This poem was composed especially by Jim for Martin McGuinness & Fraser Gray's public art installation ' The Awakening' which was on the side of Coire Lairige at the Spittal of Glenshee in Perthshire. Their art work, this poem, a new story about the piece by Lindsey Gibb and a new film by Stefan Morrocco with music by Dave Macfarlane were commissioned especially to coincide with #COP26 and was first performed on November 6th 2021.

Accept The Awakening by Jim Mackintosh

This story was especially created by storyteller Lindsey Gibb for Martin McGuinness & Fraser Gray's public art installation ' The Awakening' which was made on the side of Coire Lairige at the Spittal of Glenshee in Perthshire. Their art work, this new story about the piece by Lindsey Gibb, a new poem by Jim Mackintosh and a new film by Stefan Morrocco with music by Dave Macfarlane were commissioned especially to coincide with #COP26 and was first performed on November 6th 2021.

The Awakening by Lindsey Gibb

Barns Of Airlie Farm Interview with John, Ali & Fergus Easson

Monumental Meigle Final Stop

Monumental Meigle Stop 7 - Vanora's Mound

Monumental Meigle Stop 6 - Macbeth's Stone - final

Monumental Meigle Stop 5 - Seward's Stone - final

Monumental Meigle Stop 4 - Maggie's Tree - final

Monumental Meigle Stop 3 - Bella's Tower - final

Monumental Meigle Stop 2 - Medoro's Marker - final

Monumental Meigle Stop 1 - Belladuff's Mound - final

Monumental Meigle Introduction

The Berryfields o Blair was written one Hogmanay by Scottish traditional singer and storyteller Belle Stewart (1906-1997). Belle’s roots were in the Scottish Highland Traveller community, known in Scottish Gaelic as  the “Ceardannan” (the Craftsmen) or “ luchd siubhail (people of travel). 

Belle was born in a bow-tent by the side of the River Tay at Caputh, she and her family be became world famous for their songs and tales from the Perthshire berry fields – music and stories that we are still able to enjoy today thanks to the archives of the School of Scottish studies.

Lyrics

When berry time comes roond each year
Blair’s population’s swelling,
There’s every kind o picker there
And every kind o dwellin.
There’s tents and huts and caravans,
There’s bothies and there’s bivvies
And shelters made wi tattie-bags
And dug-outs made wi divvies.

There’s corner-boys fae Glesgae,
Kettle-boilers fae Lochee,
There’s miners fae the pits o Fife,
Mill-workers fae Dundee
And fisherfolk fae Peterheid
And tramps fae everywhere
Aa looking fir a livin aff
The berry fields o blair

There’s travellers fae the Western Isles,
Fae Arran, Mull and Skye;
Fae Harris, Lewis and Kyles o Bute,
They come their luck to try.
Fae Inverness and Aberdeen,
Fae Stornoway and Wick
Aa flock to Blair at the berry time
The straws and rasps to pick.

There’s some who earn a pound or twa,
Some cannae earn their keep,
There’s some wid pick fae morn till nicht,
And some wid rather sleep.
There’s some wha has tae pick or stairve,
And some wha dinnae care,
There’s comedy and tragedy
Played on the fields o Blair.

There’s families pickin for one purse,
And some wha pick alane,
There’s men wha share and share alike
Wi wives wha’s no their ain.
There’s gladness and there’s sadness tae,
There’s happy herts and sair,
For there’s some wha bless and some wha curse
The berry fields o Blair.

Before I put my pen awa,
It’s this I would like to say:
You’ll travel far afore you’ll meet
A kinder lot than they;
For I’ve mixed wi them in field and pub
And while I’ve breath to spare,
I’ll bless the hand that led me tae
The berry fields o Blair.

Words:
 
Berry time: time for seasonal work picking fruit
Bivvy: small tent or temporary shelter (from bivouac)
Blair: Blairgowrie, Perthshire
Bothy: temporary hut; living quarters for single men on a farm
Corner-boys: unemployed men hanging about the streets
Divvies: sods of earth, divots
Kettle-boilers: unemployed, stay-at-home men in Dundee

Berry Fields O Blair sung by Aileen Ogilvie

One of the many Gaelic songs collected by Hamish Henderson

Lyrics

Dhannsadh, gun dannsadh, (We would dance, we would dance)
Dhannsamaid le Ailean; (We would dance with Alan)
Dhannsadh, gun dannsadh, (He would dance, He would dance)
Dhannsadh Ailean leinn. (Alan would dance with us)


Ruidhleadh Màiri Tàillear, (The Tailor's Mary reeled)
Dhannsadh Màiri Tàillear, (The Tailor's Mary danced)
Ruidhleadh Màiri Tàillear, (The Tailor's Mary reeled)
Gus na dh'fhàs i tinn. (Until she grew sick)

Ged bha Màiri crùbach (Though Mary was awkward)
Agus car 'na glùinean, (and knock-kneed)
Dhannsadh i gu sunndach (She danced happily)
Air an ùrlar ghrinn. (on the fine floor)

Dhannsamaid Le Ailean sung by Aileen Ogilvie

A song Hamish Henderson's mother sang to him as a child about a story set in another Glen in Perthshire.

Glen Lyon Lament sung by Aileen Ogilvie

What a Voice sung by Aileen Ogilvie

This beautiful track composed for the Cateran Ecomuseum by Dave Macfarlane is called Cateran Trail

Cateran Trail by Dave Macfarlane

A Man In Assynt By Norman MacCaig read by Jim Mackintosh

Trio by Edwin Morgan read by Brian Johnstone

New Times By Edwin Morgan read by Jim Mackintosh

The First Men On Mercury by Edwin Morgan read by Michael Dempster

King Billy by Edwin Morgan read by Peter Ross

Three Glasgow Sonnets by Edwin Morgan, read by George Gunn

1st Elegy - End Of A Campaign by Hamish Henderson, read by Jim Mackintosh

This traditional Saami yoik is about the contained rage of a caged river let free

Ume River, a traditional Saami yoik sung by Johan Sandberg McGuinne

The Story of Sohte Jah Nïejte - The Girl And The Pandemic, told by Johan Sandberg McGuinne

'Landscape And I', By Norman MacCaig Read By Cameron McNeish

Old Highland Woman by Norman MacCaig read By Stuart Cosgrove

Mar Portugues By Fernando Pessoa Read By Maria João Kay

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Under The Earth I Go, by Hamish Henderson, read by Morag Anderson & Jess Anderson

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