“It’s almost impossible to believe you got that extraordinary, glorious sound from those… I am lost in admiration… they are absolutely wondrous.”
Sean Rafferty, BBC Radio 3
Barnaby Brown leads the revival of the northern triplepipe, the ‘organ’ of the Celtic Church and precursor of the bagpipe in Britain and Ireland. He also champions the art of canntaireachd, a chant which imitates the sound of the Highland bagpipe, and plays pibroch on a reproduction of a chanter owned by the Blind Piper of Gairloch (c.1656–c.1754).
His latest ensemble, Swagatam, explores the mouth music traditions of India and Scotland:
Triplepipe (live broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 12 June 2009):
Canntaireachd (from Band-Re’s CD, Strathosphere):
Pibroch (live at the Edinburgh International Festival, 20 August 2009):
“Between vocal items the “northern triplepipes” virtuoso Barnaby Brown improvised on 13th-century Celtic chants. Don’t ask me how he managed to walk round, while keeping three wooden tubes buzzing in his mouth and conjuring elaborate two-part counterpoints over a drone. But it was amazingly compelling”
The Times
