Brìghde Chaimbeul - Banish The Giant of Doubt & Despair

Banish The Giant of Doubt & Despair from “Carry Them With Us” by Brìghde Chaimbeul (Glitterbeat/tak:til) Buy/stream now: https://idol-io.link/CarryThemWithUs www.brichaimbeul.com Scottish Smallpipes: Brìghde Chaimbeul produced by Brìghde Chaimbeul & Colin Stetson recorded by Julie McLarnon at Analogue Catalogue Studios mixed by Colin Stetson mastered by Gregor Zemljič Starring Beth Campbell Conceptualised and shot by Jonny Ashworth, John Smith and Miles Trotter "We worked on a project with Brighde on Skye - Òraìn na Tìre (land songs). We devised a journey round the North end linking songs, stories and landscape. Folk followed clues and triggered pre-recorded narrations, being directed ultimately to a secret location - a non-descript shed with an outrageous outlook. We had commissioned Beth, a local dancer, to choreograph a routine for the opening unaccompanied reel. We hid her in the crowd - three of us surrounding. As Brìghde began to play we pushed outwards to create space. Realising what was happening the audience moved back further, and she moved freely in and around them evolving the performance. White Nike Airforce 1’s scuffed rhythmically on the concrete, commanding the room - a beautiful visualisation of control and joy. The tune finished and she melted into the throng, and left for a bus to the city. We arranged to meet her to film months later, a few miles from her family home. It was a bitterly cold January day so she came dressed in a puffer jacket, those white Nikes popping on the brown heather. We chose a low lying spot - a huge northerly was blowing in from the Minch. As she stood with her back to the camera a squall swirled in. She turned as the music began, a slight smile acknowledged the wildness, and danced on the moorland. We stood transfixed - the duality of grace and resilience, the flick of her wrist, the snow in her hair. For a few fragile minutes person and land became one and the same. And it is this human connection with landscape that for us was so representative of Brighde’s music. Gaelic, her first language, has origins in nature, with each letter of the alphabet named after a tree. The language and culture is rooted in the earth. It seems significant then that this land is now all but devoid of trees, yet like a moor fire, the spirit burns on within stories told through song, and music that must be heard."