No previous knowledge, ability to read music, or singing skill required. Schoolteachers, community music leaders, anyone who wants to share the MacCrimmon gospel welcome!

In this entertaining introduction to Hebridean canntaireachd, Barnaby Brown makes the real McCoy easy to handle. Expect a big screen, colourful syllables, memorable gestures, and powerful harmonies. In 90 minutes, we will learn to chant a pibroch classic, known in polite society as “Lament for the Union” (1707).

Iain Dubh MacCrimmon called this “Mallachd nam Pìobairean” – The Curse of the Pipers. The music combines three medieval styles, respectively believed to elicit superhuman powers, curse enemies, and assuage grief. Like doctors and priests, professional pipers helped people cope with misfortune and difficulties, handling whatever life threw at them.

Join us enriching life in dark places where piobaireachd does not reach… through wholesome community singing! Scotland’s Big Music is a force for wellbeing, connecting us across generations and mindsets, engaging with history that everyone loves and an awesome cultural inheritance.

We will be using a score developed by graphic designer Kate Carpenter, whose book The Gesto Canntaireachd is available from the National Piping Centre shop here

The Artists

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The Venue

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The centre serves as a national and international centre of excellence for the great Highland Bagpipe and its music.

The Street Cafe is just outside on McPhater Street, so join us there. 

Event Sponsor

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Pibroch Network