Orasaigh is an acousmatic soundwalk composition that was 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.
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.
Performance history:
• Soundwalk: Boisdale, South Uist, 5 November 2023 (ongoing).
• Sound installation: Featured in Orasaigh exhibition at Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, 4 Nov. 2023 – 26 Jan. 2024
• Soundwalk: World Congress of Scottish Literatures, Highfield Park Lake, Nottingham, 3-7 July 2024
Field recordings featured within soundscape compositions were captured utilising an Equal Segment Microphone Array (ESMA), a 3D mic array technique for 360o recording developed by Prof. Hyunkook Lee (University of Huddersfield, Applied Psychoacoustics Laboratory), and mixed utilising Lee’s immersive audio plugin Virtuoso.
This work was commissioned as part of an AHRC six-month academic residency at Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, North Uist, to coincide with an exhibition of Ely’s poetry with photography by Michael Faint (https://www.taigh-chearsabhagh.org/events/orasaigh). The work was shortlisted for an Ivor Novello Award for Best Sound Art in 2024.
Acousmatic composition, Anthropocene, Bass clarinet, Binaural, Climate crisis, Conflict and sound, Creative writing, Cultural heritage, Environmental soundscape, ESMA, Equal Segment Microphone Array, Field recording, Gaelic song, Highland bagpipes, Interdisciplinary collaboration, Museum sound art, Musical heritage, Orasaigh, Poetry, Pibroch, Placemaking, Place-based composition, Poetry and sound, Scottish folk music, Sea level rise, Sixth extinction, Site-specific, Sound, Sound and class, Sound and landscape, Sound and politics, Soundscape composition, Soundwalk, Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, Tidal island, Uist.