Flight Of The Arctic Tern

(November 2009) Introduction * Achan * The Letter * Balnakeil * Slow Air * Glasgow * Under Sail * Gleann Gallaidh * The Ivanhoe * Leaving The River * The Open Sea * Tha Mo Thriall-s' Do Shimeuca * Arctic Terns * Stories At Sea * Becalmed * Death At Sea * Sailing South * O Mo Dhuthaich * The Loss Of The Canton 1847 * The Albatross * The Storm * Siubhal Mar Si Seoras Duinn * Antarctica * Towards Australia * Under A Different Sky * Geelong * The Longest Distance Migrant * Just Like Home * Gu Mo Slan * Homecoming.

The music, song and narration from the Highland Festival show featuring Iain Anderson (Radio Scotland) and Michael Russell MSP (narrators), Mairi MacInnes and Sineag MacIntyre (Gaelic singing), Celine Donoghue (fiddle) and composer Mark Sheridan (keyboards, percussion).

The production follows Alexander Gunn leaving his home in Durness in 1853 en route to Australia, along with many tens of thousands of Scots who left these shores during the Highland Clearances. The journeys were long and hazardous and often ended in tragedy.

They chart the journey from Durness to Glasgow and embarkation on the Ivanhoe which sailed from the Clyde.

Alexander's journey is likened to that of the Arctic tern which migrates further than any other bird, from the north of Scotland to the southern pack ice of Antarctica and as far as Australia.