Scottish Friendship Brought World Fame Russian Exile Sings in Gaelic. Thursday 21 October 1937. Fifteen years ago Mr Dudley MacGowan, son of ex-Provost Hugh MacGowan, Oban, and proprietor of Cullipool slate quarries on the Isle of Luing, was taking part in boating expedition off the Luing coast when he heard a woman singing in a strange tongue. Her fine voice carried over three miles of water and captivated Mr MacGowan. When he came ashore he found that the singer was Russian exile, Madame Varvara Kassovskaia. who had fled to this country in 1920 and had later married a Argyllshire man. He has since died. A friendship sprang up between the MacGowans and the Russian, and Miss Irene MacGowan, daughter of the ex-provost, taught her to sing Gaelic songs. She was an apt pupil, and in a short time had mastered several Gaelic songs. She gave her first concert in the Argyllshire Gathering Hall at Oban, where her fine dramatic soprano voice was greatly admired by the large audience. She later decided to travel abroad. Now she has just returned to Oban from Hollywood, and is the guest of the MacGowan family. SINGS TO-NIGHT. After a lapse of 15 years her voice will again be heard in the Argyllshire Gathering Hall at Oban to-night, where she will sing Gaelic songs and the songs of many lands. Miss Irene MacGowan will also sing Gaelic songs. Mr John MacGowan will be chairman, and his brother, Dudley, and his father, ex-Provost MacGowan, will be present. Madame Kassovskaia has become worldfamous. •_ "My success," she told a " Courier and Advertiser reporter last night, " is mainly due to that chance meeting with the macGowans on the remote Isle of Luing. They befriended when I was a stranger in a strange land." After leaving Oban she changed her name to Lul Gardo. She can now sing in 36 languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Maori, Zulu, and Eskimo. She has travelled extensively in five continents, learning the songs of each country and singing them while wearing appropriate dresses. She regards Scotland as her home.Lul Gardo died in Australia in 21 April 1962.
