Black Isle village of Avoch at centre of unique dialect project
A FAST-fading dialect from a distinct Black Isle community is being given a shot in the arm from a talented young musician.
And now Avoch-born composer, Grace Stewart-Skinner, is reaching out for support to record her album of newly composed music intertwined with field recordings of the Avochie dialect.
She has launched a Crowdfunder campaign to take the arrangements into the recording studio and produce the album.
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The first two phases of Grace’s project received funding from Tasgadh and Creative Scotland, allowing her to record authentic dialogue from Avochie speakers, compose music and arrange it with her band.
The next step for the project will be to bring the band into the Fortrose studio of Black Isle Recordings. For this recording phase of the project, Grace is turning to the public for support.
The album will be launched early in 2025, celebrated with a special performance in Avoch by the all-female, inter-abled band, which features Grace on clàrsach, Ewa Adamiec on percussion, Rose Logan on fiddle and Rhona MacDonald on double bass.
It is important for Grace that the project remains firmly rooted in its Black Isle home and that the culture, heritage and especially the distinctive language of Avoch are given the spotlight.
She said: “I have worked hard to capture an authentic representation of the traditional culture, as well as the essence of the community and the contributors’ characters.
“It is like I am framing a photo - the recorded dialogue is the picture, capturing the language, stories and culture; my music is the frame, drawing the audience’s attention to the beauty, highlighting certain areas, and placing Avoch’s heritage on centre stage.”
Stories, anecdotes and poetry in the Avoch dialect of Scots, affectionately known as ‘Avochie’, make up the dialogue and Grace’s compositions are inspired by and intertwined with them. The album will encompass linguistic heritage, fishing traditions, a community essence, original poetry and new compositions in an immersive audio experience.
This local Avoch vernacular is on the brink of disappearance. Grace was inspired by a video of her late “Boba”, William Skinner of the Primrose, reciting two original poems in Avochie about his days as a fisherman. These poems sparked conversations with Grace’s father about the language and its use today.
Learning more about the current, fragile position of the dialect, she decided to visit and interview two retired Avoch fishermen and one fisherman’s widow with the goal of recording natural conversation about the fishing in Avochie. Sadly, one of her contributors, Lewie Patience, passed away only a matter of weeks after taking part.
Grace brought her band to Avoch to work on arrangements. She says, “It has been truly wonderful to arrange collaboratively to allow the band to take on my ideas and see my compositions come to life!”
The result is a combination of music and recordings of spoken dialogue which are by turns uplifting, poignant and moving in respectful tribute to Grace’s Avochie informants.
Funding for recording albums is notoriously difficult to come by, but Grace is determined to share the final work not only with audiences at the live shows planned for early 2025, but with as many people as possible.
She is also committed to paying fair Musicians’ Union rates for all the professionals involved and using local Black Isle services wherever possible.
Last year another composition by Grace, The Rose Window, was a finalist in the Hands Up for Trad Music Award for Best Original Composition and she is a former winner of the Royal National Mod Margaret Balfour Trophy for Original Composition .
To find out more about the project, see the further details on https://gracestewartskinner.co.uk/auchies-spikkin-auchie
