Apparently I can survive not breathing for nine minutes. That’s how long I had my breath taken away by a new discovery, courtesy of Macdonald Armouries of Scotland. Brìghde Chaimbeul is a prodigy of the small pipes, and the sound she makes reaches right into my soul and sends me off on a trance-induced trek to Fennario.*
Winner of the BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award and youngest ever winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, Scotland’s Brighde Chaimbeul has established herself among the leading experimental purveyors of Celtic music.
A native Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye her style is rooted in her native language and culture but takes inspiration from a variety of global traditions.
Brighde plays the Scottish smallpipes, a bellows-powered set of bagpipes with a double-note drone. She has devised a completely unique way of arranging for pipe music that emphasises the rich textural drones of the instrument; the constancy of sound that creates a trance-like atmosphere. In 2021 Brighde performed on the smallpipes to world leaders and listeners across the globe, as the musician of the opening ceremony of COP 26.
Her 2019 debut album, The Reeling, produced by Lau’s Aidan O’Rourke, won her major media plaudits and five-star reviews for its fresh reading of traditional gaelic tunes and outward looking assimilation of influences, played with and enticing virtuosic liquidity.
Playing pipes by renowned maker Fin Moore she has been a trailblazer in the rise and popular revival of the sound of C pipes.
*I have taken to calling my personal mythic frontier territory Fennario as defined by songwriter Robert Hunter: “…a peculiar place where Appalachia met immigrant Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish folk traditions, to my mind the mythic territory of Fennario, where Sweet William courted Pretty Peggy-O with such romantically disastrous consequences.”
My Fennario is out there beyond the snowy peaks of Sheba’s Breasts, where the treasure of King Solomon’s Mines awaits; it finds us trekking through the haunted forests of Knysna or riding down the Devil’s Backbone in the company of spectral Confederate cavalry and a the ghost of a Lipan Apache hunter. It is a realm inhabited by Dire Wolves, Puckwudgies, and Wendigo.
And now I know a small pipe player that can transport me there in an instant.
John Maddox Roberts says
“…a native Gaelic speaker…” That’s a rarity these days. I first heard the language spoken on a ferry taking me to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. It’s all but extinct on the mainland.
Chuck says
Growing number of folks taking it back up, both in Scotland and abroad, and a push to incorporate it in elementary education again. I think Duolingo claims more people learning Scots Gaelic on their site than currently speak it. I won’t ever get fluent, but my wife laughs when I use it on telemarketers!
JimC says
Oh, that’s awesome.
Chuck says
Correction – I won’t ever get fluent (fat fingers).
Yes, really sent the fake “Customs and Border Protection” phisher for a loop!
The Black TYrone says
I disagree on the near extinction as I have heard much in my travels. Broad Scots or lowland scots is also alive and well. ( Jim try Dick Gaughn ‘s albums I think you would enjoy) One can hear it spoken also in parts of Ulster. It is primarily a lowland dialect. Incidently Irish and it is not referred to as Gaelic as this is like saying he speaks Romance.
Welsh is alive and well too. Cornish is dead accept in academic circles. I lived in Bretagne for a time and know a few words. The Bretons contribute greatly to the French Navy. Best
Lynda A Sanchez says
I love languages and am glad to read the above comments and kudos to this young lady as well. At least some appreciate tradition.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention Jim.
Lynda
LynnW says
Looks like Brighde is also entranced while playing. As was I listening. In me blood. And in that vein, Jim, bloody ‘ell (puns intended), you’ve sent me down a long, deep rabbit-hole. Hours listening to Brighde’s music. And I gotta keep ahold o’ me wallet… a basic decent (meaning playable, not necessarily played by someone clothed) set of Scottish bellows small pipes can be had for about $850.
JimC says
Glad it touched you.
Jerry N says
Soul stirring, thank-you
Jerry N says
Especially liked: “Riding down the Devil’s Backbone in the company of spectral Confederate cavalry and the ghost of a Lipan Apache hunter.”