What an amazing Bothan that was tonight.  Amazing storytelling and song from various folk from the Highlands and beyond.  

Our guest artist was Hamish MacDonald who is a legend; a national treasure and a hero for the Scots language.  

Now looking forward to the next Bothan Inbhir Nis on the 5th April!  Guest artists: Brian Ó hEadhra & Fiona Mackenzie.

'Like' Bothan Inbhir Nis at: www.facebook.com/bothaninbhirnis 

I have really enjoyed playing with the new Gaelic singing quartet Cruinn.  Cruinn consists of Rachel Walker, James Graham, Fiona Mackenzie and myself.  We did our first gig at Celtic Connections in Glasgow on Sunday 22 January at Saint Andrew's in the Square.  We also recorded two songs for the BBC Alba show Ho Ro Gheallaidh.  That should come out this Autumn.  

We also performed at the Gaelic Arts Showcase at Showcase Scotland on Friday 27 January.  I love the close harmonies we do.  So did the Oak and Thorn reviewer!  

Hope so of you can make it tour our next gig in Edinburgh on 2 March.  

Brian O hEadhra "An t-Allt" 

BRIAN Ó HEADHRA
An t-Allt (The Stream), 12 tracks
Anam Communications/Brechin All Records, CDBAR011

www.brianoheadhra.com

In Scotland, they didn’t have a Great Famine: instead they had several small ones, plus the Highland Clearances. The effect on their native language was much the same. And it is the same language as ours, much closer than Germanic languages of any Dutch, German and English. Try getting a Devonian, a Tynesider and a Scouse to communicate, and see whether they all speak English. The Irish-Scots divide is far smaller, and listen to it being sung by a good voice, and for an Irish person it suddenly makes a lot of sense.

It proves that there are emotions that defy translation, such as the grief of exile, even from as bleak a home as the island of St. Kilda, where they lived on sea-birds.
This is a well-produced album, complete with song-words and there are well crafted melodies, both new and traditional. There’s even a bit of old-timey style banjo, evoking the Appalachians and the other New World places where the deportees eventually found refuge.

Spoken Scots-Gaeliic isn’t easily heard in Ireland, but this is powerful argument for remedying this situation. It’s also very companionable music, the sort I’d seek if I wanted to shorten a road. But beyond this, there’s an educational value for students of Irish, even in Gaeltacht summer schools. And it proves that it’s possible to advocate and defend the language and at the same time produce an enjoyable and artistic collection.

Well done, Brian, there’s a blackbird lost in you.
John Brophy

REVIEW FROM www.livingtradition.co.uk


BRIAN Ó hEADHRA - An t-Allt
Brechin All Records CDBAR011

Brian’s best known as a member of the group Anam – of whom we’ve heard little lately (have they split?). A year or two back, he released a rather fine album, Sonas, in collaboration with fiddler Bruce MacGregor and accordionist Sandy Brechin, which despite the presence of those two excellent musicians only served to emphasise just how brilliantly expressive a singer Brian is. And yet his is a quiet expressiveness, almost sensual in the way it warmly caresses the ear, and this quality is certainly heard to best advantage – and even more persuasive effect – on Brian’s new offering, An T-Allt, an almost entirely vocal set.

Brian enjoys thoughtful, sensibly understated, unflashy backings chiefly involving his own guitar with Chris Agnew (basses), Sandy Brechin (accordion) and Fiona Mackenzie (backing vocals), and there are occasional contributions from Pat McGarvey (banjo), Louisa Rafferty and Richard Werner (pianos). The mix of material is both attractive and wide-ranging; there are no fewer than five of Brian’s own compositions (pick of these being the opener Fathainn, which conveys the restless plight of the evacuated St. Kildans, and the tender night-song Caidil Ri Mo Thaobh), and a pair of traditional songs which have been translated from Irish Gaelic into Scottish Gaelic by Brian himself. Two representative pieces by bards Uilleam Ros and Donnchadh MacDhomhnaill both suit Brian’s engaging vocal style, as does an impassioned Gaelic translation of Richard Thompson’s Dimming Of The Day (perhaps more unexpectedly, given its compass), while another standout track is Fiona Mackenzie’s Now You’re Gone, which also sports a St. Kildan connection and bases its melody on that of Poor Wayfaring Stranger.

The one instrumental track is the delightful piano piece Fionn’s Tune, written by Brian for “wee Fionn”. A quietly satisfying set all round from this assured, accomplished and characterful Gaelic singer.

David Kidman

Buy this CD online from The Listening Post
The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine.This album was reviewed in Issue 88 of The Living Tradition magazine.

fRoots Magazine Review - April 2011

BRIAN O hEADHRA

An t-Allt

Brechin All Records, CDBAR011

The ability to convey sensual, trembling, passionate emotion is not common among Scottish Gaelic singers, and the notable exceptions tend to be female.  Rarer still are the male singers who are able to go beyond performing a song to actually expressing it.  It needs a kind of abandonment.  This album confirms Brian Ó hEadhra's status as the most vocally talented and versatile male singer in Scottish Gaelic.  His warm, sweet voice brims with feeling, and, compellingly, he seems to inhabit the songs he sings, becoming part of them. 

This is a powerful collection of love songs, some joyous, some grief-stricken, some composed by Brian, some traditional, and some contemporary songs by others.  Graceful, glowing accompaniment is provided on guitar, accordion, acoustic bass, piano, glockenspiel, harmonica, shruti box and additional vocals.  Tha Mi Nam Shuidh' is a traditional Irish song of unrequited love.  Brian's Scottish Gaelic version is heart-melting.  And his soulful Gaelic rendition of Richard Thompson's Dimming of the Day is simply a revelation.  I think I prefer it to the original version. 

If being the most engaging male vocalist in Gaeldom were not enough, this album also showcases Brian's prodigious talents as a songwriter.  Fathainn (Rumours) is a striking original song about the evacuation from St Kilda: the verses describe the gossip of the mainlanders talking about the strange refugees in their midst, the chorus expresses the anguish of the bewildered evacuees.  The masterstroke is the tune-change for the chorus - a haunting, klezmer-like refrain.  Brian's gift for composing beautiful tunes is at the heart of Caidil Ri Mo Thaobh (Sleep By My Side), a tender love-song to his wife, in which the lady herself (Fiona Mackenzie) provides additional vocals.  Equally moving is Trì Rionnagan Beaga (Three Little Stars), the melody exquisitely conveying the overwhelming emotion of travelling homeward towards wife and children. 

Brian closes the album with a definitive performance of a classic song of unrequited love 'S Truagh nach Do Rugadh Dall Mi (Alas That I Was Not Born Blind) by the tragic 18th Century poet William Ross, for whose work Brian is the perfect voice.

www.brianoheadhra.com

Paul Matheson