Òran Bagraidh

This is a piece of musical archaeology. It feels like you are hearing sounds and words from the distant past. But it's also a piece of musical conservation, the result of the Knockengorroch Off Site residency at Barscobe House in Galloway, south-west Scotland. It's a broad Celtic musical tapestry. The wellspring of the project is ‘Òran Bagraidh’, an ancient song sung in Galloway Gaelic (the only surviving example). It was collected in North Uist by Donald Fergusson and Angus MacDonald and printed in their 1978 book From the Farthest Hebrides. Galloway Gaelic was spoken until the 19th century, and they render the song in part in Welsh phonetics, reflecting the fascinating fact that early Welsh was spoken in Galloway, too.

The residency brought together Scots and Gaelic singer Josie Duncan, triplepiper Barnaby Brown, singer MacGillivray and Gaelic poet Rody Gorman with sean nós singers Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde and Lorcán Mac Mathúna and fiddler Conor Caldwell from Ireland and singer Gwyneth Glyn and medieval music duo Bragod from Wales. Such an array delivers a highly eclectic album, from avant-garde experimentalism to traditional ballads spanning over a millennium. Brown's revival of the triplepipes, precursor to the Highland bagpipes, is yet another layer of musical revelation in this celebration of embattled and hard-earned identities.