In the Wake of Metagama - An Atlantic Odyssey in Story and Song

In April 1923, the SS Metagama left the Isle of Lewis with over 300 islanders on an Assisted Passage sailing to Canada. Two further ships also called in to Stornoway the following year. The loss of nearly 1000 young people, just after WWI and the Iolaire disaster, had a devastating impact on the Hebrides. As a result, the name Metagama retains an important place in folk memory to this day. This centenary concert celebrates the stories of those emigrants. Many journeyed south to the USA, working in car factories and construction. Some returned home during the Great Depression, but most stayed to establish new lives in the New World. Award-winning writer Donald S Murray, musician and songwriter Liza Mulholland, Gaelic singer and actor Dolina MacLennan, and an ensemble of acclaimed musicians and singers, will carry you aboard the Metagama. The journey will take you to the plains and lakes of Canada, to 1920s Detroit and Prohibition, through the ebb and flow of fortunes on both sides of the Atlantic, and onto the present day.