ABSTRACT
Two cases in point. In 1982, when I (TM) studied the precented (lined out) psalm singing done in the Scottish Gaelic language services primarily in the Hebrides Islands but also among island ex-pats living in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the worshippers at Greyfriar’s Kirk (church) in Edinburgh presented a challenge to the folklorists at the University of Edinburgh. Some years earlier, a young French woman had gone to live on the Hebridean island of North Uist, learned Gaelic, and had become exceptionally skilled in psalm singing. After moving to Edinburgh, she attended Greyfriar’s and provided the strongest voice of the Gaelic-speaking congregation. Some of the folklorists contended that her singing was not “authentic” because she had come to Gael life as an adult-even though she was the group’s best singer. In their view, an outsider could never attain insider status, even after many years of life among a new group and they did not consider her singing to be “authentic” or “valid.”
