Brìghde Chaimbeul (born 1998 in Sleat, Isle of Skye) is an award-winning Scottish piper and composer known for her pioneering approach to traditional music. She is a leading voice in the revival of the Scottish smallpipes—a bellows-blown instrument with a rich, hypnotic sound. A graduate of St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, she emerged as a prodigious talent in the folk world, winning the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2016. Her 2019 debut album, The Reeling, recorded live in a historic Highland church, was widely acclaimed for its meditative power and inventive arrangements drawn from global piping traditions, including Bulgarian and Irish influences. Her music is marked by a deep respect for the drone-based roots of Gaelic piping, combined with bold experimentation. She has collaborated with genre-defying artists including Caroline Polachek (on Blood and Butter), Colin Stetson, and Aidan O’Rourke of Lau. Her 2023 release Carry Them With Us, featuring Colin Stetson, pushed the boundaries of traditional instrumentation and ambient minimalism. She continued with this fusion on her drone-heavy 2025 album Sunwise.
