Almanac Music – Runrig: A Band I Discovered

 

 

My family on my mum’s side come from Scotland. When my mum and her brothers were growing up, my grandparents took them to live in a lot of different places such as Kenya in Africa, and Cyprus, next to Greece before they moved to Australia in 1977, settling in the regional city of Geelong in Victoria. Then my mum moved out, married and lived closer to Melbourne where my sister and I were born. Growing up, I did not have much of a connection to Scotland having spent all my life in Australia. My mum took my sister and me to Scotland in 1999 and 2004. We stayed in Glasgow and visited such sites as Edinburgh Castle and Loch Ness.

Four or five years after that 2004 trip, I was listening to a track from an AC/DC live album. I recognised it, it was the old Scottish folk song ‘Loch Lomond’. So I decided to look up the song on YouTube. It was there I found a live clip of the song from a band called Runrig.  After listening to some of their other tracks, I started liking the band.

 

 

Runrig was formed in 1973 by two brothers, Rory and Calum Macdonald. This Calum was spelt with one L, as opposed to my name spelt with two. The brothers are from the Scottish island North Uist. Therefore, Gaelic is their native language. As a result, half of Runrig’s music catalogue is sung in Gaelic, the other half in English. The brothers were the primary songwriters. Runrig consisted of Donnie Munro on lead vocals, Rory Macdonald, on bass/acoustic guitar/vocals, Calum Macdonald on percussion, Malcolm Jones on lead guitar, Iain Bayne on drums and Peter Wisehart on keyboard. The band’s music was an upbeat rock style, while also mixing elements of traditional Scottish folk music as well as plenty of slow songs. Their songs are about the Scottish landscapes, it’s people and traditions.  It was common at their concerts for them to play ‘Loch Lomond’ as an encore.

In 1997 original lead vocalist, Donnie Munro left Runrig to pursue a career in politics. He was replaced by Canadain born singer Bruce Guthro. As Guthro was not a Gaelic speaker, Rory Macdonald took over lead vocal on their Gaelic songs. In 2001 Peter Wisehart quit, also to pursue a career in politics. He was replaced by Brian Hurren on keyboard.  So, this is the Runrig line up that existed until their last concerts, and retirement in 2018. In 2023, sadly, Bruce Guthro passed away from cancer at the age of 61. There is a clip on YouTube of Rory and Calum Macdonald tearfully performing one of their well known songs at his funeral.

I doubt this band is known that well outside of the United Kingdom or Euorpe. When my uncle found out I liked Runrig, he lent me a CD. It was the band’s debut album. As it is entirely in Gaelic, I didn’t really listen to it that much. Despite the geographical distance I have met people in Australia who know and like Runrig. With the internet now, it is so easy to find their music. In the past, I bought their CDs from a store near Flinders Street. The store specialised in rare and international releases. Just recently I have started listening to the music again. I still like it. Years ago, I worked out a couple of their songs on my acoustic guitar. I tried playing the songs again and I still remember how to play them. Next, I’ll have to work out on my own rendition of the songs.

 

 

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