Sian is a Scottish all-female traditional band who are known for their Gaelic vocal harmonies and celebrating Gaelic songs composed by women. They formed to raise the prominence of work by female Gaelic bards, which might not have received much attention or credit otherwise. Their name "Sian" takes its meaning from the Scottish Gaelic for "storm" or "the elements".

History

Sian originally came together at the

Fèisean nan Gàidheal Fèisean nan Gàidheal is the National Association of Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the ...

Blas Festival, when they were put together with Innes White, a guitarist and musician, to perform and celebrate songs by female Scottish bards in 2016. They continue with this theme to this day in their choice of material. In 2018, Sian featured on

Niteworks Niteworks (also known by the Scottish Gaelic ''Obair Oidhche'') is an Electronic Celtic fusion band from the Isle of Skye. The band are known for writing new songs in Gaelic and melding the bagpipes and Gaelic songs such as puirt a beul with ...

' song "Air Fàir an Là" on their album of the same name. The song "Air Fàir an Là" is originally the work of 17th century poet, Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh, born in Harris but who spent much of her life in the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

, who in her lifetime was shunned for her sin of writing poetry and upon her death, buried face down as punishment. In March 2020, Sian released their debut album, ''Sian''. Sian toured Scotland with their debut album in March 2020.

Band members

Sian has three Scottish band members: *Ellen MacDonald - also a member of Dàimh and a graduate of

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Sabhal Mòr Ostaig () (Great Barn of Ostaig) is a public higher education college situated in the Sleat peninsula in the south of the Isle of Skye, with an associate campus at Bowmore on the island of Islay, Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle (the ...

, where she studied traditional music. MacDonald also performs alongside Niteworks and provides the voices of Gaelic cartoon characters for example, she voiced Alvin from

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

for CBBC Alba's Gaelic children's section. *Eilidh Cormack - Gaelic Ambassador of the Year 2018, Singer of the Year at MG ALBA

Scots Trad Music Awards The Scots Trad Music Awards or Na Trads were founded in 2003 by Simon Thoumire to celebrate Scotland's traditional music in all its forms and create a high profile opportunity to bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media and ...

2018, Semi-finalist in

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

's Young Traditional Musician of the Year in 2016, won Ladies' Gold Medallist at the

Royal National Mòd The Royal National Mòd ( gd, Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail) is an Eisteddfod-inspired international Celtic festival focusing upon Scottish Gaelic literature, traditional music, and culture which is held annually in Scotland. It is the largest ...

in 2014 and contributed vocals to ''

The Bard's Tale IV ''The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep'' is a 2018 dungeon crawler video game developed by inXile Entertainment as a continuation to ''The Bard's Tale'' trilogy from the 1980s. Plot Some two centuries after the now-legendary events from the origina ...

'', a video game. *Ceitlin Lilidh - also has a solo career in Gaelic songs and is a graduate of the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

. She has won the Traditional Gold Medal at the

and the

Danny Kyle Danny Kyle (12 December 1939 – 5 July 1998) was a Scottish folk singer-songwriter. He was a passionate supporter of traditional music and a constant campaigner for its revival in Scotland. Kyle was an important figure in the Scottish Folk ...

Award; and was nominated for Gaelic Singer of the Year 2019. Her vocal also feature in ''

Outlaw King ''Outlaw King'', stylized as ', is a 2018 historical action drama film about Robert the Bruce, the 14th-century Scottish King who launched a guerilla war against the larger English army. The film largely takes place during the 3-year period from ...

'' on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

and

Skipinnish Skipinnish is a traditional Scottish band from the Gàidhealtachd, singing primarily in English. The band (and brand) Skipinnish was created by Angus MacPhail and Andrew Stevenson in 1999 - both studying at the time at the Royal Scottish Academ ...

's album, ''The Seventh Wave''.

Discography

Albums

* ''Sian'' (2020)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Sian website
Scottish Gaelic music Scottish Gaelic singers Celtic music groups All-female bands