TERRY WILLIAMS salutes the completion of a successful venture in Tarskavaig

AFTER Mairi Mhor nan Oran, Sorley MacLean and Ealasaid Ross of Raasay, the Tarskavaig Feis programme continued on Thursday with Seeds of Blood and Beauty. Ann Lindsay’s book, and her beautifully-illustrated talk, followed the Scottish plant collectors who travelled the world during the 18th and 19th centuries in search of botanical specimens.

Kenneth Steven and Pete Clark

It was an eventful story. Their discoveries fill today’s gardens – from azaleas to pelargoniums, palm trees to monkey puzzles. They covered vast distances on foot, were shipwrecked, attacked by pirates, and some of them came to a sticky end.

David Douglas (of the Douglas fir), for example, was sent by the Horticultural Society to Hudson Bay with instructions to head west and collect fruit tree seeds. In two such trips he walked around 8,000 miles, sent back 400 species and died in a Hawaiian bull trap containing a very angry bullock.

Slightly less daunting for those inspired by Ann’s talk, was the following day’s very enjoyable tour of Armadale Castle gardens with head gardener Louise Pinkney.

Shipwreck of a different sort concerned scholar and crofter Gavin Parsons, who led us from one clue to another in his illustrated search for the story of the birlinn. These highland galleys, whose lines recall the Viking longships, once formed the power base of clan chiefs in the west. They were banned 400 years ago and gradually disappeared, almost without trace.

Clan Donald’s crest features a birlinn, as does the medieval gravestone of Alastair Crotach in Rodel, Harris. Gavin took Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair’s great sea poem of 1760, Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill, to Norway, where the boats in the poem were recognised by today’s Norwegian boatbuilders.

Closer to home, in a lochan at Rubh an Dunain in Skye, a boat-rib-shaped piece of wood has been carbon dated to between 1150 and 1280 AD. Somerled, Lord of the Isles, had 80 ships at the time. An archeological investigation is planned – maybe another piece of the birlinn mystery is waiting to be discovered. Maybe Gavin will write the story.

The final event brought together two of the country’s finest talents. Kenneth Steven is a poet of the countryside, in the tradition of Norman MacCaig, George Mackay Brown and Seamus Heaney. His intimate land spans Perthshire and the Hebrides. His poems celebrate the magic of life’s simplicities. He also has the rare talent of reading superbly from his own work.

Pete Clark, fiddler and composer, shares the same landscapes. Pete’s inventive compositions fused musical notes to Kenneth’s word images so perfectly it was hard to believe. Jaunty tunes, haunting melodies and angry chords accompanied poems about going for eggs to the farm (where the yard “strutted and bagpiped with chickens”); about love between selkies and humans; about the dying voice of Gaelic.

In solo performance Pete’s interpretations of Neil Gow, Scott Skinner and William Marshall were sublime. The finale was a breathtaking musical response to Kenneth’s reading of The Horseman’s Word as Pete gently tapped the back of his bow against the fiddle strings.

It was a privilege to be part of this wonderful journey. When the Tarskavaig community adopted the island’s book festival – Aos Dana – and added their own ingredients, they had no idea if anyone would be interested. The venture was a resounding success, with standing room only on several occasions in the tiny Communities Hall set high above one of the best views in Scotland.

The households of David MacFadzean, Peter Piddock and Donald MacKenzie bore the formidable brunt of organising the feis, but it was a real community effort and Tarskavaig residents should be proud of their success. People are already asking about next year’s programme!

© Terry Williams, 2009

Links

• Feis An Eilein