The story of An Tinne will be performed at the Blas Festival next month
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A musical piece by Skye Gaelic singer, Anne Martin, which features songs and stories from Scots, Gaelic, modern Australian and First Nation artists will be performed in Resolis, Croy and Inverinate as part of the Blas Festival next month.
Part of it is a piece by Richard Frankland of Australia’s Gunditjmara people to help address the impact settlers made on the Aboriginal people.
The full line-up for the performance includes traditional song and new works by Pàdraig Mackay, Gerda Stevenson, Anna Murray, Anna-Wendy Stevenson, Ingrid Henderson, Hannah Moule and Maggie Rigby from Australia and a recording of Richard Frankland’s commissioned piece. Anne answered some questions about An Tinne.
Q Where did the first idea for the piece come from for you?
A: I’m from the north end of Skye and I have been singing songs from the area all my life and it struck me that there were very few songs from Greaulainn in Kilmuir, Skye – just one. I had been in Australia singing in 2007 and had been asked by someone there, Stuart MacPherson, ‘Which part of Kilmuir are you from?’ and it turned out his people were from Greaulainn. We chatted and developed a friendship and have been across to visit each other. Above their fireplace is a a slabhraidh – the hook and chain that held a cooking pot over a fire – that his ancestors took to Australia as part of their journey from the Clearances.
[Along with a book of songs collected in Trotternish by Katie Douglas in the 1930s, the idea began to form for Anne for the project that has become An Tinne, which was originally commissioned by SEALL for the 2022 Year of Scotland’s Stories.]
Q You decided to have other voices invited to be part of the whole story of the MacPhersons’ journey. In 1852, Donald and Anne MacPherson left the now abandoned township of Greaulainn, in Kilmuir on Skye, boarding a ship to Geelong, Victoria. Along with a Gaelic bible, the slabhraidh was their most precious possession?
A: To Stuart’s family, the hook is a link to the other side of the world and another time. But there is another side to the Clearances, a story not often told, that of the injustices done to the Aboriginal people. We commissioned Richard Frankland of the Gunditjmara people to help address that omission. And Richard has produced a relevant, moving and powerful piece.
Q For people who might not know your own work, Anne, how did you come to music and performing?
A: I was born and brought up in Trotternish on the Isle of Skye where she learnt a wealth of her tradition from older neighbours and relatives and have been singing and researching Gaelic song since I was a child. Having sung in America, Australia, Canada, Europe and India, I have performed at large festivals, concert halls, and lots of small and intimate village halls too!
Q The show was presented on Skye last year, but now it will be performed again three times as part of Blas in a few weeks’ time?
A Yes, we will be taking An Tinne as part of the Blas Festival to Resolis on September 7, Croy on September 8 and Inverinate on September 9, the final night of the festival.
The Blas Festival, which runs from September 1-9, organised by Fèisean nan Gàidheal in partnership with Highland Council, showcases Gaelic culture and the Scottish traditional music scene over nine days of events in venues across the Highlands and Islands. For full details and ticket information, go to: www.blas.scot
