Fusion of Hebridean and ancient Indian cultures powers unique show
Hebridean Treasure: Lost & Found
Eden Court, Inverness
4 stars
In less than an hour, this show with musicians, a dancer and a narrator had flown you through the cycles of the Celtic world, suggested ancient links between Hebridean and Indian culture in dance and music – and soothed the mind enough to have you contemplating the spiritual.
Grounding the whole thing, the show even touched on the grim story of the Clearances and its impact on the ancient ways, effectively trashing people’s connections with the land and past ways of appreciating the world around them.
The show offered up quite a bit of Highland history through the stories and witness of once-real characters, from the Islands and the West Highlands.
By the end, the bittersweet powerfully-presented story is persuasive enough to make you wonder if we could embrace again the ancient wisdom that gave us – and celebrated – our place in the Celtic world.
On a stage dimly lit by candlelike golden lights on vertical rods, storyteller Billy Mack in a spotlit chair played Alexander Carmichael. He was the man who put together the Carmina Gadelica, a book which collected Celtic prayers, charms and blessings from the Gaelic oral tradition across the Islands in the 19th century.
Occasionally the sharing of words and the incantation of these ancient prayers by Billy Mack, sometimes spoken by Iain Loudon too, Alison Newell joining them as a performer, seemed almost overwhelming.
But the music offered space to counterbalance it with dancer Kirsteen Newell using Indian Bharatanatyam dance movements to flow the melodies across the stage, powered by a cultural fusion of Indian and Scottish sounds. On fiddle was Charlie Stewart, the bagpipelike drone of the harmonium was played by Alistair Paterson and Hardeep Deerhe was the drummer behind the almost magical rising and falling tone of the tabla.
The biggest thrill, however, came from the two singers, the voice of musical director Mischa Macpherson singing in Gaelic with a slight echo effect added, as had the Indian vocal of Ankna Arokiam. Both separately and together, their singing was a revelation. When their vocals melded, if, like me, you had no understanding of Gaelic or the language Ankna sang in, you could still enjoy the pure sound of two exceptional voices.
Perhaps it would have been good to be able to connect with the text in some way during the show, setting lyrics and prayers up on a backdrop behind the cast, maybe. Or a programme might have contained the words of the songs and maybe some of the Celtic prayers too.
This show has already been seen in many places, but further dates now take it out of our area, unless you can get to the Carinish Hall, North Uist (Friday, May 19); Skye Gathering Hall (Saturday, May 20; or on to Edinburgh, new Galloway, Hawick and Troon. Details:
