Brìghde Chaimbeul and Aidan O’Rourke presented by Red Door

Since winning the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Horizon Award, piper Brìghde Chaimbeul has gone from strength to strength. A native Gaelic speaker, her style is rooted in her language and culture, but draws inspiration from a variety of global piping traditions such as from Eastern Europe, Cape Breton and Ireland.

Her debut album The Reeling has had an extraordinary response since it’s launch in 2019, being named as Folk Album Of The Month by The Guardian, given five star reviews in both fRoots and Songlines and lavished with praise by BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction. Musicians as diverse as Colin Stetson, Sam Amidon and Anna von Hausswolff have expressed their love for the record on social media, and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys invited Brìghde to collaborate with him and James Yorkston at a special show in Kirkcaldy. She was joined on the recording by violinist Aidan O’Rourke from experimental folk trio Lau, who also produced the album – and performs alongside her at this Red Door concert. The album also featured the pioneering 82-year-old singer and piper Rona Lightfoot contributing canntaireachd (a phonetic singing tradition used to teach pipe tunes – the word means “chanting” in Gaelic.)

Growing up in a musical family in Sleat on the Isle of Skye, it was hearing Rona play that gave Brìghde her initial inspiration to take up piping when she was just four years old (she began studying the instrument three years later). Brìghde has devised a completely new way of arranging for pipe music that emphasises the rich textural drones of the smallpipes; the constancy of sound that creates a trance-like quality in the tunes.

She has collaborated with many established artists over the years, including Ross Ainslie, John McSherry, Martin Green, Carlos Nunez and Allan MacDonald.

Brìghde’s second album Carry Them With Us was released in April and is an exhilarating weave of rich textural drones, trance atmospheres and instrumental folk traditions. Acclaimed Canadian sound explorer and saxophonist Colin Stetson is a featured collaborator on the record.

“Simultaneously ancient and modern, profound and direct.” Folk Album of the Month – The Guardian

“Exciting, unusual and gorgeous.” – Songlines

“Pure, vital energy… exceptional playing.” – Folk Radio

Doors Open 7.30pm – BYOB!