The Big Lament: Programme & Guide

30 TH OCT thru 2 ND NOV 2013

PROGRAMME & GUIDE

WELCOME

30TH OCT

2ND NOV

THE LUNCH CLUB LAMENT With George & Alexandra Stewart

THE BIG LAMENT SYMPOSIUM With Barnaby Brown, Peter Todd & Kirsty Gunn

— 30TH OCT & 1ST NOV CANNTAIREACHD WORKSHOPS With Barnaby Brown

THE BIG LAMENT PROCESSION With Sutherland Schools Pipe Band THE BIG LAMENT SCREENING & CEILIDH With Alex Neilson and The Crying Lion

THE BIG LAMENT A series of events to reflect on our relationship with the Sutherland Clearances today.

Inspired by the soundtrack to Margaret Tait’s film Caora Mor: The Big Sheep, 1966, Timespan's Digital Artist Oliver Mezger has been responding to the pibroch or piobaireachd (Gaelic), seething, bubbling stream of notes, music of the Scottish Highland bagpipe. Musicians Barnaby Brown, George & Alexandra Stewart and The Crying Lion will perform. Peter Todd, Kirsty Gunn and others will discuss their thoughts on the subject at the symposium.

There is a processional ‘lament’ through Helmsdale and we return to Portgower Hall for a screening and ceillidh 45 years after Margaret Tait first showed Caora Mor: The Big Sheep, 1966.

It will be shown alongside the film it inspired, Air Sgàrth—For the sake of Margaret Tait, 2013 by Oliver Mezger. The films will be accompanied by a live score and pibroch; ‘Lament for Donald Laggan’.

Please join us on the different journeys of discovery and reflection as we remember our past, celebrate the present and contemplate our highland future through a consideration of this distinctive highland music.

WED 30TH OCT 11am – 3pm Community Centre, Helmsdale

THE LUNCH CLUB LAMENT In partnership with Luminate: Scotland’s Creative Ageing Festival.

George and Alexandra Stewart present an introduction to pibroch and canntaireachd; classical music and mouth music of the Highland bagpipes.

Tickets £5 Including lunch

11.00 Arrival—Teas, Coffees & Scones 11.20 Welcome & Introduction 11.30 Talk and Demonstrations by George & Alexandra Stewart: Memory and Remembering through Pibroch 12.30 Lunch 13.05 Live music from the Sutherland Schools Pipers 13.25 Film Introduction by Oliver Mezger 13.35 Screening of Caora Mor: The Big Sheep, 1966 by Margaret Tait & Air Sgàrth: For the Sake of Margaret Tait, 2013 by Oliver Mezger.

14.20 Chat—Teas, Coffees & Baking 14.30 Q&A With George & Alexandra Stewart

WED 30TH OCT & FRI 1ST NOV 6.30 – 8pm Timespan, Helmsdale

CANNTAIREACHD MOUTH MUSIC WORKSHOP with Barnaby Brown.

FREE

SAT 2ND NOV 10am – 1pm Timespan, Helmsdale

THE BIG LAMENT SYMPOSIUM A consideration of the significance of pibroch to contemporary highland culture. Investigating memory and the circular motifs of pibroch, and what Kirsty Gunn calls 'a return'.

Tickets £5

10.00 Welcome & Introduction 10.15 Talk by Barnaby Brown: Visual Canntaireachd— Gestures to Jog the Memory 10.45 Q&A 10.55 Talk by Peter Todd: Thinking filmically, thinking poetically— Margaret Tait and a New Cinema 11.25 Q&A 11:35 Chat—Teas & Coffees 11:50 Talk by Kirsty Gunn: The Big Music, Words and Music (a Form of Canntaireachd one Might say—and The Lyric Novel—with a Reading) 12:20 Q&A 12:30 Panel Discussion Lunch in Timespan's Riverside Café (optional)

SAT 2ND NOV 2 - 3pm Meet at Strathnaver Street

THE BIG LAMENT PROCESSION An evocative procession through the streets of Helmsdale.

We remember our connection to the land, commemorate the Clearances and celebrate our lives today.

FREE

13.45 Meet on Strathnaver Street: Andrew Innes plays pibroch from Helmsdale Rock, followed by music from The Crying Lion.

14.05 Procession starts on Strathnaver Street to Sutherland Street: Barnaby Brown performs pibroch. Procession continues along Dunrobin Street toward Timespan: Sutherland Schools Pipe Band lead the way.

14.20 Music and acknowledgment of Margaret Tait outside the Bridge Hotel.

SAT 2ND NOV 3.30 - 8.30pm Portgower Hall, Transport from Helmsdale provided Tickets £5 Including High Tea

THE BIG LAMENT FILM SCREENING AND CEILIDH Including a Canntaireachd performance with those who participated in workshops led by Barnaby Brown.

14.50 Bus from Timespan to Portgower Hall 15.20 Teas & Coffee 15.30 Welcome to Portgower Hall 15.40 Canntaireachd Mouth Music Workshop Performance led by Barnaby Brown 16:00 Screening of Caora Mor: The Big Sheep, 1966 by Margaret Tait and Air Sgàrth: For the Sake of Margaret Tait, 2013 by Oliver Mezger, with live music and Pibroch from The Crying Lion and Barnaby Brown 16:45 Bar Opens & Chat 17:1 5 High Tea, by the Timespan's Fundraising Committee 18:30 Ceilidh and Video screening of Margaret Tait’s Painted Eightsome, 1970 and John MacFadyen (Stripes of the Tartan), 1970 20:30 Bus returns to Timespan

CONTRIBUTORS

PETER TODD TALK: Thinking Filmically, Thinking Poetically—Margaret Tait & A New Cinema Peter Todd is an artist working with 16mm film. He is also known for his collaborative works, as a film programmer and curator. Notably he has curated Garden Pieces, three programmes of films screened at BFI Southbank; the evolving series Film Poems (www.scribd.com/ collections 2326563/Film-Poems) and an international touring exhibition of works by Margaret Tait.

His films include An Office Worker Thinks of Their Love, and Home; We Saw and Untitled, and are available through LUX. His most recent project, Place of Work, takes its title from Margaret Tait’s film of the same name, and has included two curated film screenings at the Whitechapel Gallery, London.

Image from Untitled, 2012, a 16mm film by Peter Todd.

GEORGE R. STEWART George R. Stewart is a piper, inspired and first taught by ‘Bessie’ Brown, the sister of R.U. Brown. From the age of eight, Stewart continued his pibroch tuition with R. B. Nicol of Balmoral; the relationships with both teachers continuing for the following 20 years.

From 1970-72 George Stewart was piper for the Balmoral Estate.

He has taught at numerous schools and colleges across the Grampian and Highland regions and since 1987 has taught in Sutherland schools, and is Director of Music for the Sutherland Schools Pipe Band.

ALEXANDRA E. STEWART A singer of Canntaireachd, the mouth music of the bagpipes.

She traces her line to Am Pìobaire Dall, The Blind Piper of Gairloch.

ANDREW J. INNES Piper Andrew J. Innes was born and brought up in Helmsdale.

He has been taught by George R. Stewart and played with Sutherland Schools Pipe Band. He won the Piobaireachd competition Young Piper of the Year 1997, and he is a multi Mod Medalist and Northern Meetings Under 18 Champion, 1997.

KIRSTY GUNN TALK: The Big Music, Words and Music (a Form of Canntaireachd one might say—and The Lyric Novel— with a Reading) Kirsty Gunn published her first novel with Faber in 1994, and since then has written five more works of fiction, including short stories and a collection of fragments and meditations. Translated into a number of languages and widely anthologised, her books have been broadcast, turned into film and dance theatre, and are the recipient of various prizes and awards, including Scottish Book of the Year 1997.

A regular contributor to a range of international newspapers and magazines, she is also Professor of Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee, where she established and directs the writing programme.

Kirsty lives in London and Scotland with her husband and two daughters.

Her latest work of fiction is “The Big Music”, published on July 4 2012 and recently winning the Fiction category and the overall Book of the Year prize at the New Zealand Post Book Awards 2013.

Barnaby taught at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for five years and has performed widely; recent engagements include the Edinburgh International Festival, Scène Nationale Glasgow’s Barnaby Brown leads d’Orléans, Spitalfields Festival and the modern revival of the northern triplepipe, the precursor of the bagpipe Celtic Connections. He is currently writing a PhD thesis on pibroch at in Britain and Ireland, and specialises the University of Cambridge, funded in intercultural collaboration, weaving by the AHRC project ‘Bass culture new music from traditional and in Scottish musical traditions’ historical materials. (bassculture.info).

He also champions the art of canntaireachd, the mouth music of the Highland bagpipe, and plays pibroch on a reproduction of a chanter owned by Am Pìobaire Dall, The Blind Piper of Gairloch (1656–1754).

BARNABY BROWN TALK: Visual Canntaireachd— Gestures to Jog the Memory

THE CRYING LION Alex Neilson—percussion/ vocals Lavinia Blackwall—vocals/ keys Katy Cooper—vocals/ violin Harry Campbell—vocals Ross MacCrae—trombone Richard Merchant—trumpet The Crying Lion are an unaccompanied four-part vocal harmony group from Glasgow featuring members of Trembling Bells and Muldoon’s Picnic. The group combines elements from a range of vocal traditions including American Sacred Harp, Gregorian chant, Medieval Madrigal and English Folk all refracted through Alex Neilson’s song writing to forge a sound that is both intimate and glorious.

With lyrical influences that range from eccentric English engraver Eric Gill, to experimental film maker Maya Deren, the writings of Saint John the Divine and the seething sexual menace of Dennis Potter, The Crying Lion are a unique blend of the visionary and the earthly.

Singing polyphonic harmonies with an immediacy that by-passes any need for amplification or instrumental trickery, the group have captivated audiences on a recent UK tour supporting Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and appeared in session on Marc Riley’s 6 Music show.

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