
“The Iolaire disaster stretches our vocabulary to its limits and can only be articulated further through art.” – Roddy Murray, Founding Director and Head of Visual Arts – An Lanntair
Late on New Year’s Eve 1918, HMY Iolaire set sail from Kyle of Lochalsh in north-west Scotland, carrying nearly 300 seamen home to the Isle of Lewis after the war. But in the early hours of New Year’s Day 1919, the ship sank at the entrance to Stornoway Harbour: 201 servicemen perished in one of the most devastating maritime tragedies in modern British history.
To mark the centenary of the tragedy, 14-18 NOW and An Lanntair have commissioned two new suites of Gaelic music.
Composed by Lewis-born musician Iain Morrison, whose great-grandfather was among those drowned, and presented with pioneering Scottish artists Dalziel + Scullion, Sàl (Saltwater) has its roots in ceòl mòr, the ‘great music’ of the Highland bagpipes.
An Treas Suaile (The Third Wave), by BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winner Julie Fowlis and violinist-composer Duncan Chisholm, mixes new and traditional music, archive recordings and visuals. Its title was inspired by the actions of John Finlay MacLeod, who swam ashore with a rope from the Iolaire and helped save dozens of lives.
Sàl and An Treas Suaile will both be premiered in Stornoway before forming a focal point of the island’s centennial commemorations in December 2018.
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Co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary and An Lanntair.
Dates:
Sàl, Iain Morrison and Dalziel + Scullion – 27 October, 29 December 2018
An Treas Suaile, Julie Fowlis and Duncan Chisholm – 9 & 10 November 2018
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This project is part-financed by the Scottish Government and the
European Community Outer Hebrides Leader 2014-2020 Programme.