Rose Morrison gets a hug from Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich as the artists take their final bows. (l to r) Dawn Beaton, Margie Beaton, Ryan MacNeil, Kenneth MacKenzie, Dave Gunning, Rose Morrison, Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich, Graham Marshall, Kathleen MacInnes, Sarah Prosper, and Jenny MacKenzie.
-by Beverley Phillips
Some Celtic Colours concerts are a party, and others are a contemplative experience that can bring the audience to tears.
“Holding Sand,” the concert at Strathspey Performing Arts Centre on October 14th, was described as the latter by some of the concert-goers.
Inspired by Rose Morrison’s artist residency on Sable Island, the show featured songs, dance, and spoken storytelling from local and international artists.
Wendy Bergfeldt, host of CBC Radio’s Main Street, was the host of the evening, opening and closing each half of the concert. Hung from the ceiling and gathered on the stage floor were 1801 paper cranes, which in the Celtic tradition, Bergfeldt said, “represent knowledge from another plane, another place.” She set the stage for the contemplative evening by inviting the audience to go “on a journey of imagination, where memories drift like sand and where imagination swirls like the currents.”
Performing on stage with Morrison were Mi’kmaw singer Graham Marshall, Dave Gunning, Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich, a signer/storyteller/accordian player from Ireland, Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes from Scotland, Ryan MacNeil on piano and uillean pipes, and Kenneth MacKenzie on fiddle and pipes. Margie and Dawn Beaton brought their stepdancing, and contemporary dancer Jenny MacKenzie and Mi’kmaw dancer Sarah Prosper shared their perspectives.
The evening centred on the song and themes of “Holding sand.” The song was written by Morrison as she prepared to head to Sable Island. The song is about connection, stewardship, and the shared responsibility to protect the environment. Marshall spoke about community and the need for unity, which came through when he sang with MacInnes, bringing the Mi’kmaw and Scottish communities together through music. The evening stewarded culture, whether it was Ó Beaglaoich reading a story in Gaelic, MacNeil on the piano, or MacKenzie on the bagpipes. MacInnes offered haunting and beautiful sung Gaelic prayers and Gunning gave some political commentary. He spoke of the value of local media in an age of misinformation, but also of being able to get along with neighbours with whom he had very different political opinions.
Care for the environment hung from the ceiling, as four whale bones were illuminated as a reminder of life in the seas.
It all combined to form a moving, and for some, spiritual evening, with a powerful message. As the lyrics of Holding Sand say,
“We walked along our father’s path
Like the ants through marram grass
All in order, so steadfast
One was first and one was last
Damn the greed that’s everywhere
The local grubs and billionaires
Pound the cloth and turn to prayer
No one can own this place.
Within the wind that moves the ocean
Wave on wave in constant motion
Before all is lost
I’ll keep working with my hands
On this little piece of land
I’m holding sand.”