A unique Manx recording from 1974 has emerged from an attic in the Netherlands.

Culture Vannin describes ‘The Mona Douglas Manx Ceili’ as a very important recording of Manx music and song.

It just been released online thanks to a Dutch visitor to the island 45 years ago.

The recordings were made in the home of Mona Douglas, one of the most important figures in the revival of Manx culture in the 20th Century.

Culture Vannin has released the audio recordings to mark the anniversary of Miss Douglas’s birth on September 18, 1898.

When Dutch journalist Wieky Beens visited the Isle of Man in 1974 she met the then 75-year-old Mona Douglas.

At the conclusion of her visit, Miss Beens was invited to an evening of Manx music, song and dance at Miss Douglas’s home in the hills above Laxey.

Culture Vannin says that Miss Beens was impressed by Miss Douglas’s energy and drive to celebrate the island’s cultural heritage that she and others were passing on to new generations.

But Miss Beens did not expect what came next.

Through the post came a cassette tape recording of musical parties and gatherings recorded by Barone Nikolai Giovannelli at Miss Douglas’s house at Ballaragh.

Consisting of songs in Manx Gaelic sung by soloists and groups, as well as music from some of the island’s most well-known musicians, the hour-long recording was created by Miss Douglas in order to show off what she felt to be the most distinctive examples of Manx music and song.

As well as having collected many of the traditional Manx songs performed in the recording, Miss Douglas herself introduces and even performs many of the pieces.

‘A recording like this is an amazing discovery,’ said Dr Chloe Woolley, Manx music development officer at Culture Vannin.

‘Not only is it rare to hear Mona Douglas’s voice, but a recording of this sort of Manx gathering is completely unique.’

It was intended that Miss Beens to play some of the tape on Dutch radio, but this wasn’t possible and so the tape was put in the attic of Miss Beens’ home, where it lay for more than 40 years.

But Culture Vannin’s release of the CD/DVD, ‘Mona’s Isle: The Legacy of Mona Douglas’ prompted Miss Beens to get in contact.

She soon passed the recordings to Culture Vannin in order to make then public and to ‘give it back to the Manx people’.

The full recording, and extracted highlights, are free to download from the Culture Vannin BandCamp page or via its website: www.culturevannin.im