Meet the Gaelic dream-team

The Arts Journal profiles CLIAR

The Facts:
Cliar have been called the Gaelic dream-team, and bring together three of the finest current exponents of Gaelic song with three top instrumentalists in a potent combination.

The players are:
Mary Ann Kennedy (vocals and clarsach)
Arthur Cormack (vocals)
Maggie MacDonald (vocals)
Ingrid Henderson (clarsach, keyboards, vocals)
Ross Martin (guitar)
Guests:
Allan Henderson (fiddle)
Gabe McVarish (fiddle)

CLIAR hate to be called a Gaelic supergroup, but that is precisely what they are. The band was formed in 1998 by Arthur Cormack and Mary Ann Kennedy, with Mary Ann’s cousin, Maggie MacDonald, as the third principal vocalist. Ingrid Henderson adds a fourth high-quality voice as well as her instrumental skills (Mary Ann also doubles up in that respect).

Cliar

Ingrid’s brother, Allan Henderson, took over fiddle duties from fellow Blazin’ Fiddles mainstay Bruce MacGregor early in 2003, a role he now shares as a guest with Diamh’s Gabe McVarish, while Ross Martin has assumed the role of guitarist in succession to Chaz Stewart in the current version of the band (Skyeman Blair Douglas is another notable former member).

The band quickly established a formidable reputation, prompting musician and writer Norman Chalmers (of Jock Tamson’s Bairns) to describe them as creating “one of the most beautiful sounds in 21st century Scotland”.

The band have issued two recordings, Cliar (SKYE CD14, 2000) and Gun Tàmh (SKYE CD21, 2002), both on the Macmeanmna label, and are also at the core of Lasair Dhè, the large scale celebration of Gaelic spiritual music devised originally for the Highland Festival in 1999, also available from Macmeanmna (SKYE CD19, 2001).

The launch of the group finally made good on Arthur and Mary Ann’s long-standing ambition to gather together a bunch of associates who shared their liking for both good music and good fun. Their characteristic mix of heart-tugging ballads, songs, feisty puirt a beul (mouth music) and instrumental sets focuses strongly but not exclusively on the Gaelic musical traditions of the western Highlands and Islands, and although primarily a vocal group, the instruments make a crucial contribution in creating their notably beautiful, lustrous sound.

Cliar will be touring in both the Highlands and Islands and in Ireland with Altan in May and June (see below for Highland dates). Appropriately, then, the band learned the first of the featured songs in the set we have chosen, Cailleach an Airgid/Rachainn a shuiridh’ air Oighrig, from Altan; the second Mary Ann got from her mother, singer Kenna Campbell. Both are Traditional, arranged Cliar, and the set appears on Gun Tàmh; it is used here with permission (© Macmeanmna 2002).

Highland tour dates are:

• Strathnairn Hall, Farr, nr. Inverness, Wednesday 26 May 2004
• Southend Hall, Daliburgh, South Uist, Thursday 27 May 2004
• Talla Shomhairle @ Aros, Portree, Isle of Skye, Friday 28 May 2004
• Aros Hall, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Saturday 29 May 2004
• Bowmore Hall, Bowmore, Isle of Islay, Tuesday 1 June 2004
• Arainn Shuaineirt, Strontian, Wednesday 2 June 2004

Related Links

• Cliar
• Macmeanmna