Brìghde Chaimbeul (Out to Lunch).

about

Brìghde Chaimbeul is one of the most exciting musical minds in the world of Celtic folk today. She’s a master of the Scottish smallpipes – the bellows-blown, mellower and more emotive cousin to the famous Great Highland bagpipes – and she’s taken them to the global stage.

A native Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, Brìghde roots her music in her language and culture. She rose to prominence as a prodigy of traditional music, but has since begun a journey to take the smallpipes into uncharted territory.

She draws inspiration from the world of interconnected piping traditions, including those from Eastern Europe, Cape Breton and Ireland, and her most recent album brings in influence from ambient, avant garde and electronic music.

One can talk about Brìghde’s awards (BBC Young Folk Award; BBC Horizons Award; Songlines Top of the World…) and her wide array of collaborators (Caroline Polachek, Colin Stetson, Gruff Rhys, Aidan O’Rourke…) but after it all, her music speaks for itself.

Haunting, entrancing, breathtaking, beautiful – this open-eared, understatedly virtuosic performer is transforming and creating new definitions for Scottish folk in the 21st century.

“Simultaneously ancient and modern, profound and direct” – The Guardian

“Unique, exciting and forward-looking” The Quietus

“Mesmerising” – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2

“Exciting, unusual and gorgeous” – Songlines

“Enchanting … Chaimbeul has an ability to bring a strangely modern, almost electronic, sound from this most traditional of instruments.” The Wire