Tiugainn: thàlaidh na sheinneas sinn sibh
Join us for the first live performance of Gam Thàladh, a poetic songscape created by artist Susannah Bolton, presented in Galway for TULCA Festival of Visual Arts and the Arts in Action programme. Gam Thàladh is a choral performance which touches on support structures, communing and floating.

Gam Thàladh began as a series of short texts moving between Scottish Gaelic and English tongues, written in, of, and with North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. These lyrical chapters emerged from meditative and deep listening experiences within lochs and from afar, contemplating shifting parallel worlds, and the hold of social bonds and friendships.

Working in correspondence, Susannah’s words were arranged into the current composition by Ellen MacDonald, who will perform the piece alongside Ceitlin Lilidh and Eilidh Cormack.

Come along: our words can hold you.

—
Susannah Bolton
Susannah Bolton is an artist living in North Uist, Scotland, who works across textiles, drawing, and writing. They engage with layered experience, acts of support, and language and are currently thinking about time as vibration, slacklining, knots and archival bundles.

Recent projects include the ATLAS Arts and Tobar an Dualchais research residency; participation in the Des Borda II research residency in Quehui, Chile; and exhibiting as part of Baggage Claim at Staffordshire Street, London, curated by Rosalind Wilson and Georgia Stephenson.

Gam Thàladh will be performed by Ellen MacDonald [Sian; Dàimh], Ceitlin Lilidh [Sian], and Eilidh Cormack [Sian; Valtos]. Working together with multi-instrumentalist Innes White, their performances and arrangements as the band Sian match deep feeling for tradition with stunning, boldly imaginative harmony work.

With thanks to Creative Scotland for supporting the development of Gam Thàladh. Thanks also to Andrea Gobbi and Charlie Stewart for their work recording and mixing, and scoring, respectively.