Bannal - Waulking Songs (1996)

Bannal, a Glasgow based Gaelic Waulking group was formed in 1989. They are , as their name indicates, a group of women- a very remarkable group of women- almost all of them soloists in their own right, brought together by a common interest in and love of the songs associated with the making of the cloth known as tweed,an Clo modern mechanical methods took over, waulking, the final process in the fulling of the tweed, was done by hand, usually by woman, in sessions which could last for several hours depending on the length of the tweed and the thickness required. To lighten the task, songs were sung to the steady beat of the wet cloth on a wooden singers are all native Gaelic speakers resident in or near Glasgow. All but one. Chrissie MacInnes, sing solo on the album. Chrissie is expert in all aspects of the making of tweed- carding, spinning, dying, weaving - skills learned from her mother and aunt in Harris.