REMEMBERED IN EXILE: SONGS AND BALLADS FROM NOVA SCOTIA

As many Scots from both Highlands
and Lowlands have done before
them, musicians M iri Morrison
and Alasdair Roberts made the long
journey over the ocean to Canada in
June 2023. However, theirs was not

a perilous sea voyage, nor a perma-
nent relocation; rather it was for a

transatlantic collaboration instigated
by Nova Scotian bass player and
musical arranger Pete Johnston. The

trip resulted in a new album, Remem-
bered in Exile: Songs and Ballads

from Nova Scotia, M iri and Alas-
dair's long-overdue second album

together following 2012's critically
acclaimed Urstan. The album's title

is an allusion to John Lorne Camp-
bell's book Songs Remembered in

Exile, a collection of songs of Scottish
Gaelic origin found in Cape Breton

and Antigonish County, Nova Scotia.
Featuring ten traditional Canadian songs with Scottish roots,
Remembered in Exile draws heavily on the pioneering work of Nova
Scotian folklorist Helen Creighton, who collected a vast amount of
traditional song material on Canada's eastern seaboard. The album's
songs are drawn from Creighton's published works including Songs
and Ballads from Nova Scotia and Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia. They
are musical artifacts of the westward journey undertaken by Scottish
fishers, crofters, merchants and their families as they migrated -
willingly or otherwise - to Canada from the 1600s to the mid-1800s.
A native of the Isle of Lewis, M iri takes the lead on a handful
of Gaelic language songs, mostly collected in Cape Breton, while

Alasdair leads on some Canadian variants of the types of Scots bal-
lads for which he has become well known. There are also a couple

of 'macaronic' songs in both English and Gaelic. Anchored around
Pete's steadfast bass playing and sensitive arrangements, as well as
Alasdair's guitar work, the songs are further enlivened by the skills
of a fine group of players: Sarah Frank on fiddle, Jake Oelrichs on
drums, Mike Smith on banjo and Andrew Killawee on harmonium.
Produced by Pete Johnston and Mike Smith at Fang Recording in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Remembered in Exile is by turns genial
and playful, sombre and brooding. It constitutes a fine and fitting
follow-up to M iri and Alasdair's first album together, charting new
waters and reforging the longstanding bond between old Scotland
and Nova Scotia.