Fèisean nan Gàidheal is delighted to announce the release of its new Gaelic podcast, Cafe Bheairteis.
Cafe Bheairteis is one of Fèisean nan Gàidheal’s Fèisgoil projects and began online during the Coronavirus Lockdowns. It gave young Gaelic speakers of all abilities across Scotland and beyond a chance to raise their Gaelic language confidence in a friendly and informal setting. Secondary school and student age Gaelic speakers had the opportunity to engage with others across the country, as well as internationally, and the sense of community that developed over the Zoom sessions was especially important due to the ever-changing and unsettling situations during the pandemic lockdowns.
As the conversation sessions developed, a guest was invited each week to chat about their personal and working life, including their experience of Gaelic with the interviews led by a panel of young Gaelic speakers drawn from the online steering group. Over the weeks the guests included Gaelic speakers from all walks of life, among them Iain MacIlleMhìcheil, Lana Beaton, Seonaidh MacIntyre, Kim Carnie, Norman MacLeod and Mary Ann Kennedy. These conversations between the guests and the young people were recorded and are now available to listen to on the new podcast.
The young Café Bheairteis steering group who took part in the interviews were Mirren Ward (Glasgow), Matthew Gilmour Wright (Edinburgh), Luke MacLeod (Isle of Lewis) and Rae MacIver (Glasgow). They said;
‘I really enjoyed the Café Bheartais project! It came at a strange time; during the lockdowns and I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that the Friday afternoon Café B Zoom call was one of the times I looked forward to most. We created a new community as young Gaelic speakers that grew stronger over the months. Not only did we hear from some really interesting guests, but the best bit of the project was being able to use my Gaelic in a social situation with my Café B family.’
– Mirren
The Café Bheairteis Podcast was created by Fèisean nan Gàidheal with support from Creative Scotland, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Argyll and Bute Council, The Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Scottish Government. Our special thanks go to the young people who took part, the guests who agreed to be interviewed, John McDermid for technical support and to Karen Oakley for developing the podcast element of the project.
The first two episodes are already live and a new podcast will be uploaded each Friday and can be found by searching ‘Café Bheairteis’ on the Podcast app and will be linked to the Fèisean nan Gàidheal website and social media channels. If you enjoy the podcast, Fèisean nan Gàidheal would be grateful for community support by sharing the content and/or leaving five stars to help the podcast reach as many Gaelic speakers as possible.
