One day around the turn of the century I was driving down the M1 motorway to a meeting in London. I was listening to Radio 4, and an item came on about church singing on the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland. They were singing Gaelic psalms, powerful voices weaving together like knot-work, spilling over each other in what the presenter described as ‘waterfall singing.’ One voice would start then others would join in, improvising rich polyphony on a simple basic tune.
The sound was incredible. This music was uplifting, mysterious, scalp-tinglingly visceral. Here is a sample.… Read more