Scottish folk collective Breabach heading to Cambridge
One of Scotland’s most skilled and imaginative contemporary folk acts, Breabach has released six acclaimed albums, a film soundtrack and even its own whisky.
The hard-working quintet has also found time to collaborate with indigenous Australasian artists, Quebec’s Le Vent du Nord, and Cape Bretoners Beolach, while working as artists-in-residence at Canada’s famed Celtic Colours festival in 2019.
Breabach’s latest project involved the five members – Megan Henderson (fiddle, vocals, step dance), James Lindsay (double bass, vocals), Calum MacCrimmon (bagpipes, whistle, bouzouki, vocals), Conal McDonagh (bagpipes, whistle, vocals) and Ewan Robertson (guitar, vocals, cajon) – working with Scottish Bafta-winning animator Cat Bruce to create Dùsgadh, a short film with an original score.
Since Calum and Ewan first formed the group in 2003, their collective journey has included performances across the globe, from the Sydney Opera House to Central Park in New York City. They have also racked up a number of accolades, including five Scots Trad Music Awards, nominations as Best Group in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and European Album of the Year at the Songlines Music Awards.
Megan, who joined in 2011, was speaking to the Cambridge Independent towards the end of February from a snowy Glasgow. “Unfortunately we lost a few shows in January due to another lockdown up here,” she says, “but we haven’t let that stop us; we’ve been managing to do some rehearsals.
“We’re getting some new music together for our next studio album, so that’s been really nice, and this will be the first studio album with our newest member Conal McDonagh. And then just gearing up for heading out on tour, of course.”
The band’s eighth album is due to be released in the summer. “We’ve taken inspiration from nature and how we’re all feeling that bit more in touch with it and grateful for it since everything that’s happened in the last two years,” observes Megan, who hails from the town of Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.
“So we’re kind of going back to our roots and writing all of our own material. We’ve taken inspiration from the city that we all live in, Glasgow, and it’s been really nice having the time to come up with this new material.”
Musically, the fivesome has always sought to combine the old with the new. “We’re all rooted in traditional Scottish music,” explains Megan, “but we’ve all either studied or have got interests in other genres. In particular, our bass player James Lindsay, he’s a jazzer at heart.
“We like to stay respectful to our culture and the Gaelic language, but you always need to keep folk music evolving – that’s kind of what folk music is.”
Megan says that Breabach has been performing in Cambridge “for many years now”, including “four or five” appearances at the Folk Festival. “I’d say I can probably speak on behalf of all of us – that’s one of our favourite folk festivals to perform at,” she notes. “It’s so much fun and we always have a lovely warm welcome from the audience and all the folk that work there.”
The short animated film Dùsgadh was the band’s “big lockdown project”. Megan says: “We were really fortunate to get the opportunity to create this film. We managed to secure funding from Creative Scotland and it really helped us through the lockdown.
“It’s something that we really wanted to do but we never had the time because we were never in the one place for long enough. We worked with an animator, Cat Bruce – she’s a Bafta Award-winning animator – and we created a short film.”
The storyline of the film, which the band’s live sound engineer Keir Long also worked on, is an old folklore tale, set to an original musical score. Megan reveals that it will be out “at some point this year”.
On the subject of Breabach’s foray into alcoholic beverages, Breabach 15 is a 15-year-old, single malt whisky. “That kept some of us sane, I suppose, through lockdown,” laughs Megan. “We actually got to design the bottle and the branding as well... We worked closely with the Glenturret distillery and you can still get your hands on it. It’s a limited edition single malt – it’s really nice!”
Breabach will be appearing at the Junction’s J2 on Wednesday, March 16. Visit junction.co.uk. For more on the band, go to breabach.com.
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