Rare Air, formerly Na Cabarfeidh, was a Canadian band that played an eccentric mix of instruments, including

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...

s, bombardes,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, and

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

s." Na Cabarfeidh Rare Air"
''AllMusic'' Review by Richard Foss Its first two albums were released under the name Na Cabarfeidh and the following four under the new name, Rare Air.

History

The group was founded in the late 1970s as a Celtic folk music band, was originally led by bagpipers Grier Coppins and Pat O'Gorman. The name ''Na Cabarfeidh'' means "the Cabarfeidh" in

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

, referring to the Cabar Feidh Pipe Band in which they had both played. In 1982, Na Cabarfeidh released an album produced by Sometimes We Do This Musical Productions. At the time of album, the band included Ian Goodfellow, Grier Coppins, Richard Murai, Patrick O'Gorman, and Trevor Ferrier. The instruments on this album were

Great Highland Bagpipe The Great Highland bagpipe ( gd, a' phìob mhòr "the great pipe") is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland, and the Scottish analogue to the Great Irish Warpipes. It has acquired widespread recognition through its usage in the British milit ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

long drum Long drums are a loose category of tubular membranophones, characterized by their extreme length. They are most common in Africa, Thailand, and in Native American traditions. Long drums can be made out of entire tree trunk In botany, the trunk ...

, bombarde, biniou koz, peaucloche,

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cylinder drum A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...

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. The song ''Bretonia'' was based on a melody of a

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

love song, "J'ai travaillé la longue des jours," as sung to the band by Pierrig Hercelin of Les Fougerets. Their sound was a fusion of Celtic, rock and a Caribbean beat. After the band's second album, ''Rare Air'', Goodfellow left, and the band changed its name to the more easily pronounced Rare Air. In 1985, the group released ''Mad Plaid'' on the Flying Fish label. Rare Air toured the world, and extensively in the southern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Their early music took the sounds of Celtic music from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and combined it with funky bass rhythms and driving polyrhythmic percussion. In 1990, two of the four founding members, Trevor Ferrier and Richard Murai, left to pursue their own musical interests, and the band changed musical direction with the addition of Christian Frappier, Jeff Gill and Rich Greenspoon. Rare Air's music became more jazz-oriented and it was soon tagged with the "jazz fusion" label. After the last album, ''Space Piper'', the group disbanded.

Discography

*''Stick It in Your Ear'' (1981) *''Rare Air'' (1982) *''Mad Plaid'' (1984) *''Hard to Beat'' (1987) *''Primeval'' (1989) *''Space Piper'' (circa 1991)"Green Linnet"
''The Irish Music Review''.

References

External links

*Gil, Jeffery

Pat O'Gorman bio
{{Authority control Canadian folk music groups Green Linnet Records artists