While out in Achnacon today, we visited multiple locations each with a very different presence due to their different uses. Recording the sounds of the landscape made us think about the different soundscapes that would have filled the glen throughout history. From the 17th and 18th century when different settlements would have been filled with the sounds of families and children. To the later 19th century when the land was populated by sheep. We also focused on the river and how people would have interacted with it such as a source of community and sustenance.
This brought to mind the poem/song Hush, Hush which centres around the forced removal of highlanders and the decline of the clan system.
Hush, hush, time to be sleepin′
Hush, hush, dreams come a-creepin’
Dreams of peace and of freedom
So smile in your sleep, bonny baby
Once, our valleys were ringin′
With sounds of our children singin’
But now, sheep bleat ’til the evenin′
And shielings lied empty and broken
Oh, we stood with heads bowed in prayer
While Factors burnt our cottages bare
The flames licked the clear mountain air
And many were dead by the mornin′
Where was our fears Highland mettle?
Our men, once so fearless in battle
Now stand, cowed, huddled like cattle
And wait to be shipped o’er the ocean
No use in cryin’ or bleedin′
Gone, gone, all hopes of stayin′
So hush, hush, the anchor’s a-weighin′
Don’t cry in your sleep, bonny baby
Hush, hush, time to be sleepin′
Hush, hush, dreams come a-creepin’
Dreams of peace and of freedom
So smile in your sleep, bonny baby
Words by Rhiannon Bramham & Ciara.
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