Machair soundwalk

5 ECHOES

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 & Mairi McFadyen (creative ethnologists), and Sorcha Monk (creative producer).

Cover photo: Liniclate machair, Tara Drummie, 2022.

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

V.24.1

The University of Nottingham

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The Echoes

Starting point: Welcome & Introduction

This walk starts at the foot of the wind turbine on Liniclate Machair

Section 1: The Machair

In this opening section, local residents Anne MacLennan and Matthew Topsfield give an introduction t…

Section 2: Collecting and using seaweed on the machair

As we walk along the coast, we learn about the historical and contemporary uses of seaweed as a natu…

Section 3: Cultivating the machair

As we follow the coast round to the left, the water opens out to the North Atlantic. In this section…

Section 4: Cropping & harvesting on the machair.

Turning left, we follow the track inland through the machair. In this final section, we learn about …

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Machair soundwalk

room 5 ECHOES