Hò-rò (Scotland / UK)
Updated: Aug 28
Hò-rò is a Scottish folk band with members from across the Highlands and Islands: guitarist Sean Cousins and accordionist and vocalist Calum MacPhail, both from Inverness; fiddler and vocalist Hannah Macrae, from Fort William; and keyboardist Paul Martin, piper Crisdean MacDonald, and drummer David Calum MacMillan, all from the Isle of Lewis. Their name comes from a vocable used in canntaireachd, the traditional method of singing bagpipe tunes before they were written down. The band won a Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections in 2014, and Up and Coming Artist of the Year at the 2017 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards.
Featured Song:
“Òran an Amadain Bhòidhich” (Song of the Handsome Fool) is a traditional Gaelic ballad that closes Hò-rò’s 2022 album New Moon. According to the story behind the song, a young man’s love for a dairymaid displeases his mother. When the mother sees the young woman bathing, he tells her son there is a beautiful duck on the river and his hasty effort at hunting the duck results in tragedy. “Young Margaret, it is you who wounded me / You are a beautiful, lovely girl / Your eye is bluer than the dewy morning / The berry hidden behind the leaves.”
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