Tac an Teine – Fiona Mackenzie

Brief Resume:

Fiona J. Mackenzie, lives on the Isle of Canna in the Inner Hebrides, where she is the Archivist for the National Trust for Scotland in Canna House, the home of the Campbell Collections of Folklore and Song. She is an award-winning Gaelic singer and has released three CD’s on the Greentrax label.

Outcome/Aims:

The project sought funding for the production of a unique recording “Tac an Teine” – a representative selection of traditional Gaelic song, all from the Campbell Collections of Canna. Recorded on the island of Canna itself, utilising the same sounds and ambience which would have surrounded John Lorne Campbell and Margaret Fay Shaw when they collected the songs in the 1930’s/40/50’s.

Project Update:

The project to produce “Tac an Teine” ran more or less to the anticipated schedule. Recording of contemporary ‘on island’ songs continued throughout the winter and Spring of 2022 and plans were put in place for the recording of the contemporary vocals. The bulk of recording took place at Rose Croft Studio in Muir of Ord with engineer Barry Reid at the end of April/ first half of May 2022. In the interim period, playlists  were consolidated and considerable time was spent on researching the sound archive tracks to locate the pieces and voices most suitable for the recordings.