Celtic headcharge

Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs are from Brittany/ Breizh. In Gaelic it's A' Bhreatainn Bheag, literally 'the Little Britain', referring to the nation's Brythonnic Celtic speech and not to backward Brits like Gary Bushell, Richard Littlejohn or even the Lord George Foulkes. Like Scotland's Oi Polloi, these punks have been around a while and now use their own Celtic tongue as well as French or English as a medium.

Though Oi Polloi haven't made much use of traditional instruments like the bagpipes, the use of traditional Breton instruments such as the bombard are central to Les Ramoneurs' sound. Occasionaly, they are joined on stage at huge Cetlic festivals by tradtional Breton singer Louise Ebrel who sings a kind of mouth-music very similar to our Gaelic port-a-beul.

The Bretons have their own water of life too, though it's a kind of strong cider brandy called lambic. On a visit to Breizh some years ago with a group of Scots and Irish cultural activists, i had the pleasure of swapping homemade lambic - 60% abv - for some of our own Poit Dhubh single malt - bottled at mere 46%.

To my knowledge, Les Ramoneurs have only made it to Scotland once. That was in 1998 when they played a handful of gigs with Celtic cousins Oi Polloi and Na Gathan from Skye. Most memorable though was the Celtic Punk Connections in Glasgow, timed to coincide with the commercial Celtic (tenuous) Connections festival. Apparently the high heid yins at Celtic Connections thought that real Celts, who actually speak Gaelic and Breton, were a bit too rough. There's punk for you - banned from the pubs... er banned from the Glesgow Royal Concert Hall.

Fortunately though BBC Alba's Rapal were interested enough to document the night. Click here to view.

Ailidh Mal - Illicit distiller from Kintail

From 'Am Baile' - Ailidh Mal was a very popular man because he made really good whisky! All sorts of people and animals are waiting for Ailidh to come back from his secret still so that they can get a shot of his latest brew. In fact, everyone's getting very impatient and they keep asking his brother and sister, who are both on the lookout, where Ailidh is and when he might come. Make sure you answer correctly or the Red Coats will come and chase everyone away!

Duncan 'Stalker' Matheson of Kintail, the local seanchaidh once told Gaelic telly of the exploits of Ailidh Mal. According to Duncan, who i believe is still with us, his parents on their wedding night enjoyed a cask of Ailidh Mal's produce. Though the authorities tried on many occasions to catch this 'outlaw' and find his poit dhubh, he apparently always gave them the slip, with much help from his wife and the greatful community.

Find out more at Am Baile where you can even brush up your Gaelic grammar with the interactive game described above or teach your kids with this animated story in Gaelic or English.

Ailidh Mal - clach air a chàrn.