New album chronicles history of Lewis bard
Lewis piper James Duncan Mackenzie has just released his second album with a launch gig at the recent Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.
Sròmos consists entirely of self-penned melodies, led by wooden flutes and Highland pipes, with accompaniment from an array of acoustic and electric instruments.
James, a member of award-winning folk group Breabach, is a leading exponent of the Highland bagpipe and wooden flute in Scotland, and as a tune writer. Although his compositions are firmly rooted within the traditional idiom, they are equally at home with modern backing.
James invited some of Scotland’s finest traditional and jazz musicians to join him on this album and exhibit typical melodic flair and instrumental prowess coupled with grooves, electric instrumentation and multi-layered textures.
The CD cover depicts the Ordnance Survey map of South Lewis which was surveyed and published in the 1850s.
James is well aware of the recent history of the Highlands and Islands and has used this for his stimulus and creativity. On further examination, the tune names contain a wealth of Lewis history.
Many of the melodies are named after events associated with the Clearances and the crofters’ war.
The title of the CD and the first tune is Sròmos. This was a township in the Park area of Lewis formerly called the ‘great forest’ and was once owned by the Seaforth Mackenzies.
It was one of the few villages in the Park which had the potential to be self-sustaining. This area was totally given over to red deer and latterly to sheep.
Indeed, many of the tunes have their roots in this area of Lewis and this period in history. The tune Seaforth’s Wall or Garadh an Tighearna refers to the peat dyke Seaforth built between Loch Erisort and Loch Seaforth to keep red deer in the Park and possibly humans out.
Another tune is named after an event that was perhaps seminal in the modern history of Lewis and possibly the Highlands. The tune is called The Ballallan Raiders.
The events of 1887 are well documented. The park deer forest was raided in an effort to kill as many deer as possible to bring the poverty to the Lewis crofters.
A more recent tune commemorates the Iolaire tragedy which occurred 100 years ago. Despite the huge death toll and the sadness, Mackenzie takes inspiration and optimism from a Harris man who survived the sinking, Alick Campbell’s Walk.
The hopeful tune remembers how this brave Harris man managed to survive the First World War, the Iolaire sinking and then proceeded to walk home to Harris from Stornoway within a few hours of the event.
Two other tunes retain the historical significance but also reflect Mackenzie’s own family pedigree. James’s paternal great-great-grandfather was Iain MacRatha, Bard Loch Carrainn, or John Macrae the Lochcarron Bard.
The Plough on the Crossbeam is a direct translation from one of Macrae’s songs. The other tune, John Macrae, the Lochcarron Bard, simply remembers the man himself.
Sròmos can be purchased from An Lanntair or the Mòd shop in Stornoway. It can also be purchased directly from James’s website www.jamesduncanmackenzie. com