Islanders passing through Oban are encouraged to visit an exhibition looking at the life and legacy of Jessie Niven MacLachlan, the ‘Songbird of the Gaels,’ ahead of the return of the Royal National Mòd to the town.
Jessie MacLachlan was renowned at the beginning of the last century as someone born into the Gaelic community of Oban during the late Victorian era.
She became a celebrated singer with a global following, performing for European royalty and in packed concert halls all over the world whilst simultaneously acting as an ambassador for the language.
Jessie - who was known as ‘The Queen of Scottish Song’- was the first Gaelic voice
to ever be recorded on the newly invented gramophone in 1899.
She was closely involved with An Comunn Gàidhealach and the first ever Mòd to have been held in Scotland which happened to be launched in Oban in 1892.
The exhibition is being shown in the CalMac ferry terminal building.
Exhibition remembers ‘Songbird of the Gaels’
7 October 2024