Brìghde Chaimbeul

The Musician Bringing the Bagpipes Into the Avant-Garde

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Brìghde Chaimbeul frees her instrument from the confines of kitsch.

The 27-year-old Scottish musician Brìghde Chaimbeul is considered one of the most skillful and interesting bagpipe players in the world. Chaimbeul grew up a native Gaelic speaker on Skye, an island in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, in a family of artists. Since pivoting, as a teen-ager, from the Great Highland pipes to focus on the smallpipes, she’s won national folk competitions and released three solo albums (the latest, “Sunwise,” in June), but also made pilgrimages to places such as Bulgaria, where other pipe traditions have flourished; collaborated with the indie singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek; and played for a Dior runway show. “In doing so, she has redrawn the bounds of her instrument,” Elena Saavedra Buckley writes.

The Scottish smallpipe, which has roots that go at least as far back as the 15th century, was nearly lost to history. “These bagpipes had mostly been hidden away in the backs of cupboards,” the Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society journal explained in 1989, “or they had found their way, as curiosities of a former age, into museums, where they would lie dead and silent in display cases.” But, over the years, Scottish musicians advocated for smallpipes as a cultural corrective: something that could revive a lost, jubilant character of communal Scottish music, and that could help disrupt not only the regimented Highland piping culture but the kitschy idea of Scotland forged by English imperialism. Chaimbeul, lauded as a “musical genius” by her peers, is part of this lineage of bagpipe players who are luring tradition into the present. “It all stems from her tacit understanding of the tradition. It’s a kind of focus on the depth in our music, in which the layers of virtuosity are stripped away,” one of her collaborators said.

Read the full story by Elena Saavedra Buckley: The Musician Bringing the Bagpipes Into the Avant-Garde | The New Yorker

Breaking The Waves: An Interview with Brìghde Chaimbeul

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By Christine Costello

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Off the back of playing Glastonbury, and the release of her thrilling new album Carry Them With Us, Christine Costello speaks with acclaimed smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul about the sounds and inspirations behind her singular craft

Photos by Monika Ruman 

Carry Them With Us is Brìghde Chaimbeul’s second solo album and features a combination of original compositions and songs inspired by Gaelic folklore and archive recordings. The album is as dark as it is whimsical from the soaring lilts of ‘Banish the Giant’ to weighted tragedies of ‘Oran an Eich Uisge’.

Chaimbeul’s rich understanding of her instrument adds a new layer of depth to these old tunes, injecting them with an infectious modernity that invites audiences to explore the history of the Highlands, all without losing the enigmatic charm of their origins. 

Despite the Scottish roots and heavy Scottish influence in her music, Chaimbeul’s unprecedented popularity with Irish audiences continues to grow. While currently residing in Northern Ireland and a frequent collaborator with Irish musicians such as Radie Peat of Lankum, she believes there’s an added explanation for this resonance: “A lot of what I play is rooted in traditional music and although a lot of the material is Scottish, there’s a strong connection between Scottish and Irish traditions, not just in the language, but the songs as well.” 

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Young folk musicians you have to hear, 2023

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From tradfolk to psychfolk, from huge ensembles to solo small-pipes, we pick the best young folk musicians of 2023.

It’s a year since we wrote our inaugural article on up-and-coming young folkies, and several of the class of ’22 have already headed on to great things. This year, Frankie Archer lit up Later With Jools Holland, Louis Campbell played to a packed Southbank Centre, Sam Baxter was one of the undisputed highlights of this year’s FolkEast, and you can’t move at folk festivals without stumbling across a Maddie Morris or Granny’s Attic set.

So, who has caught our attention this year? We asked some of the more established folk musicians and writers in our little black book, took a look through our own notes, and then came up with a long list. Over a series of occasionally heated Whatsapp messages, we’ve managed to shave it down to the following selection, some of whom you will be familiar with, some of whom we reckon you’ll grow increasingly familiar with over the years to come.

Before we start, a word on the rules. Very simply, we were looking for musicians who are under 30 and who tend to engage, to some extent, with traditional music. We were also looking largely at the English tradition (with a couple of notable exceptions), simply because that’s where most of the judges work and tends to be the area of focus for the Tradfolk website.

So, without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the young folkies we think you ought to know about in 2023.

Ellie Gowers

A veritable folk powerhouse!

Jon Wilks

If it was anyone’s year, it was Ellie’s. Having established herself firmly on the scene in 2022 with her first full-length album, Dwelling by the Weir, she then went on to boss 2023’s festival circuit and release a significant follow-up single, ‘The Stars Are Ours’ (produced by TJ Allen of Portishead and Bat for Lashes fame). She’s also a key part of two prominent bands – The Magpies and Filkin’s Ensemble (scroll down for more on them) – and a patron of Warwick Folk Festival. All of this while still in her mid-20s. Her self-penned songs bring in elements of the traditional music she clearly loves, and when she’s not holding court on a stage somewhere, she’s dancing with Chinewrde Morris or playing fiddle in the nearest session. A veritable folk powerhouse! If we had a Young Folkie of the Year award, we’d be sorely tempted to award it to Ellie.

Ellie Gowers: Website | Instagram | Bandcamp

Cerys Hafana

“Cerys rips up the rule book and ruffles feathers as she goes.”

Owen Shiers

Predominantly known for her harp-playing skills, it was the spectral aesthetic permeating Cerys Hafana’s interpretation of ‘The Wife of Usher’s Well’ [Roud 196] that really caught our attention, demonstrating the musician’s abilities as both a songwriter and an original interpreter of traditional song. Explains Owain Shiers (Cynefin), “Since bursting onto the Welsh folk scene in 2021, Cerys Hafana has taken the triple harp world by storm, ripping up the rule book and ruffling feathers as she goes. She’s already released two albums and won Best Emerging Artist at the recent Welsh Folk Awards. One to watch.”

Cerys Hafana: Website | Instagram | Bandcamp

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Listen to “The Monday Morning Brew” #14

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Listen to the Monday Morning Brew ft John Renbourn, Allysen Callery, Rachel Sermanni, Clara Mann, Sweet Baboo, Ivan Moult, Katy J Pearson & more.

The Monday Morning Brew is a weekly Folk Radio Playlist available on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services (see links below).

Featuring John Renbourn, Allysen Callery (ft. Bob Kendall – Folk Radio UK Session), Langkamer & Fenne Lily, Iona Zajac, Brigid Mae Power, Aoife Nessa Frances, Junior Brother, Rachel Sermanni, Clara Mann, Scott William Urquhart & Constant Follower, Cinder Well & Jim Ghedi, Lisa O’Neill, Shirley Collins, Brighde Chaimbeul, The Deadlians, Sweet Baboo, Emma Tricca, Alasdair Roberts, Samana, Flyte & Laura Marling, Ivan Moult, Lankum, Katy J Pearson & Broadside Hacks, The Gentle Good, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, LYR, Landless, Anna & Elizabeth, Lisa Hannigan, Skipper’s Alley, Salt House, Anne Briggs, Olivia Chaney, Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan.

Source: The Monday Morning Brew #14

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6dNYeVJa4kUEt1I8SAO6pF