It’s almost 30 years since I discovered the Fèisean, in which time they have grown from a young movement inventing practices from necessity into a cornerstone of traditional music and Gaelic education in Scotland. Fèis (pronounced ‘faysh’, plural ‘fayshen’) is roughly equivalent to festival, although since all language is a vector of culture, the words don’t really describe the same thing. In this context, a fèis is an organisation dedicated to passing on Gaelic culture – especially music, song and dance – from one generation to the next. The high point was usually a week of full-time tuition and performances – the fèis from which the name was derived.
In 1995, when I was researching them as part of the work that became ‘Use or Ornament?’, the focus was on children, with only Fèis Rois holding an event for adults (in which I participated). A generation later, many of those who learned Gaelic music through the fèisean are musicians and tutors themselves, passing on a living tradition. You can get a sense of the scale, diversity and ambition of the movement from the website of Fèisean nan Gàdheal, the membership organisation that supports their work. In 2023, 46 different fèisean involved over 19,000 participants in 12,000 sessions, creating the equivalent of almost 95 full time jobs.
I spent a lot of time with the fèisean in 1995, and more travelling between them, through beautiful glens and desolate moors, on island ferries and the little plane from Glasgow that lands on the beach at Barra. I met many wonderful people, some of whom are still friends, and I learned a great deal about traditional culture and the practice of research. Perhaps the key lesson was about the benefits of participation itself, whether in the arts or in other social activities. It’s a distinction I touched on the report, and in Use or Ornament? itself, but it remains under-recognised by those who want to make a case for arts funding.
Download the report here:
Northern Lights, The Social Impact of Participation in the Fèisean
François Matarasso 