Aye Aye is an old Orkney dialect greeting which means 'Hello'.  

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to Orkney Voices for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

Orkney Aye Aye (OV3)

Orkney Aye Aye's(OV1)

This is a recording of a wooden chair been moved along the flag floor. 

Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Wooden chair on flag stone floor (KIR16)

Before the invention of the modern sweeping brush with bristles people used something more like a witches broomstick for sweeping the floor.  This has a very unique rhythmic sound on the flag floor.  Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Large old sweeping brush on flag floor(KIR15)

The bucket is a fantastic invention and is brilliant for carrying anything.  They make a very distinctive sound when they hit the flag floor.  Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Galvanised buckets on flag floor (KIR7)

I remember many old Orkney homes with flag stone floors.  The sound of feet tapping and dancing on the flag stone is very distinctive.  Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Foot tapping on flag floor (KIR1)

Most old Orkney homes had peat fires or stoves.  The earliest homes having simply an open hearth in the centre of the room.  The sound of fire tongs is one I recall - it's comforting to know more fuel is to be put on the fire. Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Fire Tongs (KIR2)

There is always a little drip coming in somewhere!  Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Drips In Jar (KIR4)

The sound of rain when opening the door.  Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Door opening to rain outside (KIR10)

The wooden door will swell and catch on the flag floor, this is a sound a remember hearing very often especially when going out to the shed.  Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Door opening and sticking on flag stone floor (KIR14)

When out 'visiting' and playing music after many hours playing, supper would be served!  Sometimes the music would go on all night and we'd get a second supper.  Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Crockery been laid on table (KIR5)

Used for churning butter.  This barrel shaped wooden was wound by hand.  It was a staple in every Orkney home.  Thank you to Neil Leask, Kirbuster Farm Museum and Orkney Museums for the help with this sound.

Butter Churn (KIR12)

A ticking clock on the mantel is a feature of every old Orkney home.  This recording is of my Dads old bracket clock which is very calming and comforting to listen to.

Bracket Clock (PU15)

Rarely are you ever far from the shore anywhere in Orkney.  The sound of the wind and the waves are all around you.

Sea and Wind (PU11)

The Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society predominantly comprised of fiddle and accordionists who have been coming together from all across Orkney to play music together since 1948. They played a huge part in my musical upbringing.  This is one of their best known Orkney tunes, always starting with a chord.

Orkney Strathspey and Reel Signature Tune (PU10)

It's nice to be cosy and dry inside when the wind is getting up and the sideways rain is blowing under the front door.

Wind & rain from indoors (PU7)

A snippet of audio from the start of a school concert in 1983 in Toab, Orkney.  There is a lovely sound of Orkney voices coupled with an air of anticipation.

School concert audience sound at start (PU19)

Transport in Orkney before the motorised car was by horse and cart.  This sound was recorded on 12th March 1969.  

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to the Ernest Marwick Collection and Orkney Library and Archives for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

Sound Of Horses (EM9)

The Earl Sigurd, Steel Screw Steamer  served the northern Orkney Isles for over 30 years.  Many older Orcadians will recall journey aboard.  Often a large crowd would gather at the pier to welcome the boat creating an exciting buzz!  This is the sound of the wind, rigging and sea aboard recorded c1960-1975.

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to the Ernest Marwick Collection and Orkney Library and Archives for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

MV Sigurd Wind, Rigging And Sea Sounds (EM13)

Field recording of a ceilidh band in Shetland.  1978 

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to Christopher Mylne, Scottish Ornithological Society and The National Library of Scotland Digital Archives for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

Shetland Ceilidh W Dancing (SOC6)

The Earl Sigurd, Steel Screw Steamer served the northern Orkney Isles for over 30 years.  This recording was made on the bridge and you can hear the Captain's orders c1960-1975.  

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to the Ernest Marwick Collection and Orkney Library and Archives for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

MV Sigurd Captain And Wind And Sea (EM17)

A gruesome topic but beautifully sung.  John Inkster of Rousay singing part of the old Orkney song (or ballad) Andrew Ross. c 1960 - 1975 

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to the Ernest Marwick Collection and Orkney Library and Archives for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

John Inkster Singing 'Andrew Ross' (EM6)

This is a very familiar sound in Orkney of the waves lapping against the side of a small boat

Waves Lapping Against Small Boat (AM3)

Oyster farm factory sounds near Stornoway. 1976.  

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to the Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The National Library of Scotland Digital Archives for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

Oysters Farm Factory (HIE9)

BA plane landing at Stornoway airport passengers disembarking 1976.  

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to the Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The National Library of Scotland Digital Archives for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

BA Plane Landing In Stornoway (HIE2)

Auction Mart "Wet weather since Harvest".  Interviews with farmers at Kirkwall Auction Market regarding the bad winter.  

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to the Ernest Marwick Collection and Orkney Library and Archives for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

Auction Mart "Wet weather since harvest" (EM21)

Orkney Aye Aye (OV19)

An espresso coffee maker…more specially the Bialetti Moka Express.  1978 onwards I have heard this at home and in friends' homes, particularly in Cuba.  An Italian friend I had met in Switzerland came to stay with me in Derby. He'd never been to the UK before and he really missed familiar food and especially good coffee. Any kind of Italian cuisine was seriously rare in Derby in the 70s. Luckily another friend who often visited Italy told me about the one Italian deli in Derby, in what was then considered to be a dodgy area of town. We bought coffee and a Bialetti espresso maker. Result: one happy guest and my introduction to that rich gurgling sound that signals the imminent arrival of good strong coffee. 

I've seen those coffee makers and heard that sound so many times since - in my own home and in friends' homes, especially in Cuba - bringing me back to warmth, music, good times and being at the heart of things. Everyday I can be back in touch with them all through that sound and the coffee that follows.

Bialetti Coffee Machine (JM1)

Waves breaking gently on rocky shingly shore with birdsong.  Various places in Orkney, especially the island of Egilsay and in Windwick Bay.  Early spring afternoon in Windwick Bay - very little wind, fresh crisp snow on the ground, sunshine. No-one else around - climbing down to sit on a big rock with the sun on my face and surround sound from the Bay. Waves gently lapping in and out over the rocks and stones. Rock pipits hopping up above my head and all around on the rocks and in the seaweed - jumping up to snatch insects - calling to each other on their one note, some say like the sound of air coming out of a tyre. Occasional redshank and oystercatcher zooming past high overhead.

Windwick Rock Pipits (JM2)

The sound of a binder for cutting grain and binding it into bundles. There were a number of sounds; the cutter bars sliding over each other, the swish of the stalks on to the sheets, the rattle of the sheets as they pass the stalks along and the thump as they are drawn together before being tied into bundles and ejected.  At the farm of South Flaws, South Ronaldsay, Orkney.  The farmer grew a few acres of oats to help feed the cattle over the winter and had kept an old binder in reasonable repair to harvest them. The binder - the forerunner of the combine harvester - needs two people to work it, one to drive the tractor that pulls and powers the binder and one to sit on the binder and operate the various levers that adjusted the height of the cut and the regularity of the bind, etc. The various sounds blend into a harmonious and rhythmic shuffle. Coupled with warm sunshine, the smell of freshly cut oats and the nearby sea, and Skylarks singing overhead, this is the sound of summer. 

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to George Saunders for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

Binder (AM10)

The sound made by male Snipe in their courtship flights, known as drumming, when the outermost tail feathers are protruded, the bird dives towards the ground and those feathers vibrate in the air.  Over any wet area on Egilsay in Orkney.  My job as a bird warden on the island of Egilsay include counting the numbers of breeding wading birds on the island. The first two hours after dawn is the best time to count. A spring morning at dawn is always magical but the sound of one - no, two, no there's more! - of Snipe drumming, with a background of Curlew calls and Skylark song just makes it perfect.

COPYRIGHT CONTROL All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

xeno-canto

Common Snipe(AM11)

MV Orcadia being loaded at Kirkwall Pier 1990.  

COPYRIGHT CONTROL Thank you to the Eddie Sinclair Collection for the permission to use this recording.   All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording prohibited.

Kirkwall Pier Loading Orcadia To Sanday (ES2)

The iiMap is a project by internationally renowned and multi award winning fiddler, performer, recording artist and composer 'Jennifer Wrigley'.  A new website supported by Sound and Music Dimensions Award, that aims to collect memories and ordinary familiar sounds specific to people and place, highlighting dialects and mannerisms that characterise roots and converting those creative influences into something digital that can be shared with others. The Audio Identity and Inspiration or iiMap is a carefully considered and authentically local ‘Favourites Selection’ including but not exclusively highlighting the Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland, UK.

iiMap.co.uk

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