Myth-Making Through Music: The “lost songs” of St Kilda

A contemporary album of piano pieces, reportedly taught to a Scottish mainlander by a St Kildan music teacher, has captured the British fascination with St Kilda, a remote and 'lost' island society. The album, 'The Lost Songs of St Kilda,' reached the top of the British classical music chart in 2016, becoming the fastest-selling posthumously released debut album in British chart history. This study explores how the recordings and packaging of the album create emotional geographies of St Kilda, constructing a mythical place-time or 'mythscape.' The research approach involves analyzing the album's impact on public perception and its role in shaping myths around remote island cultures.

MacKinnon, S., & Hannan, M. (2017). Myth-Making Through Music: The “lost songs” of St Kilda. Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.21463/shima.11.2.13