Ailein duinn
Ailein duinn ("Dark-haired Alan") is a traditional Scottish song for solo female voice, a lament that was written in Gàidhlig for Ailean Moireasdan ("Alan Morrison") by his fiancée, Annag Chaimbeul ("Annie Campbell"). In 1788, Ailean, a sailor, set off with his ship to Scalpay, Harris, where he and Annag would be married. In a tragic twist, the ship sailed into a storm and all on board were lost. Annag was devastated and lost her will to live, dying several months later. Her body was later discovered on the beach, not far from where Ailean's body was found. Before she died, Annag composed this lament for her lost love.
Lyrics
There are many versions of the lyrics and of the melody; the following version was used in the film Rob Roy (the untranslated words are vocables):
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Popular culture
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Tiesto - A Tear in the Open
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The song was sampled, somewhere around 2000, as a solo voice, with a very good interpretation, in a music library called "Vocal Planet" by Spectrasonics, making the a cappella version of the original song very accessible to lot of composers, this would be one of the reasons for which there are so many appearances in the media. The following is a list of songs, some of them using the sample of that music library, while others offer their own new interpretation:
Film
| Movie | Year | Name | Orchestrator | Vocal singing | Album | Track number | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rob Roy | 1995 | "Ailein Duinn" | Carter Burwell | Karen Matheson | Rob Roy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack From The Film |
7 | 2:35 |
| N/A | N/A | "Ailein Duinn"[1] | David Beard | Spectrasonics sample | N/A | N/A | 3:33 |
Modern music
| Name | Year | Length | Artist | Genre/Style | Spectrasonics sample |
External link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Ailein Duinn" [2] | 1993 | 5:17 | Mac-talla | Traditional | No | myshazam |
| "Ailein Duinn" | 1995 | 3:35 | Capercaillie | World | No | youtube |
| "Ailein Duinn" | 1998 | 3:42 | Celtic Spirit | World | No | youtube |
| "Ailein Duinn (Theme From Rob Roy)"[3] | 2000 | 4:33 | Méav | World | No | youtube |
| "A Tear in the Open"[4] | 2002 | 9:23 | DJ Tiesto | Trance | Yes | youtube |
| "Ishka" | 2002 | 5:23 | Angel Tears | Goa chillout | Yes | youtube |
| "Cura Me" | 2002 | 8:31 | Signum | Trance | Yes | youtube |
| "Splitting An Atom" | 2003 | 7:22 | Ott | Dub | Yes | youtube |
| "A Tear in the Open (Leama & Moor remix)" | 2005 | 9:55 | DJ Tiesto | Trance | Yes | youtube |
| "Ailein Duinn" | 2005 | 1:39 | Trobar de Morte | Neofolk | No | youtube |
| "Cry No More" | 2005 | 5:53 | Ryan Farish | New Age | Yes | youtube |
| "Pacific Wind" | 2005 | 5:26 | Ryan Farish | New Age | Yes | youtube |
| "Hall Of Dreams" | 2006 | 5:47 | En Voice | Ambient enigmatic | Yes | youtube |
| "Hymn to The Celts"[5] | 2006 | 5:37 | Tim Aur | Celtic | Yes | youtube |
| "Uninvited" | 2007 | 5:21 | Freemasons | House | Yes | youtube |
| "Pacific" | 2007 | 5:34 | Freemasons | House | Yes | youtube |
| "Friendship to Last" | 2007 | 3:13 | Two Steps From Hell | World/Trailer | No | youtube |
| "Ailein Duinn"[6] | 2007 | 2:36 | Nathalie Kuijpers | Acapella | No | youtube |
| "Anna" | 2008 | 6:10 | Spectrum Vision | Psybient | Yes | youtube |
| "Ailein Duinn"[7] | 2010 | 4:28 | Wine and Alchemy | World | No | N/A |
| "Avalon" | 2010 | 8:00 | Protoculture | Psy | Yes | youtube |
| "Ailein Duinn" | 2011 | N/A | Quadriga Consort | Early Music, World | No | artistdirect |
| "Ailein Duinn" | 2012 | 9:36 | Niteworks | Electronic, Celtic fusion | ? | Soundcloud |
| "World Inside My Heart" | N/A | 5:20 | Deep Spirit of Native Americans | New age, World | Yes | youtube |
Video games
| Video Game | Year | Composer | Appearance | Spectrasonics sample |
External link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos | 2002 | Tracy W. Bush | starts when the player loses as a Night Elf | N/A | N/A |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (video game) | 2003 | N/A | very briefly used in one of the songs | N/A | N/A |
| Chaos Legion | 2003 | Hideyuki Fukasawa | in the cave battle stage | N/A | N/A |
| Rome: Total Realism | 2005 | Vlad Kuryluk | Title Credits | yes | youtube |
| Spartan: Total Warrior | 2005 | Jeff van Dyck | after the final mission in Athens, as the heroes mourn the slain Pollux |
N/A | youtube |
| World of Warcraft | 2004 | N/A | first cinematic, before the game was released | yes | youtube |
| Tomb Raider: Legend | 2006 | Troels Folmann | Main theme includes the song with an Ave Maria chorus |
yes | youtube |
| Tomb Raider: Legend | 2006 | Troels Folmann | in Nepal, original pitched down voice together with a male voice |
yes | youtube |
| Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms | 2007 | Jeff van Dyck | in its Britannia campaign as part of a composition entitled Dream of Albion |
yes | youtube |
References
External links
- Background story, words and translation, School of Scottish Studies
- Music study on Ailein Duinn
- Ailein Duinn on celticlyricscorner.net
- Lyrics and recording informations