An Tinne (The Link) was a project led by SEALL and Skye Gaelic singer Anne Martin. It was supported by EventScotland as part of the Year of Stories 2022, Creative Scotland, the British Council and Bord na Gaidhlig.
This ambitious project linked a collection of songs, stories and objects across the centuries between Scotland and Australia. The connection is a cooking pot hook (an slabhraidh) which moved to Australia with a family forced from their homes during the 19th century Highland Clearances.
The township they left was Greaulainn, now a long-abandoned village in Kilmuir, and in 1852 Donald and Anne MacPherson boarded a ship to Geelong, Victoria, to fight for a new life in the New World. The slabhraidh was passed down through the generations and remains a constant reminder to the MacPherson families of their journey from Skye to Australia. Recent visits by family to both sides of the world forge the unbreakable link between people, land and language.
The project reimagined a collection of Trotternish songs (mainly written by women), gathered by Inspector of the Poor, Catriona Douglas, in the 1930s. A manuscript was created with additional insight into the place and the people who sang them. Part of the manuscript was reworked by a collaboration of female musicians and provided a source of inspiration for new music from Gaelic speakers, modern Australian and First Nation Artists from Scotland and Australia.
There were three distinct but linked chapters to An Tinne:
Stòras catriona – a new manuscript: Reproducing Catriona Douglas’ archive in a contemporary publication.
Fuasgladh – The reimagining, recording and performance of five songs. Five artists were introduced to the locations of the songs and their history. The artists took up up residence inside The Songhouse to reimagine the songs and prepare for a weekend of live in-person performances on the Isle of Skye Skye between 4 and 6 August 2022.
Slabhraidh – new work linking the Gàidhealtachd and Australia: The chain provides a real physical link to the past, of a culture and time, symbolic of the provision of food and captivity. It links the cultures of the Gàidhealtachd, White Australia and the Indigenous First Nation in both positive and negative ways. Using the slabhraidh and the conversations it evoked, artists from the three cultures were commissioned to create new work, new music, marking their connections and, hopefully, continuing a journey of recognition and reconciliation. Performances in Skye werre livestreamed to Australia and the World from Minginish hall on 6 August.
Performances – took place in Portree; Portnalong; and in the seat of Gaelic studies Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. There was also a traditional Gaelic strupag in Kilmuir.
Over the summer months, six musician-led guided walks to the less-well-known beauty spots of the Islands took place around cleared villages across Skye and Raasay, revealing the history of the clearances and entertaining participants along the way.