Iain MacInnes - Sealbh

(December 2009) 11 tracks: Spark’s Rant * Go To Berwick * Karuna * Cow Hill * Quicksteps * Nighean na Cailliche * MacDonald of the Isles * Rusty Gully * Castle Stalker * Loudon * Loch Bee.

Iain MacInnes is a former member of The Tannahill Weavers, Smalltalk and Ossian, and has also been Radio Scotland's Pipeline producer.

That Iain MacInnes is a consummate musician would have been reason enough to encourage him to produce this CD of bagpipe and whistle music. But with this, he combines a sensitive appreciation of how to accompany his preferred instruments with others to produce beautiful music. He also has an intimate knowledge of the nation's traditional music collections and a deep understanding of Scottish culture in general.

As if that were not enough, Iain has an uncommon talent when it comes to composing new music. In Sealbh, we have the happy result of Iain's abundant talents being brought to bear. Sealbh is inspired, full of novelty, and simply beautiful.

The Gaelic word Sealbh (pronounced shall-av) incorporates the idea of inheritance and good fortune, an appropriate sentiment in a CD that draws from the well of musical tradition - a rich inheritance indeed. The cover photograph depicts a hut in Airigh a' Bhruaich on the Isle of Lewis, just a few miles across the hill from Iain's parents' home village of Gravir.