Biography
During the 1970s a wave of ensembles formed across the British Isles as youthful players sought to fuse indigenous folk traditions from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland with the rock and pop they knew from childhood. Groups bearing titles such as Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Tannahill Weavers, and Battlefield Band combined amplified instruments and percussion with pipes and strings, forging the style widely labeled “bagpipe rock.” Several of those acts persisted through the 1980s and 1990s and beyond, while others dissolved only to see their personnel regroup in fresh configurations that explored further mutations of the same hybrid.
One such ensemble was Edinburgh-based Ceolbeg. Emerging in the early 1980s, the group underwent a thorough overhaul in 1988 and rose to rank among the most acclaimed and widely followed Celtic folk outfits.
A brief excursion into Gaelic vocabulary clarifies what set Ceolbeg apart from other high-powered pipe-driven bands such as Wolfstone. In Scots usage “Ceol Mor” (“kale-more”) denotes “big music” and applies to the resonant, martial voice of the Highland war pipes, the marching repertoire familiar from pipe bands at Highland games worldwide. “Ceol Beag” (“kale-beg”), or “small music,” designates the lighter repertoire of reels, jigs, and strathspeys customarily rendered on harps, fiddles, and modest wind instruments. Although the band’s name plays on the latter phrase, critics never applied the word “small” to Ceolbeg’s output in any diminutive sense; instead they characterized the group’s fusion of potent Highland pipes with the subtler textures of harp and woodwinds as “atmospheric,” “swirling,” and “fluent with firepower.”
Flautist Peter Boond remained the sole constant throughout the band’s history. He had already been a member of an earlier, fiddle-and-accordion-centered incarnation when, in 1988, he guided a complete reorganization that brought Kati Harrigan on clarsach, Andy Thorburn on keyboards, Gary West on pipes, and Davy Steele on guitar and lead vocals; Boond himself also contributed cittern. From the outset the reconfigured lineup regarded sound engineer Adie Bolton as an equal participant, underscoring the group’s emphasis on live presentation. By 1991 Colin Matheson had assumed keyboard duties from Thorburn and Wendy Stewart had taken Harrigan’s place; Stewart’s harp work was frequently singled out for its “bubbling” quality. Percussionist Jim Walker joined at the same juncture, introducing a drum kit to the ensemble’s palette. West departed in 1994, yielding the pipe chair to California-born Mike Katz. The sextet of Boond, Steele, Matheson, Stewart, Katz, and Walker then embarked on a North American tour that earned enthusiastic notices. When Steele and Katz joined Battlefield Band the following year, West returned to the pipes and Rod Paterson stepped in as lead singer and guitarist. Walker exited in 1998 and was succeeded by Mike Travis.
Throughout the final twelve years of the century Ceolbeg issued five recordings on the Greentrax imprint while individual members pursued separate projects. Mounting outside commitments and family obligations made sustained touring, whether at home or abroad, increasingly impractical. As Colin Matheson observed, however, the depth of each participant’s attachment to Ceolbeg ensured that the band retained an independent existence of its own. ~ John Lupton
One such ensemble was Edinburgh-based Ceolbeg. Emerging in the early 1980s, the group underwent a thorough overhaul in 1988 and rose to rank among the most acclaimed and widely followed Celtic folk outfits.
A brief excursion into Gaelic vocabulary clarifies what set Ceolbeg apart from other high-powered pipe-driven bands such as Wolfstone. In Scots usage “Ceol Mor” (“kale-more”) denotes “big music” and applies to the resonant, martial voice of the Highland war pipes, the marching repertoire familiar from pipe bands at Highland games worldwide. “Ceol Beag” (“kale-beg”), or “small music,” designates the lighter repertoire of reels, jigs, and strathspeys customarily rendered on harps, fiddles, and modest wind instruments. Although the band’s name plays on the latter phrase, critics never applied the word “small” to Ceolbeg’s output in any diminutive sense; instead they characterized the group’s fusion of potent Highland pipes with the subtler textures of harp and woodwinds as “atmospheric,” “swirling,” and “fluent with firepower.”
Flautist Peter Boond remained the sole constant throughout the band’s history. He had already been a member of an earlier, fiddle-and-accordion-centered incarnation when, in 1988, he guided a complete reorganization that brought Kati Harrigan on clarsach, Andy Thorburn on keyboards, Gary West on pipes, and Davy Steele on guitar and lead vocals; Boond himself also contributed cittern. From the outset the reconfigured lineup regarded sound engineer Adie Bolton as an equal participant, underscoring the group’s emphasis on live presentation. By 1991 Colin Matheson had assumed keyboard duties from Thorburn and Wendy Stewart had taken Harrigan’s place; Stewart’s harp work was frequently singled out for its “bubbling” quality. Percussionist Jim Walker joined at the same juncture, introducing a drum kit to the ensemble’s palette. West departed in 1994, yielding the pipe chair to California-born Mike Katz. The sextet of Boond, Steele, Matheson, Stewart, Katz, and Walker then embarked on a North American tour that earned enthusiastic notices. When Steele and Katz joined Battlefield Band the following year, West returned to the pipes and Rod Paterson stepped in as lead singer and guitarist. Walker exited in 1998 and was succeeded by Mike Travis.
Throughout the final twelve years of the century Ceolbeg issued five recordings on the Greentrax imprint while individual members pursued separate projects. Mounting outside commitments and family obligations made sustained touring, whether at home or abroad, increasingly impractical. As Colin Matheson observed, however, the depth of each participant’s attachment to Ceolbeg ensured that the band retained an independent existence of its own. ~ John Lupton
Albums
