Five voices, one family, nine Mòd gold medals through three generations: a treasury of song and a passion for sharing it with the wider world. The Campbells of Greepe – Caimbeulaich a’ Ghnìoba – are one of Scotland’s greatest musical dynasties – the ‘first family’ of Gaelic song. . The family’s roots lie in the tiny crofting township of Roag, near Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, where music was the constant accompaniment to everyday life. Pipers and singers who loved to dance, they are considered the masters of puirt-à-beul, Gaelic mouth music, but their songs encompass a whole musical world - pibroch songs, work songs, and the songs, lives and people of their own community.
Their over-riding mission is to pay respect to these people from whom their traditions sprang, while looking forward to the future of the language and its music through teaching and creative innovation.
The five performing members of the family comprise doyenne, Kenna Campbell, with brother Seumas, daughters Wilma and Mary Ann Kennedy and niece Maggie Macdonald. Individually, they have led the way in all aspects of Gaelic music over the past five decades – in at the beginning of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig; Plockton Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music; Fèis Bharraigh and the Fèisean movement; the Scottish Music BA at RCS; the revolution in Gaelic choral music; the inaugural Scots Trad Music Awards to name but a few.
Together, the quintet have over the past years been working on a long-term project to celebrate the world in which their music thrived, with an album, TV special, TV documentary, radio series and live tour all realised, and more to come. over the past 18 months. The project’s latest milestone was in January 2013 when a 350-page full-colour biography and music collection was published by Acair Books, already being touted as a classic of its genre.
The family, especially the older generation, are not given to ‘blowing their own trumpets’, and their way is one of gentle encouragement, collaboration, persistence and above all recognition of the roots of their own talents rather than seeking the spotlight themselves. Neverthless, the family is recognised today as one of the cornerstones of contemporary Gaelic culture.
