This portfolio has been prepared in support of my application for Bi Glic! and showcases three recent soundwalks: Machair, Orasaigh, and Tidelines.
Machair
This soundwalk explores the traditions and ecology of machair in the Western Isles of Scotland through spoken word, Gaelic song, music, and soundscape composition. A Gaelic word meaning fertile, low-lying grassy plain, machair is one of Europe’s rarest yet most species-rich habitats, only occurring on the exposed west-facing shores of Scotland and Ireland. Generations of low-intensity farming have shaped this unique living landscape and encouraged wildlife over millennia. An agricultural tradition carried through oral transmission from generation to generation, reflecting the power of communities to preserve intangible cultural heritage from generation to generation without recourse to written code.
About the work
Originally mapped to an established walking trail on the machair at Lionacleit (Isle of Benbecula), the soundwalk responds directly to the landscape and traditions of the machair. Developed in partnership with local communities on Uist, this work combines contemporary recordings with archival sound recordings from Edinburgh University’s School of Scottish Studies that chart over 70 years of oral tradition. Comprised of five sections, the work charts the growing season from cultivating the soil in early spring to the harvest in autumn.
Contemporary voices include crofters Alasdair MacEachen and Anne MacLennan, whose crofts have been in their families for generations. With a lifetime of crofting experience, both provide first-hand perspectives on working the machair, reflecting on how crofting practices have changed over their lifetime. Environmental scientist Matt Topsfield provides insights into the machair’s formation, history, and ecology. Originally from Essex, Matt settled on Uist in 2010 as a project advisory officer for the EU-funded research project Machair Life. Towards the end of the walk, we hear from the next generation of crofters, namely brothers Freddie (aged 7) and Seoras (aged 4) MacDonald, who provide an excellent commentary on harvesting crops on the machair.
From the archive, we hear excerpts of Dr Emily Lyle’s 1977 interview with islanders Roderick MacKillop, John MacIver, Angus MacKenzie, and John Morrison. Through their conversation, insights are given into pre-war crofting practices, collecting seaweed and planting crops, where the absence of machinery required considerable manual labour. Despite the hard work, we learn that these practices were an important social event that brought communities together – as MacKillop exclaims, “it was a special day!”.
As a cultural landscape, the machair and crofting practices are a source of inspiration and are often cited in Gàidhlig music and song. As such, songs from the Western Isles feature throughout and help frame the structure of the walk, echoing the themes featured in spoken narratives. These include songs about homeland and crofting practices, such as Angus MacDonald’s rendition of ‘Eilean Uibhist Mo Rùin’ (My beloved island of Uist) recorded in 1986, and Nan MacKinnon singing the children’s song ‘Orra Bhonnagan a Ghaoil’ (Dear Orra Bonnagan) about lifting potatoes recorded in 1958. As we learn about seaweed, a 1977 recording of the waulking song ‘Mhòrag ‘s na Hòro-gheallaidh’ (Morag and the Promised) is heard that recounts a love story about a girl collecting seaweed. Light-hearted songs include a celebration of the humble potato, in the 1950 recording of Angus Fletcher singing ‘Am Buntàta ‘s an Sgadan’ (The Potato and Herring), and a selection of puirt à beul (mouth-music) dance tunes sung by Kenneth MacIver in 1959.
Original compositions feature throughout. These include soundscape compositions comprising environmental field recordings and birdsong captured on the machair, and several compositions for synthesiser that respond to the ecology of the machair through the use of bio-sonification of machair wildflowers.
Experience the soundwalk
The soundwalk is freely accessible via the geolocative sound walk smartphone apps Echoes and Sonic Maps, or online via SoundCloud
Reception
Since its launch in September 2022, the work has been adapted for presentation in concert, premiering at GLEAM Festival Glasgow (May 2023), and broadcast on radio Radiophrenia and Resonance FM (August 2023). An extended version will debut at Nordic Music Days in Glasgow (October 2024). Commissioned by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, the work has garnered significant recognition, being nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for Best Sound Art in 2023 and winning first prize in the international AudioWalk Award in 2024.
Credits
This work was commissioned by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, with funds from Event Scotland.
Contributers: Freddie MacDonald, Seoras MacDonald, Alisdair MacEachen, Anne MacLellan, and Matthew Topsfield
Production team: Duncan MacLeod (composer), Kirsty MacDonald & Mairi McFadyen (creative ethnologists), and Sorcha Monk (creative producer).
Orasaigh
Orasaigh is an acousmatic soundwalk composition developed in 2023 as part of the exhibition ‘Orasaigh‘, a collaboration between poet Steve Ely, photographer Michael Faint, and composer Duncan MacLeod. Commissioned by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum and Arts Centre, the project draws upon the landscape around the tidal island of Orasaigh, located on the coast of South Uist at Boisdale.
Ely’s visionary poem, whilst always remaining anchored in the island, roams widely, exploring a range of themes related to Uist and the wider world – sea level rise, the crisis of the ‘sixth extinction’, history, culture, politics, conflict and class. Faint and MacLeod vividly capture the spirit of the place through their respective mediums, creating an independent yet complementary subjectivity.
As with Ely’s poem, the soundwalk is rooted in the landscape through the presence of soundscape compositions, utilising immersive field recordings captured on location. Elsewhere, material for bass clarinet and highland bagpipes, along with creative reimagining of archival sound recordings from Uist, draws upon the Isles’ rich musical heritage through Gaelic song and pibroch (an art music genre associated with the great Highland Bagpipe).
The work of the three artists combines and interacts to produce a uniquely evocative response to a rich and resonant landscape that affirms the vitality and resilience of the human spirit. The island itself becomes a dual symbol of precarity and hope in the crisis of the Anthropocene.
The work is free to listen to on-location via the geolocative sound app Echoes accessed via the QR code below.
Credits
Poem: Steve Ely
Narration: Steve Ely
Music & Soundscape compositions: Duncan MacLeod
Bass Clarinet: Charlotte Jolly
Environmental field recordings: Juraj Fajnor & Duncan MacLeod
Commissioned by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, with funds from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Tidelines
Tidelines is an interactive soundwalk mapped to East Beach on the island of Berneray in the Western Isles of Scotland. Developed by the composer as part of a six-month residency, the work grew from close collaboration with local residents, secondary school pupils, and youth group participants across the Uists.
At its core, Tidelines is built around poems written and performed by local residents, which form the backbone of the work. These texts, inspired by the islands’ coastal landscape, reflect personal memories, place, and heritage, and were recorded and integrated into the soundwalk, bringing intergenerational voices and perspectives into the piece. From this poetic material, as well as the environmental recordings captured by participants, the composer developed both the musical and soundscape elements, weaving together instrumental music, song, and environmental sound to evoke the coastal landscape and cultural identity of the islands.
Accompanying these poems are original instrumental music and soundscape compositions, created by the composer for chamber ensemble, voice, and electronics. These musical elements were inspired by the imagery, sounds, and atmospheres found in the residents’ poetry and in the environmental recordings and sound suggestions contributed during workshops. The electronic components incorporate these recordings, shaping and blending them into the broader sonic landscape of the work.
Sound and music workshops engaged school pupils and youth groups in learning field recording techniques and exploring their surroundings to capture keynotes and soundmarks, which are sounds that define the acoustic character of the Uists, from wind and waves to distinctive local details. These recordings became integral to the electronic textures and soundscape components of Tidelines, contributing layers of texture and atmosphere to the work.
The work seeks to connect listeners not only with human stories but also with more-than-human elements of the landscape. Soundscape recordings captured on location evoke the presence of coastal flora and fauna, immersing listeners in the natural environment. Moreover, bio-sonification of coastal wildflowers provided pitch material woven into the composition, creating sonic representations of biological processes and evoking the presence of the islands’ flora. In the closing section, for example, pitch material derived from the bio-sonification of wild carrot is incorporated into the piano solo that accompanies the final poem, The Song of the Stonechat, linking the natural world directly to the work’s musical and narrative fabric.
The soundwalk is experienced individually using headphones and a mobile device through the free geolocative audio smartphone app, Echoes. As listeners walk along East Beach, audio is triggered by GPS, revealing a carefully layered mix of spoken poetry, music, and environmental sounds that change in response to their location. This interactive format allows each participant to engage with the coastal landscape in a personal and immersive way, blending the physical environment with a sonic journey shaped by community voices and island soundscapes.