Following the guidance from Public Health England, it is with heavy hearts that we inform you that our artistic programme will be suspended until the advice changes. Read our full statement.

‘It feels simultaneously ancient and modern, profound and direct, led by the peculiar, beautiful sound of the smallpipes.’ Guardian

‘In a highlight of early 2019 releases, Hebridean piper Brìghde Chaimbeul gives Scottish folk a startlingly contemporary feel.’ The Quietus

Winner of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Horizon Award 2019, Skye piper Brìghde Chaimbeul is one of Scotland’s fastest rising stars. River Lea Records and Kings Place are delighted to welcome her back for another intimate show in Hall Two, once again accompanied by Lau’s Aidan O’Rourke, who produced Chaimbeul’s critically-acclaimed debut album The Reeling.

A native Gaelic speaker, Chaimbeul’s style is rooted in her indigenous language and culture, but draws inspiration from a variety of piping traditions such as from Cape Breton, Eastern Europe and Ireland. Growing up in a musical family in Sleat on the Isle of Skye, she was no stranger to the sound of the pipes, and indeed the sound of music at home. Inspired by hearing the playing of Rona Lightfoot she began learning at the age of 7 with local tutor and award-winning piper Niall Stewart.

Working closely with O’Rourke, Chaimbeul has devised a completely new way of arranging for pipe music that emphasises the rich textural drones of the smallpipes; the constancy of sound that creates a trance-like quality in the tunes.

River Lea is a record label dedicated to releasing beautiful and strange traditional folk music from Britain, Ireland and beyond. The label is a collaboration between Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee of Rough Trade Records and music journalist Tim Chipping.

Aidan O’Rourke is a fiddler, composer, producer and one of the most influential folk musicians of his generation. With his trio Lau (singer/guitarist Kris Drever, accordionist Martin Green) and various solo and collaborative projects, he has pioneered a new sound in Scottish folk and re-contextualised tradition forms with experimental, improvised, jazz, classical and electronic music.

‘O’Rourke is a dazzling fiddler in any setting’ Scotland on Sunday

‘O’Rourke’s music – both his writing and playing – is unfailingly strong and imaginative‘ The List