Hanna Tuulikki: As I came in by Deveronside

Artist, composer and performer Hanna Tuulikki will begin a period of research, mapping the places encoded within the Scottish classical ballads – the 'muckle sangs' – of the North-East, revealing what she calls 'mnemonic topographies: the land encoded in the song, the lore embedded in the land'. Her research will focus on specific locations in Aberdeenshire  – place-names, landmarks, ecologies, and landscapes – as they appear within the song lyrics sung by deceased and current tradition-bearers, taking in the repertoires of Traveller singers, drovers, farm labourers, and fisher-folk. She will also draw on the work of scholars, such as nineteenth century collector Francis James Child, a large portion of whose collection, was gathered in this area; early twentieth century folklorists David Greig and James Duncan whose impressive catalogue of lyrics and tunes of the North-East was surveyed by Scottish place-names expert W.F.H.Nicolaisen in his toponymy research; and mid twentieth century folklorist Hamish Henderson whose vast archive of recordings is held in the School of Scottish Studies.