Mackenzie, Highland Council's Màiri Mhòr Gaelic Song Fellow and a former Mod gold medallist, has been left reeling by the positive response to her seasonal CD, "Duan Nollaig — A Gaelic Christmas".

The double album is believed to be the first Scottish collection of Gaelic Christmas carols and songs.

Among them are well established Gaelic carols such as "Taladh Chriosda (The Christ Child Lullaby)" and "Leanabh an Aigh", the melody best known to pop fans as the Cat Stevens' hit "Morning Has Broken", along with new songs and Gaelic versions of some of the world's best known Christmas songs, such as "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and "In the Bleak Midwinter" and surprises such as a Gaelic version of glum Canadian singer Leonard Cohen's "Halleluiah".

The album was also the basis of a showcase concert in Glasgow featuring all the musicians who appear on the album, with the exception of Capercaillie vocalist Karen Matheson, and which was introduced by Scottish culture minister Linda Fabiani and filmed for broadcast by STV.

Mackenzie will also be singing on the BBC Scotland Christmas programme and has been invited to perform in Bonn in Germany ahead of Christmas, while she can also be heard in the Highland Capital at the Methodist Church on Huntly Street on Sunday.

Songs from the album, which is distributed by Scottish folk specialists Greentrax, have been picked up by radio stations throughout Scotland and beyond, including Welsh language stations, while listeners have been tracking the singer down to either ask where they can find a copy of the album or sing their own praises for the finished product.

"The response has been incredible. I've been getting e-mails and phone calls from all over the world from people wanting to know where they can get it," Mackenzie said.

"We've had fantastic reviews. It's just been mind-blowing. We knew that we might hit a spot, but we've been more pleased than we anticipated."

The aim was to attract a new audience for the music and Gaelic and in this it seems to have succeeded, Mackenzie believes.

"We wanted to make an album that was accessible to everybody, whether or not they were particularly interested in Gaelic music or folk music," the Dingwall resident said.

"'Silent Night' and 'Away in a Manger' are tunes people will know and if they don't have Gaelic they can still hum along with them and though we have used fantastic traditional musicians, we have brought in musicians from other musical genres as well. Some of the songs are obviously traditional Gaelic songs, but they are all produced in a contemporary manner. You've got classical influences as well, a wee touch of Country and Western, the big rock numbers that are just going down a storm and you have the songs for kids and young folk which are easy to pick up."

The two CDs contain a total of 35 tracks and Mackenzie acknowledged she had found it hard to draw up a shortlist.

"Right from the beginning I knew it would be hard to cut down the number of songs," she said. "I wanted the nice quiet Christmas songs and the livelier ones, almost like a Gaelic party CD. A double CD seemed to be the right way to do that."

Fiona MacKenzie's Gaelic Christmas CD received a positive response.

Splitting the album in two allows one CD to be used as a party soundtrack, a suggestion made by some of the Gaelic medium teachers Mackenzie has worked with.

In addition to Karen Matheson, other performers on the album include Black Isle fiddler Anna Massie and Mod gold medal winner James Graham, both past BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musicians of the Year, Grantown's Hamish Napier from the band Back of the Moon and musicians from outside the tradition including Donnie Munro Band drummer Jim Drummond.

They are overseen by producer Irvin Duguid, whose credits include musical director for major theatre shows like the touring version of "The Producers" and working with Glasgow comedienne Elaine C. Smith on both stage and television, while the final mix was mastered by leading Scottish producer and sound engineer Calum Malcolm, whose credits include work with Clannad, Wet Wet Wet, Tommy Smith, Capercaillie, Simple Minds, Orange Juice, Prefab Sprout and recently the new live album from Blazin' Fiddles.

"I had absolute dream team of musicians and the producer Irvin Duguid is exactly what I wanted," Mackenzie said.

"I wanted someone who would have no preconceptions of what Gaelic song should or shouldn't be. Not coming from a traditional background, he just came in with good musical ideas and arrangements and good contacts as far as other musicians are concerned. He pulled in people I just wouldn't have known how to get hold of.

"We made no comprises at all as far as quality was concerned and with the finishing and the mastering as well it was definitely worth getting Calum Malcolm to master it and put that finishing sparkle on it. I'm very happy with in indeed."

For next Christmas Mackenzie hopes to bring out a book of musical arrangements to compliment the CD, the first such book ever produced, but the success of the CD should also make for more interesting opportunities for her in 2008.

"I've sung at the Scottish Parliament, at the concert in Glasgow and am singing on television so it has already opened up opportunities for me," she said.

* "Duan Nollaig — A Gaelic Christmas" by Fiona Mackenzie is available from Greentrax records.

c.macleod@inverness-courier.co.uk

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