While many of us were still half asleep first thing on Thursday morning, spare a thought for those whose job it was to get us feeling all dancy.
Puirt à beul means ‘a tune from the mouth’ or ‘mouth music’. Historically, these cheerful, upbeat Gaelic songs were written to accompany dancing in the absence of instruments.
Zip forward hundreds of years to 9.30am on October 19, the solo singing puirt à beul opens, when five competitors stepped up alone on stage at Paisley’s Re:Hope Church to swing the audience into a birl, using only the power of their maws and meaningless vocables.
“Make us want to dance,” challenged one judge Mary Ann Kennedy. “There are so many singers from previous generations who are masters. Find the tune that is for you.”
The contest could not have been closer, with only one point separating them. But in the end, Mary Ann said, “the true Strathspey of the morning” gave Nicola Pearson first place.
A “delighted” Nicola, who hails from Oban and works as head of finance at Bòrd na Gàidhlig, said: “It is difficult singing puirt-à-beul first thing in the morning, because you are sleepy and not so dancy!”
Second place went to 28-year-old Saffron Hanvidge from Inverness, a finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year in 2022, who has won this puirt-à-beul competition four times.
“This was going to be my last time if I won,” she said, meaning you may be able to hear her again at the Oban Mòd next year.
Very close in third place was Simon Stallard from London, and just one point behind him, in fourth equal, was Pàdruig MacCuidhein from Oban and Coinneach MacLeod from Lewis.
“It was great fun,” said Pàdruig. “I was annoyed I did a bit wrong, but that was nerves. It was brilliant to learn a song.
“Coinneach and I won the duet in Dunoon. We came second the next year, then fourth. Most Mòd singers get better but we were getting worse! We thought we would give it a break this year.”
Coinneach, also known as The Hebridean Baker, said: “It is a big part of entering the Mòd – learning a new song. This is my second time. It’s too early for a puirt à beul!”