Brìghde Chaimbeul (pronounced Bree-chu Chaym-bul)) 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.
Her third album “Sunwise”, to be released in June this year, includes guests on uilleann pipes and organ, as well as Canadian composer Colin Stetson (saxophone) and her father Aonghas Phàdraig (spoken word) and brother Eòsaph (vocals). Extending the fearless, experimental ethos of her lauded 2023 album "Carry Them With Us,” Brìghde Chaimbeul's new music continues to push the boundaries and expectations of both experimental and traditional sonics.
Brìghde Chaimbeul's previous album “Carry Them With Us" was featured on several year-end lists for 2023, including The Quietus "Best albums of 2023" (#13) and The Guardian's "Best Folk
Albums of 2023"(#7). Over the past two years Chaimbeul has appeared at Roskilde, Le Guess Who?, Rewire and other major festivals.
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.
"Arresting, hypnotic compositions...with dissonance often stuttering next to moments of deep beauty. Both of its time and out of time." -- The Guardian
"Unique, exciting and forward-looking. Some of the most satisfying and complete music to be found anywhere in these islands." -- The Quietus
“Simultaneously ancient and modern, profound and direct” – The Guardian
“Enchanting ... Chaimbeul has an ability to bring a strangely modern, almost electronic, sound from this most traditional of instruments.” The Wire
