In 2018, Lochaber based Gaelic Supergroup Dàimh (pronounce that ‘Dive’), delivered an exceptional album titled The Rough Bounds. It was one of our Featured Albums of the Month, which Neil McFadyen reviewed here. He described their typically rich, skilful arrangements as varied and, at times, as “breath-taking as the corner of Gaeldom that is the band’s home”. He concludes: “20 years into their own history, Dàimh’s reputation as writers and interpreters of traditional Gaelic music, for a contemporary audience, goes from strength to strength. With each successive release, Dàimh seem to exceed their aspirations, creating and recording peerless new music. The Rough Bounds is an exceptional album, from an exceptional band.”
Due to COVID, the band has not run the School of Dàimh at the Arisaig Hotel for the last couple of years. But they have put a huge amount of work into School of Dàimh : Home Schoolin’ via their Youtube channel, where you can learn some new tunes!
As I type this, there are four videos up on the channel to learn from and they tell me there are a few more to come. So if you are looking to improve your session skills, learn some tunes, and a Gaelic song, then this is the place to be. Here’s the first on which you can learn Farquhar & Hettie’s Waltz. After a playthrough, you’ll be taught the melody then chords.
Watch more on their Youtube Channel, where you can also subscribe for notification of new videos.
If you’re not a musician, then remember to check out Dàimh‘s shop on their website and also over on their Bandcamp page where they have loads of CDs, t-shirts, hoodies, tea towels, bandanas and snoods!