A Glasgow-based label, formed in or around 1957 by Murdo Mackenzie Ferguson as an outlet for material in the Scots Gaelic language; he also founded the Caledonian Music Company, mentioned on the company sleeve above. Gaelfonn's first single releases were in 10" 78rpm form, but by the time the 1960s arrived the 78s had been replaced by 7" vinyl. Unfortunately there are no dates on its records, but Stephen Small has put forward the idea that the first two digits of the matrix numbers may give the year, with the last two indicating how many tracks had been recorded in that year: thus the '6409' at 9 o'clock on the first scan shown above would indicate that that track was the ninth to be recorded in 1964. Stephen has also pointed out that Gaelfonn's complex catalogue numbering system was the result of each artist being alotted his or her own numerical series: thus records by Donald MacRae were numbered in the GMB-3800s, records by Mary Morrison in the GMB-3500s, and so forth. GTB-7202 was the second record by Tommy Darkie, GLA-2502 the second by Kitty Macleod, and so on. Prefixes included GMB, GLB, GLA, GRB, SNB, SPB and STP; material on the 'S' records appears been Scottish in origin but sung in English.
According to William Dean-Myatt's introduction to his 'Scottish Vernacular Discography 1888-1960' no Gaelfonn company files exist and it is not known when its final record was issued, but if Stephen Small's theory is correct the majority of its records came out in the first half of the 1960s, with only sporadic releases thereafter. I had Gaelfonn down as a 'Sixtes Only' concern, but Stephen has kindly sent details of an EP by Margaret Macleod (GMB-4901) which mentions her winning a gold medal at Oban in 1970, thus proving that the label was active in our decade. The matrix number of the first side of that EP, 7004, suggests a 1970 release and lends support to Stephen's theory about the numbers. If that theory is correct, Iain Mackay's 'Mhorag Leat Shiubhainn' b/w 'Tiugainn Leum A Ribhinn Oig' (GMB-6801) may be from the following year - its matrix numbers are 7121 and 7122. There may well be other examples out there. The Caledonian Music Company was still filing its annual returns in September 1973, according to the Edinburgh Gazette, and Stephen recalls a Gaelfonn LP coming out in the mid '70s, but there's nothing to indicate that either company survived into the '80s.
Copyright 2019 Robert Lyons.