Sounds of the Underground: Echoes of Travelling Lives

 

 CAVE DWELLERS OF WICK - ECHOES OF TRAVELLING LIVES

 The piece was inspired by an article written by Alison Campsie in The Scotsman (2015) detailing the historic cave-dwelling of Traveller families: this was a relatively commonplace occurrence throughout the Far North and Scotland as a whole until the practice was outlawed around the time of the First World War.


Travelller families at cave mouth, Wick South Head. (The Johnstone Collection, Wick)




 The location of the cave is stark: jutting slate faces directly East over the full force of the North Sea, with the next landmass beyond the horizon being Norway.

Standing at the edge of slate - the modern horizon with the Beatrice offshore wind farm just visible.



 Even when visiting on a relatively balmy July day, the cave was an eerie, cold and wet place: littered with inevitable jetsam from passing vessels and the discarded party debris of local youth, permeated by the ammonial stench of gull guano. The resonance of the cave was continually punctuated by the steady, rhythmic drip of water from the cave walls. What could life possibly have been like for the families who took shelter here, and in other similar places?

Not apparent from the photo, the flat surfaces of the rocks were treacherously slippery, to the  point of almost being inpossible to walk on.



The work attempts to create a snapshot of the soundscape within, with echoes of the lives, lore and music that may have passed by. Sampled drips, footsteps on the loose rocks, echoes of the wind and waves are juxtaposed against the distinctly melodic calls of the Curlews and Oystercatchers that inhabit the space overhead. Fragments of music connected with the sea and with Traveller communities [see links] bounce against the walls within, The human interactions with the space may have been transient, but the cave itself continues to observe passively- operating in Deep Time rather than the fleeting moments of our recorded history.

 Process 

Capturing Impulse Responses inside.



 The Impulse Responses (IRs) within the cave were recorded with no specialised equipment - simply a bursting balloon and a smartphone voice recorder. This was partly for practical reasons- the treacherous conditions underfoot and the access to the site was perhaps not the ideal place to be carrying around expensive specialised gear! There was, however also an artistic curiosity on my part as to how effectively these simple resources could be used in creating the final artefact- I decided to embrace the “low tech” approach as an intrinsic part of the creative process. 

 In addition to recording IRs, I also recorded ambient sounds,such as dripping water and the movement of loose stones, which were then sampled and used to provide rhythmic motifs for the final work. 

 The piece was created using Ableton Live, with the Session View allowing experimentation and the creation of the the musical framework. The melodic viola fragments were then overlaid using the Arrangement View. Ableton’s release of a new Hybrid Reverb function worked perfectly in processing the IRs into the work- the sound file was simply dragged and dropped into the reverb, then adjusted and Equalised using the same tool- a quick, creative and extremely simple function which created some exciting textures and sounds. 

Although my primary role as a musician is still as a violist/fiddler, the sampled elements of the work provided such interesting results that I decided to utilise the viola fairly sparsely- it functions as the “human” element of the soundscape, providing fleeting echoes of the songs and melodies that may have been sung within by Travellers, or beyond the walls by passing seafarers.

A typically vast Caithness sky.



 The creation of this work was greatly impacted by both the current global pandemic and personal factors: I had anticpated doing greater in-depth research of the history of Traveller and seafaring culture in Caithness, perhaps using first-person recollections- however, the more minimalist artefact that emerged as is perhaps compelled to be more creative as a result. The work now provides me with a firm platform from which to explore these themes further. An upcoming position as Environment Artist in Residence with Lyth Arts Centre will allow me to explore the role the seas around Caithness in today’s environment- the world may change, but the cave still looks on.

 LINKS
 Alison Campsie’s article , which was the original inspiration for the work : https://www.scotsman.com/regions/inverness-highlands-and-islands/forgotten-cave-dwellers-scotlands-far-north-1492748 

 Fiona Lochhead discovers a surpisingly recent family history of cave-dwelling : https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/news/fiona-lochhead-uncovers-cave-dwelling-past-178518/



 “Norse Rowing Song” (although somewhat more 19th Century in melodic flavour!) recalled here: http://tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/41141?backURL=/en/advancedsearch%3Fpage%3D1%23track_41141

(Sampled recording of "The Unst Boat Song" was kindly allowed during a performance by Shetland ForWirds at Mareel, Lerwick, September 2019.)

Comments

Post a Comment