The Scottish parliament has been commendably busy issuing pardons for some of the thousands of women convicted and killed during the Scottish witch trials of the 16th to 18th centuries. Scotland pursued the trials with especial vigour compared with other European countries, sentencing women (and some men) to death on charges of spell-casting, shape-shifting and fornication with Satan. Some were herbalists and healers, others mere beggars. Alongside the accounts of writer Mairi Kidd comes this tribute to the persecuted from a pair of accomplished Scottish musicians, harpist Rachel Newton (of the Shee and Spell Songs among others) and fiddler Lauren MacColl (of Salt House and chamber folk quartet Rant).
It’s an appropriately haunting outing, with Newton’s spare, percussive harp complemented by MacColl’s fuller violin. The mood is largely sombre but not gloomy; the lives of the individual women in each song given dignity, with spoken word commentaries, in English and Gaelic, whispered into the mix. The effect is spectral (spooky if you like). Recorded on the island of Bernera, the album’s lightness also reflects the mists and moods of the Hebridean landscape. There are some upbeat touches for the fictional witches of Robert Burns in Tam O’Shanter, and for the legendary malevolent Gaelic being the Eachlair Ùrlar.
