In January this year, the crew of ‘In the Wake of Metagama’ reunited to perform at the 2024 Celtic Connections Festival at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
A sell-out concert featuring music from Liza Mulholland, Christine Hanson, Charlie McKerron, Calum Alex MacMillan, and Willie Campbell, narration by Dolina MacLennan and Donald S. Murray, drawing and stage visuals by myself, and sound by Steve Bull.
It was wonderful to be back with the crew after our Highlands and Islands tour last Spring, and to sell out the new auditorium, home to the RSNO, was a thrill! It was a superb evening of music, songs and stories about the hundreds of Scots who emigrated to Canada and the United States in the 1920’s.
We were joined on stage again by saxophonist Bev Fraser, and by a wonderful ensemble of musicians from Scotland, Canada and the U.S.
Hopefully this won't be the last time we perform the Metagama story, and we are hope to stage more concerts in 2024/25 in both Scotland and beyond.
One of my spin-off projects from the Metagama performances is a series of eleven drawings depicting the eleven days it took the emigrants to sail from the Isle of Lewis to New Brunswick in Canada.
I wanted to create images that sympathetically reflect the time and atmosphere of the passenger’s voyage, and would give an idea of the emotional upheaval and spiritual feel of the journey experienced by some.
The drawings below are the initial working drawings of what will be large scale charcoal pieces. Hopefully by the time we are venturing on stage again they will be finished and ready to exhibit, both physically and virtually as part of the performances.
Watch out for future posts showing the progress of the drawings, and any forthcoming dates for the Metagama and Marloch shows.