Tannahill’s Music Stirs Soul, Feet

It’s funny how much of the world’s great music comes out of cultural upheaval.

The music the Tannahill Weavers play is a good example: It springs from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, when Scottish Highlanders were driven off their farms and into the Lowlands, where they found work in the factories. Thus was married the mystical Highlands Celtic tradition to the coarse and rowdy urban music of the Lowlands. The resulting music was wild enough to provoke frenzied dancing and subtle enough to bear close and repeated listening.

The Tannahill Weavers will play Sandpoint’s Panida Theater on Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 for adults and $7 for those under age 18, available at Eve’s Leaves, Panhandle State Bank and the Lyman Gallery.

The Tannahills’ repertoire runs the gamut from soulful ballads to lively reels and jigs. Led by guitarist, vocalist and chief humorist Roy Gullane, the Tannahills make music that stirs both the soul and the feet.

They were the first Scottish band to include the Highland bagpipes and they make a big sound - but not so big that it overwhelms the guitars and bazoukis and the small pipes and whistles that give the music its depth and texture.

The Tannahills’ striking three-part harmonies are at the heart of the music, and their upbeat, buoyant attitude keeps listeners hooked for the duration.

It seems like a score of new Scottish bands have come along since the Tannahills began some 22 years ago in Paisley, Scotland, but few can match their power and virtuosity.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo