Tobar an Dualchais Creative Connections Online 20 July 2021

Tobar an Dualchais Creative Connections – Online

This course consists of nine classes over three days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) with three online classes each day at 09.30 – 10.45, 11.15 – 12.30 and 13.30 – 15.00, all delivered via Zoom.  Where possible classes will be limited to 10 students.  This class will be taught through the medium of English.

Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches is Scotland’s largest online collection of sound recordings, consisting of up to 50,000 recordings of songs, music, history, poetry, traditions and stories collected from across Scotland from the 1930s onwards.

This three-day online course offers anyone with an interest in Scotland’s unique cultural heritage – including visual artists, writers, musicians, budding-folklorists and creative educators – an opportunity to learn more about the online resource, why the material was collected and by whom, and how and why it is of value today.

Participants will be introduced to some of the many important tradition bearers whose recordings populate the archives and be given the tools to explore the material with greater efficiency and understanding. The course will be in English but will discuss themes intrinsically linked to Gaelic, Scots and English, including examples of local dialects preserved in some of the recordings. The course will be delivered by leading scholars and creative practitioners who have extensive experience with the material, including Dr Mairi McFadyen, Raghnaid Sandilands who will help participants explore the potential of the online resource through various lenses, including local creativity, cultural ecology and environmental awareness.

The course will emphasise creative engagement. Participants will be encouraged to think about their own creative responses to the material and will be given the tools and inspiration required to begin exploring possibilities for their own work – whether a community-based project, artwork, piece of writing or musical performance.

Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches has inspired many contemporary musicians, artists, scholars and writers and continues to serve as a fantastic educational and creative resource for current and future generations.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about the course, please email Floraidh Forrest at:  . You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates and insights into the online resource.

Examples from Tobar an Dualchais:

Mary Morrison recorded by John Lorne Campbell in 1950 singing the piobaireachd song, ‘A Cholla Mo Ruin’.

Annie Arnott recorded by Calum Iain MacLean in 1953 singing a strathspey ‘Falbhaidh Mise ‘s Padra Mòr’

Angus MacLellan reciting ‘Duan na Ceardaich’ in 1949 for John Lorne Campbell.