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Moran taing, agus oidhche mhath. | 0:00:01 | 0:00:03 | |
Since their formation 30 years ago, Capercaillie have become | 0:00:07 | 0:00:10 | |
one of the most influential bands in Scottish traditional music. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:14 | |
They have taken their music all over the world, | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
influenced a new generation of musicians, | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
and broadened the appeal and awareness | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
of Gaelic culture immeasurably. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
They've sold over a million albums, | 0:00:23 | 0:00:25 | |
had the first Gaelic song in the UK top 40, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:27 | |
and have provided music for numerous TV series, | 0:00:27 | 0:00:30 | |
and even Hollywood movies. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
You always try and go on a journey, musically, | 0:00:33 | 0:00:35 | |
try and find places you haven't been, | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
and, certainly, that's always true of a Capercaillie record. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
I think when we started this journey, | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
I thought we were just on some wee tirravie, you know, | 0:00:47 | 0:00:52 | |
and it would come to an end. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:54 | |
I thought, you know, we're just having some fun here, this is great. | 0:00:54 | 0:00:56 | |
The ingredients that go into the cake that is Capercaillie | 0:01:02 | 0:01:08 | |
are just stunning. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
Donald always had his musical colours nailed to the mast | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
in that it was identifiably Scottish music. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
I think we broke up once... | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
..and then we went out and had a session and reformed. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
Thank you, Stornoway! | 0:01:51 | 0:01:52 | |
SHE SINGS | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
ACCORDION ACCOMPANIES | 0:02:12 | 0:02:16 | |
When they first took to the stage in Taynuilt, husband and wife duo | 0:02:42 | 0:02:45 | |
Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson could never have imaged what lay ahead. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
I want to find out if this piano still works | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
Oh, aye. | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
Because this piano was there the very first time | 0:02:52 | 0:02:54 | |
we played Capercaillie, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:56 | |
and I remember Joany had to tune the fiddle up to even get close to it. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:00 | |
Is that when you lost your temper at me and Shuna | 0:03:02 | 0:03:07 | |
and stamped on your flute? | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
-I would never do that. -On your whistle? | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
You did, cos we started giggling in the middle of it, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:13 | |
and you took your whistle out your mouth and stamped on it in a rage. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:16 | |
Are you saying I take things too seriously? | 0:03:16 | 0:03:18 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:03:18 | 0:03:20 | |
Nothing's ever changed! | 0:03:20 | 0:03:21 | |
Let's see what this is like. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
HE PLAYS THE PIANO | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
Ah, beautiful! | 0:03:25 | 0:03:26 | |
SHE BEGINS TO SING | 0:03:32 | 0:03:33 | |
Amazing! | 0:03:33 | 0:03:35 | |
Ha! Gorgeous! | 0:03:41 | 0:03:43 | |
Last time I played this was Hogmanay, Millennium Hogmanay. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:50 | |
-And... -Ah, it was. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:51 | |
I ended up in a fight with a banjo player, | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
which was not for the first time. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:55 | |
That's right, I remember it. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:58 | |
And, actually, we were here for your parent's anniversary party. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:03 | |
Yeah, but you wouldn't have been here the first time | 0:04:03 | 0:04:07 | |
that Capercaillie played here. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:09 | |
What?! You mean there was life before me? | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
That's when we were the real cult status of the instrumental line-up, | 0:04:13 | 0:04:17 | |
but the first time we played here was with Martin and Joany and Shaun | 0:04:17 | 0:04:24 | |
at the Ceilidh, and I don't think | 0:04:24 | 0:04:28 | |
they liked us very much, actually. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:33 | |
-Too loud? -Well, too many chords. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
Even in the band's early days in the '80s, | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
they were not afraid to follow their own musical path, | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
but they were very much out on their own with their sympathetic | 0:04:42 | 0:04:46 | |
but contemporary arrangement of traditional Gaelic songs. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:48 | |
What's different about 20-30 years ago is the whole scene's changed | 0:04:49 | 0:04:53 | |
and it's really vibrant and there's hundreds of bands | 0:04:53 | 0:04:57 | |
out there playing traditional music. | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
'I'd like to think that we were always quite cautious with | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
'what we did with the material, that we did treat it with respect' | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
cos it is a very precious commodity that we're working with. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:13 | |
We've always been very aware of that. | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
Capercaillie has seen a number of line-up changes | 0:05:18 | 0:05:21 | |
since Donald and Karen formed the group in Oban High School. | 0:05:21 | 0:05:24 | |
Let's just try the first verse for a second. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:26 | |
The current band are in the studio putting the finishing touches | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
to their new album, The Heart Of It All. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:34 | |
It's been five years since the band's last album, Roses and Tears, | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
and this new album features the band's trademark arrangements | 0:05:39 | 0:05:42 | |
of traditional Gaelic song. | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
What we really wanted to do was just get down to the basics | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
of the songs, a lot of these songs are very old, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
very traditional, and get down to the source of the song | 0:05:51 | 0:05:56 | |
and trying and make it work best for Karen to perform. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
You cannot go out and play the same music over and over again. | 0:06:10 | 0:06:14 | |
You have to go into the studio every couple of years and make new music. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:19 | |
SHE SINGS | 0:06:22 | 0:06:24 | |
'You feel like the song sometimes is actually coming through you,' | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
you're just a vehicle for this thing that's happening, | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
this amazing, especially with Gaelic music, this amazing thing | 0:06:47 | 0:06:51 | |
that happens to you and you're just giving it out to the people. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:55 | |
Music was all around a young Donald growing up in Taynuilt, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:20 | |
ten miles south of Oban. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:22 | |
Parents Paddy and Libby were a big influence | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
with his father's love of the accordion having it's effect. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
Neither father nor son have lost any of their enthusiasm | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
for the instrument, as Donald shows off his new box. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
Probably about the same weight as the.... | 0:07:37 | 0:07:39 | |
HE PLAYS | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
Donald's parents continue to play in a dance band, | 0:07:46 | 0:07:48 | |
with Paddy on the box and his wife on piano. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
Libby was a driving force behind the early beginnings of Capercaillie | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
when she realised Donald's first band, The Etives, | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
required a good vocalist. | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
I felt that it would be a really nice thing to do | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
with my eldest daughter, Shuna, and Donald, | 0:08:03 | 0:08:05 | |
and the obvious answer to me was to get Karen | 0:08:05 | 0:08:09 | |
cos she had the most beautiful voice in Taynuilt. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
You were just driving, were you? | 0:08:14 | 0:08:16 | |
Maybe not then. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:17 | |
Don't know that you were. Donald certainly wasn't cos he was only 13. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:22 | |
It was difficult getting a double bass in the car, anyway. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:25 | |
Very difficult. It was great fun, probably, for me. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
Got you two together! | 0:08:29 | 0:08:31 | |
Oh dear! | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
-It was great fun for us, too. -It was awesome, it was great. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
This is when we had our first group, The Etives, | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
and this is where the iconic photo... | 0:08:45 | 0:08:48 | |
You were just about where that cowpat was, right there, | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
and there was my sister, Shuna, who played the fiddle, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:56 | |
and Andrew Campbell on the bass, | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
and we were just stood looking windswept and interesting | 0:08:59 | 0:09:04 | |
-with kilts on. -We all wore kilts. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:05 | |
-Please, make the pose. -And matching blue shirts. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:08 | |
Actually, I was like this, cos I was playing the guitar. | 0:09:09 | 0:09:12 | |
Oh, yeah, that's right, yeah. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:13 | |
Of a fashion! | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
It's a bit like those iconic covers, you know, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
like Sergeant Peppers or The Joshua Tree by U2, | 0:09:17 | 0:09:21 | |
it's much the same. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
We did a couple of summer seasons in Oban | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
playing for the tourists and stuff like that. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
£12 - that's what we got paid. That was our best fee. | 0:09:30 | 0:09:36 | |
You were quite good on the two chords that you knew. | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
I played the penny whistle. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:41 | |
Andrew had a double bass with three strings, and, eh... | 0:09:41 | 0:09:45 | |
You sang The Crystal Chandeliers you actually sang! | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
Yeah, that's a collector's piece of music. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
-Your voice hadn't broken. -All right, all right. | 0:09:49 | 0:09:51 | |
Don't need to talk about that. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
# Oh, the crystal chandeliers | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
# Light up the paintings on your wall... # | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
The band has played all over the world, | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
has built up a considerable body of work, | 0:10:05 | 0:10:08 | |
and they're always pushing their music forward | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
and never rest on their laurels. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
-We're always sitting in the house, aren't we? -Always. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
Listen to our records with a glass of wine. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
"Let's listen to that record again. Oh, you were great there." | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
No, we never listen to our... | 0:10:19 | 0:10:21 | |
I don't even know the names of the records we've made. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
So, Karen, I have here five long playing records, | 0:10:27 | 0:10:32 | |
otherwise known as vinyl, | 0:10:32 | 0:10:34 | |
that chart the early history of Capercaillie. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
The test for you this very moment is to put them in order of release. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:42 | |
I want to see how much you remember correctly about this band. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:45 | |
-You have got to be joking. -Put them in order of release. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:48 | |
-Surely you can get that right. -I could go by the hair, maybe. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:50 | |
And that's not mine, that's just Manus's. | 0:10:50 | 0:10:53 | |
Right, let me see now. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:56 | |
OK, I know that's the first one. | 0:10:57 | 0:10:59 | |
-Right, Cascade. -I'm wearing the same top. | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
Oh, Lord, the fashion comes back round again. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:04 | |
It does, if you wait long enough. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:05 | |
And then... | 0:11:05 | 0:11:07 | |
-Crosswinds. -That's going well. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:11 | |
And then, Capercaillie... | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
Delirium? | 0:11:15 | 0:11:16 | |
No, you're miles away. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:18 | |
Oh, no, Sidewalk, of course, yes indeed. | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
-And then Delirium. -Yep. | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
-And then Secret People. Pretty good. -Not bad. -Only got one wrong. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:30 | |
In the 1970s, the folk music scene | 0:11:33 | 0:11:35 | |
in Scotland and Ireland was changing. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:38 | |
Arguably, Ireland was leading this change, with bands like Planxty | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
adding driving rhythms and slick arrangements to the old tunes. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
But in Scotland, outfits like Ossian and Boys of the Lough | 0:11:44 | 0:11:48 | |
were also creating a more contemporary sound. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:50 | |
Of particular influence to the young Capercaillie were the band | 0:12:02 | 0:12:06 | |
fronted by brothers Phil and Johnny Cunningham. | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
Silly Wizard were a high-octane, trad music powerhouse | 0:12:11 | 0:12:15 | |
that attracted a new and younger audience to the music. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
It all felt very organic at the time. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:20 | |
There were a lot of bands trying to do the same thing, | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
and all taking it in their own direction. | 0:12:23 | 0:12:27 | |
I mean I remember having some | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
quite specific plans at one point, | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
very sure of where I wanted to go until the following week, | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
and it would change again, | 0:12:34 | 0:12:35 | |
and then I was very sure where I wanted to go, | 0:12:35 | 0:12:37 | |
and then it would change again. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
WOMEN SINGING | 0:12:40 | 0:12:46 | |
Flora MacNeil was a key influence on Karen. | 0:12:50 | 0:12:53 | |
The recording of Flora's first album marked an important sea change | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
on how Gaelic music was heard. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
Moving away from the orchestral-based arrangements | 0:12:58 | 0:13:01 | |
that had prevailed in the '50s and '60s, | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
this was Gaelic song in it's purest form. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
Another band, Na h-Oganaich, had realised if they could broaden | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
the appeal of Gaelic song with more modern arrangements | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
they could find a fresh audience for the music. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
Na h-Oganaich were a huge inspiration at the time, | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
at that stage when we were teenagers, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
because they were using Gaelic songs and making them... | 0:13:31 | 0:13:34 | |
And they were cool, they were folky and hip, | 0:13:34 | 0:13:38 | |
not the way we'd been presented them before, | 0:13:38 | 0:13:40 | |
so we used to listen to a lot of that. | 0:13:40 | 0:13:43 | |
The new album is now recorded | 0:13:49 | 0:13:50 | |
and it's time to take to the road for some live gigs. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:53 | |
The first destination is Stornoway for the HebCelt Festival. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:57 | |
But taking to the stage in front of an expectant audience | 0:13:57 | 0:13:59 | |
still has an affect on some band members. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
Quite nervous, but excited, as well. | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
The atmosphere's always just electric at these things | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
and you get off on that and you go with that. It's great. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
I do get nervous, so I'm a bit nervous just now | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
but it's good for you, you know, it keeps you on your toes. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
A wee bit of adrenalin is a good thing, I think. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
Capercaillie are making a welcome return to HebCelt, | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
and playing to a Gaelic audience is something they always savour. | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
It's a real honour to come and play at this festival and to be seen | 0:14:29 | 0:14:32 | |
as a headline act, because they've had some great acts over the years. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:36 | |
It's very much for us about taking the music back to the people. | 0:14:36 | 0:14:39 | |
American singer-songwriter Darryl Scott | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
will be joining them on stage this evening. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
I suppose it's strange, someone like Darryl Scott | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
is more a transatlantic type guest. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:51 | |
For Capercaillie, for years we used to tour America, | 0:14:51 | 0:14:55 | |
so that's just a touch of that with Darryl. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
Collaboration has always been important to Capercaillie, | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
and whatever line-up or venue, one thing always remains constant - | 0:15:04 | 0:15:08 | |
their musicality and sensitive arrangements | 0:15:08 | 0:15:10 | |
of other musicians' material. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:11 | |
# And I bet they danced them a jig | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
# And they laughed and sang a new song | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
# Who said we'd never leave Harlan alive? # | 0:15:18 | 0:15:25 | |
Donald, you know and the group, | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
I mean, they're great. And Donald know what he's... | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
He's such a great music director when he's in that role, | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
or band leader when he's in that role, or arranger. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
So, you know, when he called to see if I'd do a number with him, | 0:15:43 | 0:15:49 | |
he knew the number, he already knew the key it was in, | 0:15:49 | 0:15:51 | |
he'd probably already practiced it. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
In the last few years we have been playing as a six-piece, as well, | 0:15:56 | 0:16:02 | |
which would involve myself, Charlie, Donald and Karen, | 0:16:02 | 0:16:06 | |
plus two others maybe Michael McGoldrick, and Ewen, of course. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:12 | |
That's for acoustic venues, which we are doing a bit more of now, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:20 | |
but I have to say the big.... | 0:16:20 | 0:16:22 | |
I think we all prefer the eight-piece. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:26 | |
Playing to audiences of that size would have been an unlikely prospect | 0:16:38 | 0:16:42 | |
back in the mid 1980s, when a young Capercaillie | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
were still making their first roots. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
But the young Donald Shaw always knew there was huge potential | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
in what they were doing. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
Donald always had a passion and a vision, I think, | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
for what Capercaillie could achieve. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:01 | |
He was always driven. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:03 | |
Right from the first day I met him, I could see, | 0:17:03 | 0:17:07 | |
I mean that was part of the charm, if you like, | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
that he had so much energy and enthusiasm | 0:17:11 | 0:17:15 | |
for what he was doing, for music. | 0:17:15 | 0:17:17 | |
He brought that energy to me because for me it was just, as I say, | 0:17:17 | 0:17:22 | |
the early years for me I was kind of dragged round ceilidhs | 0:17:22 | 0:17:25 | |
singing by my father, and I really didn't enjoy it at all. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:29 | |
It was terrifying, nerve-wracking and I would have looked for an escape. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:35 | |
But Donald brought something to that for me. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:37 | |
He brought it to life for me. | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
You know, he made me see it through different eyes | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
that actually there was something really exciting going on here. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
In 1983, the band put down their tracks for their first album, | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
Cascade, but it didn't come easy to Karen. | 0:17:55 | 0:17:58 | |
The first few years of Capercaillie I just found it utterly terrifying, | 0:17:58 | 0:18:04 | |
and that would go right back to my school days when I started singing. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:10 | |
I would have this fear I would go on to sing | 0:18:10 | 0:18:15 | |
and I would burst into tears. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
And it took me a long time to shake that off, | 0:18:17 | 0:18:21 | |
to be confident enough to stand up and perform in public, | 0:18:21 | 0:18:25 | |
and I could never really believe that anybody would want | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
to hear me singing, because I never really thought | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
that I was doing anything different to anybody else. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:33 | |
I mean, I group up with singers in the village. | 0:18:33 | 0:18:38 | |
All my friends sang, as well, | 0:18:38 | 0:18:39 | |
it's not like I felt like I was any different. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:43 | |
I just maybe had more opportunities. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
The maturity of their arrangements belied their youth, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
and it was clear from the outset they had something very special. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
But at that point a career in traditional music | 0:18:56 | 0:18:58 | |
seemed like a pipe dream. | 0:18:58 | 0:18:59 | |
The very idea that you would go on and making a living from that | 0:18:59 | 0:19:03 | |
was pretty daft. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:04 | |
You would never have thought that at the time. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:07 | |
No, I don't think so, no. | 0:19:07 | 0:19:09 | |
We pretty much had college courses on hold for a couple of years. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:15 | |
We'll do this, then it will be a disaster | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
and then we'll go to college. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:19 | |
On the back of that first album, | 0:19:25 | 0:19:27 | |
radio and TV appearances soon followed, | 0:19:27 | 0:19:29 | |
and in 1985 they toured Canada | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
with new member Charlie McKerron on fiddle. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:34 | |
I had left school at that point, gone to Glasgow | 0:19:34 | 0:19:38 | |
and done a secretarial course, gone back to Oban and started | 0:19:38 | 0:19:42 | |
working in community education, | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
and that was just at the stage that Donald was leaving school | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
and had been accepted for various universities. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:52 | |
Charlie had just left university having done a biology degree. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
We were all just on that cusp of will we settle down | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
and do something sensible or will we just throw caution to the wind? | 0:20:01 | 0:20:07 | |
Follow me, it's down here. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:27 | |
Oh, Lordy. Right, he says... | 0:20:27 | 0:20:29 | |
He SAYS it's down here. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:30 | |
It's like a platform where we stood and there's a section down here. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:37 | |
It was in 1996 I believe. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
1946. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:42 | |
I don't know how he remembers, he remembers everything. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
It's that thing there. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:48 | |
That one. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:52 | |
This one? | 0:20:52 | 0:20:53 | |
The trees have also grown up behind, look. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
Can't see a thing. | 0:20:58 | 0:20:59 | |
MUSIC: "Am Buachaille Ban" by Capercaillie | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
Despite their early success, there were still traditionalists | 0:21:12 | 0:21:15 | |
who didn't approve of the band's musical direction. | 0:21:15 | 0:21:17 | |
I think there was a little bit of, you know... | 0:21:19 | 0:21:23 | |
it was kind of sacrilege that I was using synthesisers | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
with old Gaelic songs. | 0:21:26 | 0:21:27 | |
But it never really bothered us. | 0:21:29 | 0:21:31 | |
It wasn't something that was...a big deal. | 0:21:31 | 0:21:33 | |
I think people were always very supportive, | 0:21:33 | 0:21:36 | |
they could see that we were trying. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
We weren't messing with the music, as such, | 0:21:39 | 0:21:41 | |
we were trying to make it. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:43 | |
Actually, we weren't trying to do anything | 0:21:43 | 0:21:45 | |
we were doing what excited us. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:47 | |
Certainly in a contemporary way, you know, | 0:21:54 | 0:21:56 | |
Runrig would have paved the way for that, kind of, you know, | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
full-on rock treatment of songs, | 0:21:59 | 0:22:00 | |
so I don't think we were ever worried about what people thought | 0:22:00 | 0:22:04 | |
about what we did. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:05 | |
We were always more acoustic anyway. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:07 | |
Since their beginnings, Capercaillie have always delved deep | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
into the Gaelic song tradition. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
This involved frequent visits to the school of Scottish Studies | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
to listen to their precious archive field recordings | 0:22:18 | 0:22:21 | |
and this resource still plays an important role, | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
but in some ways times have changed. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
It's easier to find material because there's thousands of hours | 0:22:26 | 0:22:30 | |
of Gaelic songs that have been digitised now. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
So you have something like Tobair an Dualchais, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
which has digitised recordings from the School of Scottish Studies | 0:22:37 | 0:22:44 | |
from the last 50 years. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
And in some collections alone there might be | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
20 or 30,000 hours of songs. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
The late '80s saw the Irish influence continue | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
with the additional of bouzouki player Manus Lunny. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
Well, I happened to be working with Scottish musicians, | 0:23:02 | 0:23:06 | |
Phil Cunningham and Andy M Stewart from Silly Wizard. | 0:23:06 | 0:23:10 | |
I got a call one day wondering if I would do a tour in the US, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:18 | |
that was in late 1988, | 0:23:18 | 0:23:21 | |
and I did the tour and that was it, I've been with them since. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:26 | |
I actually said to Donald at the time, "I'll do it" | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
cos I had just bought a sitar. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
"I'll do it, I'll join Capercaillie. Come on, gie's a job" | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
He said "No." | 0:23:41 | 0:23:42 | |
MUSIC: "Fear A Bhata" by Capercaillie | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
There was a thing called The Blood Is Strong, | 0:23:53 | 0:23:55 | |
which was a documentary series | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
they did the soundtrack to that. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
So they were filtering into your psyche | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
slowly but very surely at that point. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:05 | |
While Capercaillie were finding new markets for their music, | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
traditional Irish bands like Clannad were heading for mainstream success. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:18 | |
Ireland was an important signpost | 0:24:18 | 0:24:20 | |
for the burgeoning scene in Scotland. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
I was watching what was happening in Ireland with great interest | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
and listening to the Bothy Band | 0:24:25 | 0:24:26 | |
and the things that Donal Lunny was doing. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:28 | |
The rhythms, the accompaniment, were changing - | 0:24:28 | 0:24:31 | |
the way that people were accompanying melodies. | 0:24:31 | 0:24:34 | |
The speed was knocking up a notch. | 0:24:34 | 0:24:37 | |
It was all about entertainment and getting the audience on side. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
Lots of people who listened to pop music | 0:24:56 | 0:24:58 | |
and rock music and jazz and whatever else - | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
listening to an uilleann piper playing slow air | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
with nothing else happening was just too much. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:07 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:25:16 | 0:25:17 | |
There was nothing really like that coming out of here. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
The Irish musicians were much more advanced | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
and we were excited by what they were doing. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
MUSIC: "Theme From Harry's Game" by Clannad | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
In 1982 Clannad, fully embracing the electronic sounds of that time, | 0:25:31 | 0:25:36 | |
released the Theme From Harry's Game | 0:25:36 | 0:25:38 | |
reaching number five in the UK Charts. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
Proof that with the right approach to traditional music and Gaelic song | 0:25:49 | 0:25:53 | |
wider commercial success was possible. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:55 | |
At the same time as Capercaillie | 0:26:12 | 0:26:14 | |
were sharing their new take on Gaelic song | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
with new and broader audiences, | 0:26:16 | 0:26:18 | |
Irish band Affan were having the similar success | 0:26:18 | 0:26:20 | |
with music from native Donegal tradition. | 0:26:20 | 0:26:23 | |
Singer and Fiddler Mairead Ni Mhoanaigh | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
recognised the parallel paths the band were taking. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
I remember the first time I heard you with Capercaillie | 0:26:28 | 0:26:32 | |
was at the Edinburgh Festival or at the Glasgow Folk Festival years ago. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:37 | |
That might have been it. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:39 | |
But it was brilliant because it was something similar. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
You were doing something parallel to ourselves. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:45 | |
We were acoustic and you were more rock'n'roll. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:47 | |
You were youthful people. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:49 | |
Then Karen was singing in Gaelic and I was singing in Gaelige, | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
so we had a lot in common. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
We were trying to find a wider audience | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
that never heard this music before without compromising too much. | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
SHE SINGS | 0:27:02 | 0:27:03 | |
The next stage of Capercaillie's musical development | 0:27:06 | 0:27:09 | |
was to see them reach incredible heights, | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
and one man in particular was to play an important role | 0:27:12 | 0:27:15 | |
in producing the sound of their next three albums | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
and the success that was to follow. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:20 | |
Manus's brother, the legendary Donal Lunny. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
Donal was seen to be the perfect producer for the album | 0:27:39 | 0:27:42 | |
that would become Sidewalk, | 0:27:42 | 0:27:43 | |
having had huge success with artists such as The Bothy Band, | 0:27:43 | 0:27:47 | |
Planxty, Moving Hearts and Christy Moore. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
When a producer was mentioned, | 0:27:50 | 0:27:52 | |
people were sort of expecting me to say your name | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
and they were sort of glad to hear that I suggested your name | 0:27:54 | 0:27:58 | |
because it was an obvious choice, really. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
My function with Capercaillie was as, I mean, | 0:28:05 | 0:28:10 | |
a sort of glorified quality control would be what it was, | 0:28:10 | 0:28:14 | |
because everybody knew what they were doing. | 0:28:14 | 0:28:17 | |
It worked very well in general. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:21 | |
We didn't have any, what would you say, differences. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:26 | |
There was one instance where I just couldn't see what you were doing | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
in terms of the piece but you begged to differ. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:36 | |
I don't remember that! | 0:28:39 | 0:28:40 | |
There was a bit of a standoff. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:42 | |
You mean it sounded too good, is that it? | 0:28:42 | 0:28:44 | |
It was just awful! | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
SHE SINGS | 0:28:51 | 0:28:52 | |
The next album was to have an even bigger impact than Sidewalk. | 0:29:02 | 0:29:05 | |
And for the first time a Gaelic song was to make it | 0:29:34 | 0:29:36 | |
into the UK singles chart. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:38 | |
There was a single off Delirium - Coisich A Ruin | 0:29:38 | 0:29:43 | |
that went into the charts. | 0:29:43 | 0:29:44 | |
We were asked to do some music for a TV documentary | 0:29:53 | 0:29:57 | |
about Prince Charles going to hang out in Berneray. | 0:29:57 | 0:30:01 | |
And they released a... | 0:30:02 | 0:30:08 | |
CD of the music that | 0:30:08 | 0:30:11 | |
we did for it but they put | 0:30:11 | 0:30:13 | |
Coisich a Ruin on it as well as a lead track. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
THEY SING IN GAELIC | 0:30:16 | 0:30:19 | |
It got in the Top 40, didn't it? | 0:30:21 | 0:30:23 | |
It did. That's how it happened. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:25 | |
Number 39. | 0:30:25 | 0:30:27 | |
There was a couple of articles in the papers saying that we'd | 0:30:33 | 0:30:36 | |
sold out in the sense that it looked like we were trying to | 0:30:36 | 0:30:41 | |
commercialise the music with grooves or electronic synth sounds or | 0:30:41 | 0:30:47 | |
whatever. And I always thought it was the opposite. I always | 0:30:47 | 0:30:51 | |
thought, well, selling out to me would be making the same record | 0:30:51 | 0:30:56 | |
every two years for the rest of our lives, just a traditional record | 0:30:56 | 0:30:58 | |
because for me it was always about moving on and trying new things. | 0:30:58 | 0:31:03 | |
The band's musical arrangement continued to break new ground, | 0:31:12 | 0:31:16 | |
placing Gaelic music in a contemporary context. | 0:31:16 | 0:31:18 | |
The use of keyboards to create a bigger, more lush sound. Donald | 0:31:20 | 0:31:24 | |
was always very good at sculpting that kind of thing | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
and the arrangements were always very, very thoughtful. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:29 | |
SHE SINGS IN GAELIC | 0:31:29 | 0:31:31 | |
It was very compelling because it was new | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
and it had never been heard in that kind of way before and it wasn't | 0:31:42 | 0:31:45 | |
straight ahead like folk rock. It was far removed from that. | 0:31:45 | 0:31:50 | |
I think that Donald had a vision from the very beginning | 0:31:56 | 0:32:00 | |
and such a qualified and capable musician anyway which was | 0:32:00 | 0:32:05 | |
reflected in the music that Capercaillie put together. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:08 | |
I don't think anything has sold more than Delirium. That was what | 0:32:13 | 0:32:16 | |
brought us into the mainstream. | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
Following the success of Delirium, demand for the band gathered pace. | 0:32:31 | 0:32:35 | |
The venues got bigger, as did the audiences. | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
Touring continued in Europe, the Middle East | 0:32:38 | 0:32:40 | |
and Northern America, as Capercaillie spread their sound wider and wider. | 0:32:40 | 0:32:44 | |
I have to say that I still hear bands playing music in a way | 0:32:53 | 0:32:59 | |
that obviously reflects the influence of Capercaillie. | 0:32:59 | 0:33:02 | |
It's all over the place. | 0:33:02 | 0:33:04 | |
# Welcome, Mother Nature | 0:33:06 | 0:33:08 | |
# Welcome to... # | 0:33:08 | 0:33:10 | |
Despite their success, | 0:33:10 | 0:33:12 | |
certain aspects don't sit comfortably for Karen. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:15 | |
I've never felt comfortable being a spokesperson. The singing | 0:33:15 | 0:33:19 | |
part was fine, you know, because I was within a certain comfort zone | 0:33:19 | 0:33:23 | |
that I could be. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:25 | |
But interviews, things like that I've never | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
been comfortable with or even photographs. | 0:33:31 | 0:33:34 | |
It just wasn't something I ever imagined I would end up doing. | 0:33:34 | 0:33:39 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:33:44 | 0:33:46 | |
To finish the show another number from their new album Secret People. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:49 | |
This one's called Four Stone Walls. Ladies and Gentlemen, Capercaillie. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:55 | |
The third album produced by Donal Lunny, Secret People, | 0:33:57 | 0:34:00 | |
entered the album charts and further affirmed the band's | 0:34:00 | 0:34:03 | |
position as the preeminent force in contemporary traditional music. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:07 | |
# We are born of ancient family | 0:34:07 | 0:34:10 | |
# Living here all our days | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
# And though we love our scenery | 0:34:12 | 0:34:15 | |
# Wouldn't we just love somewhere to stay? | 0:34:15 | 0:34:18 | |
# It's an order for eviction | 0:34:20 | 0:34:22 | |
# And I can't believe I'm seeing what I see | 0:34:22 | 0:34:27 | |
# If it kills I will surround myself | 0:34:28 | 0:34:31 | |
# With four stone walls | 0:34:31 | 0:34:33 | |
# A little pride upon the shelf | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
# And four stone walls around me. # | 0:34:36 | 0:34:40 | |
I feel like I spent the first ten years of Capercaillie in quite | 0:34:41 | 0:34:46 | |
an unhappy place because I was so nervous and tense and once | 0:34:46 | 0:34:53 | |
you shake that off... After the first 20 years it gets really good! | 0:34:53 | 0:34:58 | |
In January 1994 the sense of a growing confidence in our own | 0:35:02 | 0:35:06 | |
culture and the appetite for live performances by bands like Capercaillie | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
led to the establishment of a winter music festival in Glasgow | 0:35:09 | 0:35:13 | |
and Celtic Connections was born. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:15 | |
Donald Shaw took over as festival director in 2007 | 0:35:20 | 0:35:24 | |
and is steering the festival in a very exciting direction, applying | 0:35:24 | 0:35:28 | |
the same ambition to this role as has been his trademark | 0:35:28 | 0:35:30 | |
throughout his career. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:31 | |
The festival has grown year on year | 0:35:36 | 0:35:38 | |
and the programming has continued to diversify and create musical | 0:35:38 | 0:35:41 | |
connections from all corners of the folk world, and far beyond. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:45 | |
But it never forgets it's roots | 0:35:52 | 0:35:54 | |
and still provides a concert platform to the very best of the Trad Music Scene. | 0:35:54 | 0:35:58 | |
Passing on the music to the next generation is key to | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
the continuing the strength of any tradition. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:32 | |
Hiya, how you doing? | 0:36:32 | 0:36:34 | |
And Charlie McKerron takes this aspect very seriously. | 0:36:34 | 0:36:38 | |
One, two. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:43 | |
In July 2013, he set up his first fiddle camp near Aviemore. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:48 | |
Times have really changed for young people... Scope for learning | 0:36:48 | 0:36:53 | |
and various things from Feis to events like this. | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
I think at the end of the day what I'm about is I just like to try and | 0:37:00 | 0:37:04 | |
be as musical as I can and I try to create that in the classes as well. | 0:37:04 | 0:37:08 | |
He's well known, well respected. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
You know even in the Irish music world people would know | 0:37:19 | 0:37:21 | |
Charlie McKerron and would be influenced by his playing. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:26 | |
Offering a real breadth to the eager students, | 0:37:29 | 0:37:31 | |
Sharat Srivastava is holding a class in Indian classical violin. | 0:37:31 | 0:37:36 | |
For me, you know, Charlie is like my brother and I've always seen a | 0:37:36 | 0:37:39 | |
child in Charlie who is always keen to learn something new every day. | 0:37:39 | 0:37:43 | |
Starting around the same time as Capercaillie, | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
the Feisean movement has provided an exciting platform for traditional music. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:52 | |
That's been, for me, the single biggest | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
catalyst for the renaissance of traditional music in the last | 0:37:55 | 0:38:00 | |
30 years. Whatever way you look at it because through the youth it's | 0:38:00 | 0:38:07 | |
given people a sense of confidence and pride in their music and songs. | 0:38:07 | 0:38:13 | |
We were fortunate when we started out that there was a | 0:38:13 | 0:38:17 | |
lot of interest in the community that we grew up in, ie | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
the school, but I think that was quite unique, you know? I don't think | 0:38:20 | 0:38:23 | |
there were quite the opportunities then that there are now. | 0:38:23 | 0:38:26 | |
The beauty of now is the Feisean movement, it has progressed | 0:38:26 | 0:38:29 | |
so much over the last 30 years that we've been doing it. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:33 | |
We've been running a project | 0:38:35 | 0:38:37 | |
Feisean Nan Gaidheal for a number of years | 0:38:37 | 0:38:39 | |
now called Ceilidh Tours where young people get the opportunity to have a | 0:38:39 | 0:38:43 | |
few weeks training and they want to do something with someone well known | 0:38:43 | 0:38:47 | |
so we got in touch with Karen and we're very happy that she agreed to | 0:38:47 | 0:38:51 | |
appear with them tonight so they're really looking forward to it. | 0:38:51 | 0:38:54 | |
I've grown up listening to Capercaillie music. That was | 0:38:54 | 0:38:58 | |
the first traditional band I was exposed to as a child. | 0:38:58 | 0:39:01 | |
We're by no means professionals but playing with | 0:39:01 | 0:39:04 | |
someone that is going to be, well, it's probably invaluable. | 0:39:04 | 0:39:08 | |
It's one of the things that is | 0:39:08 | 0:39:09 | |
so great about the Feis is that it gives you the opportunity to | 0:39:09 | 0:39:12 | |
not only learn more about the music and the language | 0:39:12 | 0:39:14 | |
but then giving you the opportunity to learn about performing. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:17 | |
Having 6,000 young people being part of Feisean every year and | 0:39:22 | 0:39:25 | |
even if a small number of those go on to be professional musicians then | 0:39:25 | 0:39:30 | |
that's still making an important contribution to Scotland's culture. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:34 | |
I've said this before, | 0:39:34 | 0:39:37 | |
30 years ago going to | 0:39:37 | 0:39:39 | |
Oban High School down there I would have made | 0:39:39 | 0:39:44 | |
an attempt to hide my accordion going into school for fear of ridicule. | 0:39:44 | 0:39:50 | |
Now it's strange if you don't go into school without | 0:39:50 | 0:39:53 | |
an accordion or a fiddle or a clarsach. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:55 | |
With encouragement like this, these young people could be | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
the next generation to export Scottish music around the world. | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
Esta cancion se cantabab mientras trabajaba en la isla Barra. | 0:40:14 | 0:40:20 | |
We used to tour in the States but it was prohibitively expensive | 0:40:25 | 0:40:29 | |
getting a band our size out, | 0:40:29 | 0:40:32 | |
so that sort of petered out a bit in the mid '90s, | 0:40:32 | 0:40:36 | |
but now we tour a lot in Europe, | 0:40:36 | 0:40:40 | |
and our Spanish audience is fantastic. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:43 | |
The '90s saw a couple of line-up changes. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:12 | |
Ewen Vernal, who had played bass with Deacon Blue, joined, | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
along with an exciting young piper and whistle player | 0:41:15 | 0:41:18 | |
Michael McGoldrick. | 0:41:18 | 0:41:20 | |
It's great to be in a band | 0:41:20 | 0:41:21 | |
with the musicianship of Capercaillie, really, for me, | 0:41:21 | 0:41:24 | |
because I have learnt a lot, as well as touring. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:26 | |
They were going 15 years before I came along. | 0:41:26 | 0:41:29 | |
When Mike first started working with Capercaillie, | 0:41:36 | 0:41:38 | |
I remember him coming back to Manchester | 0:41:38 | 0:41:40 | |
and he had a little change in the way he was lilting the tunes. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
Instead of going daddily-didily, as we would in Irish, | 0:41:43 | 0:41:47 | |
he was giving it more of a hi-diddy-ho! | 0:41:47 | 0:41:50 | |
We could feel the Scottish influence was seeping in there. | 0:41:50 | 0:41:54 | |
August 2013, and the band make a return visit | 0:42:32 | 0:42:35 | |
to the famous Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Brittany. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
We're very delighted to be here celebrating our 30th anniversary. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:44 | |
The festival has been a big influence to us over the years. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:48 | |
You meet these bands around the States and around Europe | 0:42:48 | 0:42:52 | |
and you meet up and play some music. | 0:42:52 | 0:42:55 | |
The band has suffered broken limbs at this festival. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:02 | |
Not naming any names. | 0:43:03 | 0:43:05 | |
Initials only... Charlie McKerron. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
That's that whole thing of having a couple of pints before you | 0:43:07 | 0:43:10 | |
go on stage just to get rid of the nerves, | 0:43:10 | 0:43:13 | |
but, in Lorient, sometimes the gigs are delayed | 0:43:13 | 0:43:16 | |
by as much as an hour and that can be catastrophic. | 0:43:16 | 0:43:19 | |
I think if you're part of a band like this where there's eight people | 0:43:23 | 0:43:28 | |
and everyone has quite strong musical personalities, | 0:43:28 | 0:43:34 | |
I think it only functions if you think of yourself | 0:43:34 | 0:43:36 | |
as part of a bigger picture. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
It's about keeping your ears open, | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
listening to what everyone else is doing. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:43 | |
I decided there was an important part for Chimp, our percussionist, | 0:43:49 | 0:43:53 | |
to do in one of the sets of tunes, so I just left him a message. | 0:43:53 | 0:43:57 | |
I feel so close to them. They are very important to me. | 0:44:12 | 0:44:16 | |
They know about our music, | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
we know about their music, | 0:44:18 | 0:44:20 | |
and there's mutual respect, | 0:44:20 | 0:44:22 | |
and, in that mutual respect, everything is possible. | 0:44:22 | 0:44:26 | |
It's definitely more than music, | 0:44:33 | 0:44:34 | |
because there's not only the music, | 0:44:34 | 0:44:36 | |
there is something behind the music. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:38 | |
This is a big moment, like an alien leaving the ship. | 0:44:41 | 0:44:47 | |
It's it quarter to nine, local? | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
It's quarter to nine. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
Generally, there will be a core set list, | 0:44:57 | 0:45:00 | |
and if we have to shift, we can. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:03 | |
We can do that again on stage. | 0:45:03 | 0:45:05 | |
Just a look, a word, a raised hand... | 0:45:05 | 0:45:11 | |
Communication, when you've been together as long as us, | 0:45:11 | 0:45:14 | |
it doesn't take much... Communication is pretty key. | 0:45:14 | 0:45:17 | |
That lettering is a bit large for me on the stage. | 0:45:18 | 0:45:22 | |
So you want it a little bit... | 0:45:22 | 0:45:23 | |
-What do you reckon? Like 12? -Really, really small. | 0:45:23 | 0:45:26 | |
I'll go back to my computer and spend an hour doing that. | 0:45:26 | 0:45:28 | |
-Minimise it. -What size do you want? | 0:45:28 | 0:45:30 | |
-I can do different... -Also a bit smaller than that... | 0:45:30 | 0:45:33 | |
Probably better doing it in braille. | 0:45:33 | 0:45:35 | |
Or in a foreign language. | 0:45:35 | 0:45:38 | |
-Good. Good job. -The whole thing is a foreign language. | 0:45:38 | 0:45:42 | |
There's a camaraderie that goes on, on stage as well as off, | 0:45:47 | 0:45:50 | |
that's really quite special. | 0:45:50 | 0:45:56 | |
And I think, if that ever died, | 0:45:56 | 0:45:59 | |
then that would be the reason to stop. | 0:45:59 | 0:46:02 | |
The festival celebrates the musical and cultural links | 0:46:05 | 0:46:09 | |
between the Celtic nations of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, | 0:46:09 | 0:46:11 | |
The Isle of Man, Northern Spain and, of course, Brittany. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:15 | |
Wow, enjoyable! Great! | 0:46:36 | 0:46:39 | |
Superb! Good! I'm so pleased. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:41 | |
With such a long musical association, | 0:46:43 | 0:46:45 | |
Lorient audiences have a special place in their hearts | 0:46:45 | 0:46:48 | |
for Capercaille. | 0:46:48 | 0:46:50 | |
1995 was another landmark year for the band | 0:46:58 | 0:47:00 | |
when they were invited to sing on the soundtrack | 0:47:00 | 0:47:03 | |
to blockbuster movie Rob Roy. | 0:47:03 | 0:47:05 | |
Despite the allure of Hollywood, the music the band provided | 0:47:09 | 0:47:13 | |
remained true to their roots. | 0:47:13 | 0:47:15 | |
It was very exciting. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:17 | |
I mean, obviously, being in a Winnebago beside Liam Neeson | 0:47:17 | 0:47:22 | |
and Jessica Laing, that was absolutely thrilling. | 0:47:22 | 0:47:26 | |
Ancient Gaelic song | 0:47:30 | 0:47:32 | |
providing a fitting cultural context to the tale of Rob Roy. | 0:47:32 | 0:47:36 | |
What's very much at the heart of Capercaillie, I think, | 0:47:36 | 0:47:38 | |
is just the music and the craic that we have when we're doing it, | 0:47:38 | 0:47:44 | |
and that's what's kept us doing it. | 0:47:44 | 0:47:46 | |
Not the accolades or... | 0:47:46 | 0:47:48 | |
You know, it's very simple and straightforward. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:53 | |
After just a few hours sleep in Lorient, | 0:47:56 | 0:47:58 | |
the summer tour continues, as a tired bunch head for Devon | 0:47:58 | 0:48:02 | |
and the Sidmouth Folk Festival. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
More miles notched up on their summer festival tour. | 0:48:05 | 0:48:09 | |
This is great, isn't it? | 0:48:15 | 0:48:18 | |
I think we're pretty tight on this side here. | 0:48:24 | 0:48:26 | |
The popular seaside town has staged the festival every year since 1955. | 0:48:29 | 0:48:33 | |
It is a very community based event, | 0:48:33 | 0:48:35 | |
and locals and holiday makers come together to enjoy the festivities. | 0:48:35 | 0:48:39 | |
Look at that! He's got about four foot on his left-hand side! | 0:48:49 | 0:48:53 | |
-He's got loads of room. -Arse. | 0:48:53 | 0:48:57 | |
Here, we really are at the heart of the English folk scene. | 0:48:57 | 0:49:01 | |
Negative of me to say that the band could struggle... | 0:49:01 | 0:49:04 | |
Of course, they won't struggle, | 0:49:04 | 0:49:06 | |
but it will be a challenging audience for them, that's for sure. | 0:49:06 | 0:49:09 | |
You're never 100% sure how you're going to go down. | 0:49:31 | 0:49:33 | |
And you can usually tell within the first 10 or 15 minutes | 0:49:33 | 0:49:36 | |
if it's working or not, or if you have to change direction. | 0:49:36 | 0:49:40 | |
Well, I left something in Lorient. I just remembered it. | 0:49:42 | 0:49:45 | |
So...it's all my notes from that Baggad thing. | 0:49:45 | 0:49:48 | |
So I'm going to get them before the soundcheck. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:52 | |
Donald will be so upset if I don't have them. | 0:49:52 | 0:49:55 | |
See, these bits are the bits that everyone misses, | 0:49:55 | 0:49:58 | |
this corner section here. | 0:49:58 | 0:50:00 | |
It's apparently quite important for how the collar sits, | 0:50:00 | 0:50:04 | |
that's what I've learnt. | 0:50:04 | 0:50:05 | |
Hello. | 0:50:09 | 0:50:10 | |
Remember me? | 0:50:10 | 0:50:12 | |
Aye, see, I've seen this happen before in this part of the world - | 0:50:12 | 0:50:15 | |
they get a bit starstruck. | 0:50:15 | 0:50:17 | |
Ah, come on, you must remember me. | 0:50:17 | 0:50:20 | |
Yeah, completely starstruck. | 0:50:20 | 0:50:22 | |
Well, when you do come to, er, we've lost our percussionist, | 0:50:22 | 0:50:26 | |
he's a few miles out there, | 0:50:26 | 0:50:27 | |
so it would be great if you could try and save him, | 0:50:27 | 0:50:30 | |
get him back for half eight - I think that's when the gig is. | 0:50:30 | 0:50:33 | |
Who's the most important? Who goes on first? | 0:50:36 | 0:50:39 | |
Is Devon ready for Capercaillie? | 0:50:39 | 0:50:42 | |
Er, me. | 0:50:42 | 0:50:43 | |
Or are Capercaillie ready for Devon? | 0:50:43 | 0:50:46 | |
-You go first. -I'll go first. -You go first. | 0:50:46 | 0:50:48 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:50:51 | 0:50:54 | |
SHE SINGS IN GAELIC | 0:51:12 | 0:51:15 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:51:24 | 0:51:26 | |
Right, that's that. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:28 | |
'Yeah, we escaped, I think.' | 0:51:28 | 0:51:31 | |
They didn't maul us, they didn't demand that | 0:51:31 | 0:51:33 | |
we go back to Scotland and never come back again. | 0:51:33 | 0:51:35 | |
No, it was great actually, they were a really warm audience. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:39 | |
We actually changed the set a little bit halfway through, | 0:51:39 | 0:51:42 | |
went for the Gaelic angle, and it worked. | 0:51:42 | 0:51:45 | |
You can never go wrong with the Gaelic angle, I think. | 0:51:45 | 0:51:48 | |
Really happy. | 0:51:48 | 0:51:50 | |
-Thanks, that was great. -Ah, cheers. | 0:51:51 | 0:51:53 | |
Next stop, Shrewsbury. | 0:51:55 | 0:51:56 | |
But after 30 years together how long can the band continue? | 0:52:05 | 0:52:09 | |
I rely on it a lot. | 0:52:09 | 0:52:10 | |
What happens in the future is another thing. | 0:52:10 | 0:52:13 | |
I've been with them 26 years and for the last maybe 15 years I've... | 0:52:13 | 0:52:19 | |
It's gone through my head, when is this going to stop? | 0:52:19 | 0:52:22 | |
And I'm prepared, it has to stop at some stage, | 0:52:22 | 0:52:26 | |
but I'm quite glad it's still going. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:29 | |
The band are back in the studio refining a couple of tracks | 0:52:32 | 0:52:35 | |
before an upcoming radio session. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:37 | |
And they haven't lost their attention to detail yet. | 0:52:37 | 0:52:41 | |
Feels a bit, er...a bit jaunty, | 0:52:41 | 0:52:45 | |
you know, coming out of the straight. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:48 | |
'We know how to achieve what we want to achieve, that's half the battle,' | 0:52:48 | 0:52:52 | |
but it's still an exciting moment when you press record. | 0:52:52 | 0:52:57 | |
Obviously Donald is so busy with other projects now. | 0:53:08 | 0:53:12 | |
The Celtic Connections has taken up a huge chunk of his year. | 0:53:12 | 0:53:16 | |
Obviously that influences what we can do as a band | 0:53:16 | 0:53:21 | |
but we just manage to take pockets of time here and there | 0:53:21 | 0:53:26 | |
and just try and juggle it and make it work, you know. | 0:53:26 | 0:53:29 | |
They're keeping it fresh for themselves as well as for | 0:53:35 | 0:53:38 | |
the public. It's very plausible for the public to get fed up of... | 0:53:38 | 0:53:42 | |
you know, of the same old stuff! | 0:53:42 | 0:53:44 | |
But Capercaillie have stayed very true to themselves. | 0:53:44 | 0:53:48 | |
The essence has remained the same throughout. | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
It's not them and us any more. | 0:54:03 | 0:54:04 | |
There was a long time when everybody's music was pigeonholed, | 0:54:04 | 0:54:07 | |
and even within traditional music | 0:54:07 | 0:54:09 | |
they were all pigeonholed, and now these barriers have all come down. | 0:54:09 | 0:54:14 | |
World on Three presented by Mary Ann Kennedy | 0:54:18 | 0:54:21 | |
is one of Radio 3's flagship world-music shows. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:25 | |
The band have been invited to play a session on the programme, | 0:54:25 | 0:54:28 | |
a true testament to the position they hold on the world-music stage. | 0:54:28 | 0:54:33 | |
KAREN SINGS IN GAELIC | 0:54:33 | 0:54:35 | |
Musically, it's just an ongoing process. | 0:54:46 | 0:54:50 | |
We've got the luxury of having a wealth of material to tap into | 0:54:50 | 0:54:54 | |
at the School of Scottish Studies, erm, | 0:54:54 | 0:54:57 | |
and also the boys are writing all the time, writing tunes. | 0:54:57 | 0:55:00 | |
But the material's there and as long as we've got the energy | 0:55:00 | 0:55:03 | |
and the enthusiasm to do it I think we'll still be doing it. | 0:55:03 | 0:55:06 | |
There's absolutely no commercial pressure for a band like us | 0:55:09 | 0:55:12 | |
because there... | 0:55:12 | 0:55:15 | |
there is no record industry to speak of any more, like there | 0:55:15 | 0:55:18 | |
used to be 20 years ago, so in a sense you're not in any way | 0:55:18 | 0:55:23 | |
making music for an audience, because mostly what happens now is | 0:55:23 | 0:55:29 | |
people are making music for a live situation, which we've always done. | 0:55:29 | 0:55:32 | |
30 years from now I would like to see the momentum | 0:55:45 | 0:55:48 | |
that's gathered in the last 30 years | 0:55:48 | 0:55:51 | |
going at the same pace, if not faster. | 0:55:51 | 0:55:54 | |
I would like to see people as excited about it in 30 years | 0:55:54 | 0:55:59 | |
as they appear to be now. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:01 | |
Back to a home audience, as the band headline at the Blas Festival | 0:56:02 | 0:56:06 | |
in Inverness, before ending the year with a UK tour. | 0:56:06 | 0:56:09 | |
I think what's become very evident just in the last two or three years | 0:56:14 | 0:56:18 | |
is that we've actually... | 0:56:18 | 0:56:20 | |
we're there for each other in much more than just the musical sense. | 0:56:20 | 0:56:24 | |
You know, there's been a lot of personal things, a lot of stuff | 0:56:24 | 0:56:27 | |
that's gone on that has brought us together, and again it's... | 0:56:27 | 0:56:34 | |
being with a group of people for 30 years is a long time. | 0:56:34 | 0:56:37 | |
It has a legacy | 0:56:37 | 0:56:39 | |
and I really do think we'll go into our dotage as...as friends. | 0:56:39 | 0:56:45 | |
SONG: "At The Heart Of It All" | 0:56:45 | 0:56:47 | |
# The poems and the musings | 0:57:15 | 0:57:18 | |
# Of Sorley MacLean | 0:57:18 | 0:57:22 | |
# They tumble and cascade across the page of every man | 0:57:22 | 0:57:28 | |
# They will rise and spring to life again | 0:57:29 | 0:57:32 | |
# In a song for the good of all | 0:57:32 | 0:57:35 | |
# Where a people and their land are at the heart of it all | 0:57:37 | 0:57:44 | |
# At the heart of it all is a calling to this land | 0:57:44 | 0:57:50 | |
# In the words of our salvation is a song for the common man | 0:57:50 | 0:57:57 | |
# At the heart of it all is a story to be told | 0:57:57 | 0:58:04 | |
# For the sake of our salvation and the troubles we behold. # | 0:58:04 | 0:58:12 |