A Scottish Minstrel's Song of the Waves

Research output: Non-textual formComposition

Abstract

As a songwriter, Carolina Oliphant hid her identity in pseudonyms of Scottish Minstrel, SM, Mrs Bogan of Bogan, BB, for fear of not being taken seriously as a female songwriter ​(Donaldson, 2023)​. The exact extent of her work is not known. With Robert Burns, Baroness Nairne (as Carolina Oliphant became) was one of the foremost Scottish songwriters helping to transform the politics of resistance in the Jacobite rebellion to a national identity. Both Burns and Nairne were able to recast the of the Jacobite rebellion into songs of family, love, freedom, and family ​(McGuirk, 2006)​. Lady Nairne also wrote fondly of her homeland, the environment, and the social life of Perthshire.

Nairne admired Burns’ technique of reworking songs to other melodies and used collage techniques in song composition: collections of words recast in new songs ​(Donaldson, 2023)​.

A Scottish Minstrel's Songs of the Waves recasts Nairne’s work and collages three songs: (Caller Herrin’, Charles’ Landing at Barodale; The Boat Song O’ Clyde) ) Each song explores to the relationship of the estuaries, and water courses to the Scottish Landscape, whether selling fish from the Forth, or the inclement weather at Barodale. In Nairne’s work is recast into the present day using sonic material processed from the vocal recordings with the composer’s electroacoustic techniques and own patches. The songs are accompanied and illustrated by a palette of field recordings gathered close to the water courses of the songs; the detritus of waste that laps on the shoreline, the sound of ice cracking in winter, the thuds, and drones of metallic play equipment. These field recordings, their sonic manipulations, the processed vocals transform Nairne’s work with present day effect of the impact of human life on the changing landscape.
Original languageEnglish
Media of outputOnline
Publication statusPublished - 2024
EventNoiseFloor 2024 - Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Duration: 24 May 2024 → …
https://noisefloor.org.uk/noisefloor-2024/

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