Rona Lightfoot - Eadarainn

(July 2004) 14 tracks: Mo Nighean Chruinn Donn air bharraibh nan Tonn * Tha Seachdarran air an Adhar * 6/8 Pipe Marches * Maol Donn * Cuach Mhic Ghill Anndrais * Canntaireachd * Ach a Dhmhnuill ic Sheumais * Ille Bhin * Tha Mo Bhreacan-sa fo n Dleann * 2/4 Pipe Marches * Ruidhleadh Cailleach ris a Bhalg/Eadarainn Mr Ruadh * Cumha Alasdair * Ial, Ial, ars a Chailleach * Pipe Jigs.

Rona Lightfoot has been described as a 'ceilidh' personified. She is a great piper - in fact, with one or two others, Rona blazed the trail for women competing at the highest level and is credited with being the first of the fairer sex to win a major piping competition.

She is also a hugely talented singer and a veritable treasury of traditional Gaelic songs. What's more, Rona is a terrific raconteur with a great sense of humour and an infectious laugh. This, her first CD, brims with testimony to her abundant talents.

One of the reels Rona sings on this CD is entitled Eadarainn. Edward Dwelly, the doyen of Gaelic lexicography, defines Eadarainn as ‘between us’ and, as such, the word perfectly reflects the intimacy and accessibility the songs and music Rona performs on the CD.

As the saying goes in Gaelic, Rona did not have ‘to buy’ her talents – they came down to her through the many generations of celebrated pipers, singers and storytellers which adorn her family tree. Rona’s most immediate musical influences were her mother Kate, who was one of the most remarkable singers and tradition bearers of her age and Eardsaidh Ràghnaill, her father, a piper and seanachaidh of renown.

Rona’s was a family and a household which cherished and fostered Gaelic traditional arts and Eadarainn is a distillation of the cultural legacy which she inherited. This CD is not only a delight but also an important part of the bequest which Rona is passing on to a new generation of singers and pipers.