Current exhibitions

Seinn Spioradail

Following a successful tour of Highlands and Island venues the popular Seinn Spioradail Exhibition will be at Comunn Eachdraidh Nis from 24 March – 31 October 2025. Visitors can learn more about sacred song traditions of the region and explore sound recordings, film, objects, and a digital archive, soundmap and interactive virtual tour.

The “Seinn Spioradail: Sacred Soundscapes of the Highlands and Islands” exhibition was curated by Dr Frances Wilkins, Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen. Dr Wilkins spent the last six years undertaking fieldwork in the West Highlands and Western Isles exploring sacred and spiritual singing from the region.

To help safeguard the traditions Dr Wilkins has been compiling and recording Gaelic song traditions, including hymnody, Gaelic psalmody and spiritual bàrdachd, which are diminishing in Hebridean communities, to create an archive and bring the music to a wider audience.

Dr Wilkins says, “While the contexts for singing are currently in decline, the music continues to be a soundscape to a way of life for many people. The purpose of this exhibition is to explore how sacred singing was, and continues to be, integral to many aspects of community life, and to highlight the wealth of hymns, psalms and spiritual songs being sung in the region today.”

“We are excited to be bringing the exhibition to Ness, considering the village’s central importance in the development of this tradition over the years.’

Donna Dorris of Comunn Eachdraidh Nis adds, “We are delighted that Seinn Spioradail is coming to Comunn Eachdraidh Nis. This is the first exhibition we have hosted that looks at this unique tradition and we look forward to welcoming all those who will make the trip to see it in the coming months.”

Locally composed Gaelic hymns and spiritual songs, which are integral to religious life in the Hebrides, are a particular focus in the exhibition. One of the contributors to the project is the songwriter, Murdo J Morrison, who was raised in Fivepenny. His father was the celebrated local bard, Donald Morrison Geinidh. He was interviewed for the project and spoke about bàrdachd in his family, saying, “I loved singing anyway and I still do. My father, his bàrdachd was – although I say it myself – brilliant, and his songs have been sung all over the world in Gaelic. I then discovered that I had some of the gift myself, and songs were just coming to me and I wrote them down.”

He continued, “It’s a beautiful thing being able to write a song. If it wasn’t for music it would be a sad, sad world.”

Gaelic psalm singing, which has been integral to church and community life in the Hebrides for centuries, is a particular focus in the exhibition. One project contributor, Kristine Kennedy, from Orinsay, has many childhood memories of the singing, recalling that “Gaelic ‘precenting’ is one of my first memories. It was natural for us as a family to precent the psalms as part of worship within the home and also in church. My P1 teacher has often reminded me of my Gaelic precenting in school when only five years old!”

Many of the sound recordings, photographs and videos made during the project form the basis of a website and online digital archive (at www.seinn.org), developed in partnership with the Open Virtual Worlds team at St Andrews University

Dr Wilkins continues, “Doing the research in the Hebrides was an incredible experience. I have met so many inspiring people and am very grateful to everyone who has been involved and helped me with the project. I am pleased that my research and its publication is playing a part in the preservation of these unique song traditions.”

“I will be at the opening and look forward to returning to Lewis and meeting some of the project’s contributors again.”

Co-curator designer Ronan Martin adds, “it’s been a privilege to work with the material collected by Dr Wilkins and learn more about this remarkable tradition, which plays such an important part in many people’s daily lives.”

“The exhibition would not be possible without financial support from the British Academy, Carnegie Trust, and Bòrd na Gàidhlig, and the support and valuable input of staff at Comunn Eachdraidh Nis.”

The exhibition opening event will take place on Friday 21 March from 2:30-4:30pm at Comunn Eachdradh Nis, Ness, Lewis. Entry is free with refreshments provided. Please email donna@cenonline.org or phone 01851 810377 to reserve a place.

Opening hours at Comunn Eachdradh Nis are Monday to Friday – 10:00am – 4.30pm

More information can be found at: https://seinn.org