Machair Soundroute by Duncan MacLeod

Glasgow, Glasgow City, Scotland, G2 1AL, United Kingdom

This 40-minute soundwalk starts on the southern end of Snow Bridge in Kelvingrove Park. The walking route is a 2-mile loop mapped to established paths around Kelvingrove Park, returning to Snow Bridge.

About this soundwalk

Commissioned by Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre, this soundwalk explores the traditions and ecology of Uist’s machair. 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, 70% of which is found on Uist. Generations of low-intensity farming have shaped this unique landscape and encouraged wildlife over millennia. Developed in partnership with the local community, this work combines spoken narratives, field recordings, and compositions with archival sound recordings from Edinburgh University’s School of Scottish Studies, that chart over 70-years of oral history.

Contributors: Freddie MacDonald, Seoras MacDonald, Alisdair MacEachen, Anne MacLellan, and Matthew Topsfield.

Production team: Duncan MacLeod (composer), Kirsty MacDonald and Mairi McFadyen (creative ethnologists), and Sorcha Monk (creative producer).

Cover photo: Balranald machair, Duncan MacLeod, 2022.

If you have any questions or feedback about this soundwalk, please email duncanm@cleod.org

Version: NMD V1.3 (291024)

Creator: Uist Soundwalks

Published: 28 October 2024

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🎧Audio Samples

The Machair

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In this opening section, local crofters Anne MacLennan and Matthew Topsfield give an introduction to the machair, whilst Angus MacDonald sings a traditional homeland song in praise of Uist (My beloved island of Uist), recorded in 1982. Photo: Liniclate Machair, Simon Hart, 2022.

Section 2: Collecting and using seaweed on the machair

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In this section we learn about the historical and contemporary uses of seaweed as a natural fertiliser on the machair. We hear from islanders Roderick MacKillop, John MacIver, Angus MacKenzie, and John Morrison interviewed by Emily Lyle in 1977, who describe harvesting seaweed to fertilise soil on the machair. Local crofter Alasdair MacEachen and Matthew Topsfield provide insight into how these practices continue today. Accompanying these narratives, we hear a selection of puirt à beul (mouth-music) dance tunessung by Kenneth MacIver (recorded in 1959), and the waulking song Mhòrag 's na Hòro-gheallaidh (Morag and the Promised) recorded in 1973 that recounts a story of a love-lorn woman collecting seaweed performed by Christine Shaw and residents from Bunavoneader, North Harris. Photo: Gathering seaweed, Margaret Fay Shaw, c. 1932.

Section 3: Cultivating the machair

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The conversation moves on to cultivating and planting crops on the machair. Crofter Alasdair MacAchen discusses cultivating soil on the machair, whilst Roderick, Angus, John MacIver and John Morrison recount stories of planting crops without machinery. Meanwhile, Peggy MacIver sing the humourous song Sgadan Saillt' 's Buntàt' (Potatoes and Herring) recorded in 1969 about the benefits of eating salt herring and potatoes. Photo: Ploughing the machair, Sorcha Monk, 2022.

Machair Soundroute by Duncan MacLeod

🎧Audio Samples

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