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Grzegorz Bral

Anne Lorne Gillies

Mary Smith

John Purser

Brigh a' Chiuil - Return to the Voice

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Brìgh a' Chiùil

23/12/2014

BBC ALBA - Brigh a' Chiuil - Return to the Voice

Polish arts company puts on a show in Gaelic.

Documentary following the renowned Polish arts company, Song of the Goat, as they put on a show at the Edinburgh Festival which radically reimagines traditional Gaelic singing.

Taisbeanadh bho Fèis Dhùn Èideann le Song of the Goat, companaidh ealain cliùiteach às a Phòlainn fo stiùireadh Grzegorz Bral, 's iad a' cur dreach inntinneach air seinn ann an Gàidhlig.

Renowned Polish arts company Song of the Goat makes a bold experiment: led by artistic director Grzegorz Bral, they put on a new show at the Edinburgh Festival, which radically reimagines traditional Gaelic singing.

Not quite choral work and not exactly theatre, the work is performed on stage by a dozen singers, and represents an attempt to get to the pure well spring of Gaelic song. This documentary profiles Bral and his technique, and features interviews with well-known Scottish Gaelic singers Anne Lorne Gillies and Mary Smith, and academic John Purser.

The film charts the group's progress as they research the idea in Scotland over two years, learning what is to them an unknown language, through rehearsals at their home in Wroclaw, Poland, and culminating in a beautiful performance at St Giles' cathedral in Edinburgh at the height of the Fringe Festival 2014.

The film also reveals the long-time connection, which director Bral feels with Scotland, through his association with the Buddhist temple in the Borders, Samye Ling.

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