Sàl / Saltwater: Iain Morrison with Dalziel + Scullion

Sàl, is a major new work composed by Lewis born musician Iain Morrison with imagery by pioneering Scottish artists Dalziel + Scullion. A technical and emotional tour de force, it is the first major artist commission to commemorate the forthcoming centenary of the Iolaire disaster, co-commissioned by An Lanntair and 14-18 NOW. 

A suite of 12 nuanced musical chapters with lyrical, powerful and timeless imagery, Sàl is also deeply personal. Iain Morrison’s great-grandfather was among those lost and left a widow and eight children. His grandfather was but a year old. It is threaded through his genealogy. The piece draws on the deep well of Ceòl Mòr and Gaelic psalm singing. 

“An evocative and moving modern response.”

Sàl (which can mean, salt, saltwater, the open sea and suggest tears) brings a new language and dimension to the Iolaire disaster and how we comprehend it. Deeply moving but also uplifting it says: the people are the same. The land, the sea and the sky remain. The generations continue. We survive. There is hope. Sàl is performed by a full band: Iain Morrison, Pete Harvey, Lori Watson, Emma Connell-Smith, Joe Smillie & Gordon MacLean.