Mary Smith
Joins the expedition for week 3
Mary Smith, from Ness, in the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, has performed in Europe, Canada, the USA, as well as Australia and New Zealand, making her debut recording in Wellington, New Zealand.
She is particularly interested in the social function of song, past and present within the Gaelic communities of Scotland, Ireland and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Her extensive repertoire encompasses many songs from the southern isles of the Outer Hebrides in addition to songs from her native Isle of Lewis.
She is deeply interested and involved in the shared experience of Gaelic traditional song in Scotland and seannos singing in Ireland. In 1999 she was honoured with an MBE for her services to Gaelic music. She launched Sheol Mi’n Uiridh, songs about sailing, published by Clar, in Stornoway and in Kildonan, South Uist, in October 2009. Mary Smith is a graduate (Drawing and Painting) of Glasgow School of Art. She researched and collected 24 paintings by the Ness artist Angus Morrison (1872-1942) and co-curated the exhibition in An Lanntair, Stornoway, with Dr Finlay Macleod in June 2006. Along with Ness artist Alison Macleod, she produced the Alexander Carmichael screen-print for the Isle of Lismore and read from Carmichael’s collection for the BBC TV programme Alleluia. She has worked consistently with the BBC over many years as well as with other film companies in Ireland and Scotland.
