Brìghde Chaimbeul (; born 1998) is a Scottish piper, who plays the traditional

Great Highland bagpipe The great Highland bagpipe ( '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 Armed Forces, British mili ...

and the revived

Scottish smallpipes The Scottish smallpipe is a bellows-blown bagpipe re-developed by Colin Ross and many others, adapted from an earlier design of the instrument. There are surviving bellows-blown examples of similar historical instruments as well as the mouth-bl ...

Life

Chaimbeul was born in 1998 and brought up in

Sleat Sleat ( ) is a peninsula and civil parish on the island of Skye in the Highland council area of Scotland, known as "the garden of Skye". It is the home of the clan '' MacDonald of Sleat''. The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic , which in tur ...

on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

, and is a native

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

speaker. She learned the fiddle and piano before taking up the pipes at the age of seven, having been inspired to learn the pipes after hearing Rona Lightfoot at the age of four. She received tuition from Niall Stewart, and competed successfully in solo competitions on the

from a young age. Along with her four siblings, she attended

St Mary's Music School St Mary's Music School is a music school in Scotland in the West End of Edinburgh, for children aged 9 to 19 and is also the Choir School of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. The school, which is non-denominational, provides education for child ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, where she received tuition from Iain Speirs. In 2014, Chaimbeul took up the

, being gifted a set by Hamish Moore, and received tuition on them from his son Fin Moore. A bursary from the

Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland, founded in 1936. The society organises lectures and publishes pamphlets, and presents a series of awards in the fiel ...

allowed her to visit Bulgaria to study the piping tradition there, and her music has been influenced by Bulgarian, Irish, Scandinavian and Cape Breton traditions. Chaimbeul has worked extensively with Aidan O'Rourke, as well as

Ross Ainslie Ross may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ross (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan Places Antarctica * Ross Sea * ...

, John McSherry, Paul Meehan, Martin Green, Carlos Núñez and Allan MacDonald. She appeared on

Caroline Polachek Caroline Elizabeth Polachek (born June 20, 1985) is an American singer, producer, and songwriter. Raised in Connecticut, Polachek cofounded the indie pop band Chairlift while studying at the University of Colorado. The duo emerged from the late- ...

's single " Blood & Butter" from Polachek's

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

album '' Desire, I Want to Turn Into You'' as a soloist. Chaimbeul won the

BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Maddie Mo ...

in 2016, and the "Horizon Award" in the 2019

BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British rad ...

. Her debut album ''The Reeling'' was recorded in 2019 in the Cromarty East Church, featuring Aidan O'Rourke, Radie Peat from

Lankum Lankum are a contemporary Irish folk music group from Dublin, consisting of multi-instrumentalists Ian Lynch, Daragh Lynch, Cormac MacDiarmada and Radie Peat. Originally a duo consisting of the Lynch brothers, known as Lynched, the pair relea ...

, and Rona Lightfoot. She has played at events including Celtic Colours,

Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of trad ...

, and Piping Live. Her older sisters Màiri and Steaphanaidh are

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ists, her father

Aonghas Phàdraig Caimbeul Angus Peter Campbell (; born 1952) is a Scottish award-winning poet, novelist, journalist, broadcaster and actor. Campbell's works, which are written mainly in Scottish Gaelic, draw heavily upon both Hebridean mythology and folklore and the ma ...

is a writer and broadcaster, and her mother Liondsaidh Chaimbeul is a sculptor.

Discography

* ''The Reeling'' (2019) * ''Las'' (2021), with

and Steven Byrnes * ''Carry Them With Us'' (2023), featuring

Colin Stetson Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is an American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to sa ...

* ''Sunwise'' (2025)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaimbeul, Brighde Players of Scottish smallpipes People from the Isle of Skye Great Highland bagpipe players 1998 births Living people Scottish bagpipe players 21st-century Scottish women musicians Scottish Gaelic bands People educated at St Mary's Music School