The Barrel: For bass drum and electronics

The Barrel is based on the musical traditions of the herring lassies, a group of itinerant
working women who travelled between ports to gut and pack herring hauls into barrels as
they were brought ashore. The herring lassies sang working songs while gutting the herring,
many of which were recorded. In the process of both researching and composing The Barrel,
I have worked with archival resources, sampling two recordings from the School of Scottish
Studies archive (University of Edinburgh): Rionnag as an Oidhche Fhrasaich, sung by Dolina
MacLennan and Air Tìr A-raoir ‘s air Muir A-nochd by Mary Morrison.

The Barrel mirrors the physical act of gutting and packing herring in a musical performance
that substitutes the barrel for a bass drum. Over the course of the piece, a rhythmic
interplay develops between live performer and archival materials, bringing voices from the
past into a contemporary performance setting and bringing these intimate lyrical reflections
on a unique women’s working culture into a dialog with contemporary notions of
womanhood.

The Barrel was performed by Colin Currie at Loch Shiel Festival in May 2024.

This piece was commissioned by Chamber Music Scotland and was generously supported by The Hope Scott Trust and Creative Scotland.