Post Description

Celtic harp, small pipes, folk, Scotland. 

Deze mag zeker blijven wonen in huize Mac.

1852 – the Highland landowners are evicting their tenants in the bitter winter, and Rachel and Mairearad’s shared great great grandmother is organising one of the few successful resistances to the Highland Clearances which killed or exiled millions of Scots in the 19th century. This album focuses on the Coigach Rebellion, a neglected and often forgotten chapter of Scottish history when the lives of poor Highlanders were worth less than the lives of sheep. With harp and accordion, pipes and vocals, Green and Newton paint a picture of Highland life, harsh conditions, and hard-nosed women who won a major social victory while their menfolk were away fishing on the other side of the country. In nine new compositions and one traditional song, they tell a grim tale: there’s no mood of celebration, except in The Wick Fishermen which commemorates the help of that East Coast community in preventing the arrest of the Coigach men from the Rubha Mor peninsula north of Ullapool.

Four of the ten tracks here feature Mairearad Green on smallpipes, three instrumentals and one Gaelic song, all newly written for this project. There’s a long association between piping and singing, from canntaireachd to accompaniment: Not Today, Nor Tomorrow falls between these two styles, an air in the old Gaelic style swapped between pipes and voice. The final Tha Sinn an Seo has more of a poibaireachd feel, a ground melody with careful ornamentation. Ceit Bheag is a slow march, atmospheric and spine-tingling. The Burning of the Writs shifts from jig to retreat march to reel, a harp melody backed by pipe drones before the chanter takes up the tune. Each of these four is a little flower of piping, solo or sounding with harp and piano and viola. The other six tracks blend accordion and harp, Gaelic song and English spoken word, to weave a multi-hued tapestry of music around these old stories. There is also an attractive accompanying booklet with lyrics and artwork. The overall effect is eerie, moving, muted but strangely cathartic and uplifting.

Tracks:
01. Anna Bhàn
02. Achnahaird
03. 1852
04. The Burning of the Writs
05. Not Today, Nor Tomorrow
06. Lady Stafford
07. Ceit Bheag
08. The Wick Fishermen
09. Am Banais
10. Tha Sinn an Seo

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan.