which in Celtic means "little white house."
At about the time of Martin's death in 397, Ninian built a church at Galloway, in southwest Scotland. It was built of stone and plastered white, an unusual construction in a land where almost all buildings were wood. He called it Candida Casa (White House) or Whithorn, presumably after Martin's foundation at Tours. Archaeologists have excavated and partially restored his church in this century.
From his base at Galloway, Ninian preached throughout southern Scotland, south of the Grampian Mountains, and conducted preaching missions among the Picts of Scotland, as far north as the Moray Firth, He also preached in the Solway Plains and the Lake District of England.
Like Patrick (A GENERATION LATER!) and Columba (a century and a half later), he was a principal agent in preserving the tradition of the old Romano-British Church and forming the character of Celtic Christianity. Some historians think that the number and extent of his conversions has been exaggerated, but throughout southern Scotland there are many and widespread churches that bear his name, and have traditionally been assumed to be congregations originally founded by him."
justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/245.html
This sounds so similar to Native American Baptist church hymns where I’m from. Except my Native American side is Muscogee and sing in Muscogee. It makes sense though because they were influenced by the Scottish and Ulster-Scots. The other part of my family is Scottish and some moved to Ulster. Then they came to the U.S. I wonder how close the hymns are to the Muscogee ones. We sing it the same way in a call and response with no instruments. Also it’s beautiful to hear it in Gaelic. Mvto! (Thank you!)
It also sounds like the Ethiopian Orthodox and Cook Islands Raretonga Church singing. So much so it's eerie.
Old Regular Baptist sings their hymns like this. In the United States in Kentucky. I was raised in a church like this. Heard it all of my life. My ancestors were Scots Irish. They settled in the hills of Kentucky
This also sounds almost exactly like the old order Amish songs. I was born Amish and this brings so much nostalgia for me
@Leo C
Give this one a listen. It's Gaelic first time I heard it I thought it was Native American.
ruclips.net/video/4B5OdfOP8RA/видео.html
The people’s from Northwest England, Ireland and Scotland, Protestants most of them conquered, CONQUERED, North America, their musical style, a church style, created many popular genres of today.
This is medicine for the soul, may our heavenly father bless you all
Pretty amazing when you hear line singing in Gaelic and it reminds you so much of what you grew up with in Kentucky.
my grans in this
The sound of the sea............surrounded by the sea --- singing in waves.........echoing
Lucky enough to have my wife being from there and her family. This singing I heard for the first time on her aunties funeral who we all loved very much. Magical is the only thing I can call it what I feel when I listen to it.
My Families last names are Back and Boggs. We are all members of the Old Regular Baptist Church in Kentucky. Our singing sounds almost exactly like this. Not in Gaelic of course, but the sounds are the same. I am sure the roots of our Churches and music are part of the same tree.
I grew up in the Appalachian mountains, a descendant of highland and lowland Scots. I listened to this the first time with tears in my eyes. It touches me so deeply. It evokes a lot of emotion and is beautiful beyond description. I wish I could put it on loop and listen to it over and over. Please post more!
You actually can if you type in "repeat" after "youtube" in the URL at the top of your screen!
I have deep family roots in Appalachia and have lived here most of my life. Before becoming psalm-singers we attended Appalachian churches where the sound of the singing was reminiscent of that in this Gaelic congregation, although in English and merely uninspired compositions.
@@westminstercovenanter912 I think the Appalachian versions of this type of singing have more soul then this, as beautiful as it is.
@@meredithwilliams4671 There is a slightly mournful tone to both, as if the singing comes from some sort of deep sorrow in the soul. It always seems to me to be a sort of soft, low, and gentle wail.
@@westminstercovenanter912 Fair enough. :) I do love both styles, but having grown up with Roscoe Holcomb and Ralph Stanley, I'm probably more than a bit biased. As a fellow Appalachian, the pain and hardship I hear in the traditional Baptist music is also my own. At any rate, thank you for keeping things civil and courteous. God bless you. :)
my grandparents live on lewis and my uncle is from Back....he is a Maclennan,this brings back memories of going to church with my grandparents....the isle of lewis and my family there will always have a special place in my heart even though i am now in NZ...thanks for the great sounds and for bringing back great memories
Thank you O lord for Gaelic. It really is a beautiful language, thank you father for the language of the Gaels
Tha sin cho brèagha. Tha mo chridhe goirt ach tha gaol agam air seo. Tapadh leibh!
Worship the Lord in the Holy Spirit. Beautiful. Ronsie
This is almost exactly like Old Order Amish “slow tunes” from their words only hymn book, Ausbund used in church services. A “Vorsinger,” an older man with ability, leads out from his seat, and the entire congregation, also seated, finishes the line or phrase.
If there is a God at all, he must be listening to this, misguided or not, nobody can question or deny the beauty of this worship.
I am from southwestern va, this singing is GODgiving . Iamblessed to be A RegularPrimitive Baptist this sound is like no other it touches the soul.
Seriously takes my breath away. Imagine that unified sound raising up to God.
My best friend’s granddad used to be the presenter - the man who starts the psalm. I’m from the highlands but her family are from North Uist in the Hebrides. When I visit Lewis I like to listen outside the church - they still do this. I’m 46 now and still live in the Highlands and as kids we learned to speak and sing in Gaelic as well as English. It’s a gorgeous language and we have many Gaelic choirs throughout Scotland….i was in Strath Gaelic Choir until my children came along very close to one another and I didn’t have the time.
All honoring and revering the Lord with sublime praise and by wearing their Sunday best--a beautiful sight to behold.
Just home from a week in north uist we attended free church this almost made me cry hairs on the back of my neck were standing up praise The Lord praise The Lord Eddie / Elaine
sounds like a roomful of angels...
Absolutely beautiful. Nothing like it 🏴❤️
We sing the old lined songs here in kentucky usa, Old Regular Babtists, all for the Glory of God.
Absolutely beautiful! I'm getting into the music of the Christian church (historically speaking) and have enjoyed Byzantine and Gregorian chanting. But as a reformed protestant i thought it ended with us until i found out about Psalm singing. God bless you guys!
Glad to say that I'm now the proud owner of both CDs containing all recordings from these sessions, 'Salm' Vols I and II. This is music of the soul !!
Psalm 133:1. Just a reminder for the arguers below. 🙂 Look at the live broadcast services and you'll find some Gaelic Psalms being included; not in all churches, true, but it hasn't disappeared.
makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand truly amazing
my grandparents live on lewis and my uncle is from Back....he is a Maclennan,this brings back memories of going to church with my grandparents....the isle of lewis and my family there will always have a special place in my heart even though i am now in NZ...thanks for the great sounds and for bringing back great memories..also just realised this was filmed on my birthday....
Enchanting, haunting and extremely moving...beautifully delivered.
This is otherworldly and beautiful. The sound of heaven. Bless the Lord.
I am not religious,but this makes my heart swell. Just folk singing from their inner souls.
Thank you for uploading this truly spiritual music. I have been fortunate enough to attend a similar service in the Western Isles - what an experience!
My head rejects Presbyterianism but my heart aches for this ancient psalmody (which is much older than the 16th century). And lost elsewhere. These guys are not playing games. Moladh go deo le Dia.
Thank you for commenting Michael . Much appreciated. God bless
Michael O'Farrell
I’m visiting a Presbyterian Church, since it’s very near my home. Can you please tell me what it is about the Presbyterian faith and doctrine that your head rejects.
I realize one objection of yours could be “ Baptism with sprinkling of water” however this Church gives a choice of the type of Baptism” you want.
I certainly would appreciate your honest view on this because I’m searching for a Church home.
@jane pollock thank you, Jane ... I try to keep them in synch. I love listening to this psalmody but I won't become a Presbyterian because I see that they are wrong about Sola scriptura and many other things
praise yea the lord, call upon him while he is near
I’m an atheist and I love this!
This is the only music that can make me cry with happiness. It's soulful beyond description
great to hear these people singing in gaelic their native language
we could learn a lot here!
So Beautifull
Praise GOD for His Loving Kindness
Praise GOD for His Tender Mercies
to us His Children.
GOD bless ❤️
The hymns sound so much like the Amish sing in church! Except the song leader will start only one syllable at the beginning of each line. This gave me chills! I grew up Amish and miss hearing this!
very beautifull, wish you all the best from holland
Such moving singing. Praise be to God
This is truly beautiful. It was like the rythm of the sea.
I get so upset when I hear the Gaelic singing. Such power and emotion make me cry. I played some in my earphones while sitting on Strathaidh beach... I was in bits. And it was sad to see that the Free Kirk that my Great Grandmother (and mother when she visited) is now a ruin.
Welcome to the celtic soul
Beautiful video. Love the singing and the scenery.
In Georgia in the United States, there are people who sing a lot like this.
Things have relaxed since my day. Some women in the church are hatless!
I noticed that too. You wouldn't have seen that in Auld Killie in the '60s! 😮
Beautiful. the passion within Highland Presbyterianism is truly humbling.
If you listen to this enough, it will, from time to time mysteriously appear and gently wake you in the morning and you may hear it sublimely lull you to sleep at night.
That's your Guardian Angel praising God. Listen to him!
Amazing! We´ve had this simular song tradition in the Faroes, but sadly on a decline now. There´s just in one church and one choir, where they still sing in the old manner.
Faroes did you no gub us at the fitba? We forgive ya🤣🤣was it Bertie Vogt cannae mind eu plant save oor seas and fishing lol
FAST and PRAY for revival!
Very moving and spiritual loved the psalm singing with no frills jk scottish borders
When I got to the part of The Blackhouse where Fin revisits the Gaelic church of his youth and recalls the singing of Gaelic psalms I wanted to hear firsthand to have a fuller effect than simply reading about them! What a marvelous video! Marvelous sounding singing! Loved it!
I can't believe how much this sounds like the singing at an Amish gathering. It is very beautiful nonetheless.
There is something about this type of singing tied in with the spirit of the islands. When I was stationed there in the mid 80s with the RAF, we often had to change shifts at the Aird Uig transmitter station on the Sunday, (now sadly derelict and gone along with the likes of us RAF personnel) and we often took the milk out from the dairy and delivered it to a few houses in the way as we passed. You could bet that the milk would still be on the doorstep until Monday morning. Very very austere, because there weren’t any drinking holes open on ‘the sabbath’ in town, the local sinners would often come up to the RAF Stornaway bar at the site on the junction of the road into Stornaway and the Melbost Road..
The afternoon would be a piss up and one of the local guys, Donny the MT driver and Pete the RAF MT Sgt would both be in attendance enjoying cheep NAAFI beers and Spirits. Donny being such a small chap would be seated on his stool at the bar and you knew when had reached his fill when he would often fall off his perch...so funny..
Also on a Saturday night there would be the bop at our place as at that time there wasn’t really a proper place for young folk to go so debauchery was often on the menu ... such fun. ( . )( . ) I even got chatted up by one of the local Lesbians who I believe was off to Norway or somewhere to be one of the first people to have a gay marriage .... in the 80s on Stornaway can you believe it? Lol...
Ah happy days though, great islands
I was quite flattered to be chatted up by any woman in those days as I was still a cherry boy then with never having had sex at the age of 19 I would have given her one except she had the breath of the devils arsehole so I was a bit put off...rarely enough my honour was preserved until I was married a few years after...another rare thing in the 80s..chuckle ...God I am a sinner ...lol
An absolutely precious unique video. Thank you for posting.
Gaelic chant .The begining of gospel and laterly soul music another unheralded scots invention.
Quite haunting, moving & beautiful singing!
Very beautiful, haunting. I speak Gaelic, but cant understand the words here, wish i could. How wonderful the Reformed Church has kept up this tradition and in the Gaelic tongue
Interesting how the pentatonic scale (I’m presuming) makes it sound almost Ethiopian Orthodox.
A beautiful and very apt form of worship. Thank you so much for sharing it!
I’m a Scottish catholic’ I love this.it makes me worship from the heart .
this is truly beautiful singing,its magical
Wow
This is the most magnificent congregational singing I've ever heard. The Welsh and Irish are great hymn-singers too. Must be a Celtic thing. If American congregations sang like this, our churches would be packed.
Hi Wayne, this singing did make it to America and survive there. Look for Primitive Baptist churches in the Appalachians, South Georgia, etc. Also old line African-American Primitive Baptists.
edisonstalkingmachin Didn't Negro Spirituals originate from Scotland?
Increase Peace After listening to this and visiting black Primitive Baptist churches, yes, the similarity is striking!
Increase Peace
Black Gospel certainly did, not so sure about Spirituals.
The Blues came from West Africa though!
***** No, spirituals came from Scotland through the immigrants that went to America.
West Africa? The Blues is AMERICAN.
In my mother's Old Landmark church, we sang psalms, only, just like these. We called the style of "lining out" the next line and the singers responding as "Call and Response."
math dha-rìribh!
RIP Murchadh MacCoinnich à Pabail
We still sing Psalms also, Great Video. God's Psalms are the Best Song every written.
David's psalms