If you preorder the CD you get BOTH the CD and the digital album download.
The CD also comes in a truly stunning 3-fold digipack (6 pages), containing:
- an epic 28-page, 6000-word booklet with native tree facts & Highland folklore
- a beautifully detailed drawing of the Caledonian forest by Somhairle MacDonald
- stunning landscape photography by David Russell at Highland Wildscapes.
- you INSTANTLY receive one album track download: Track 9: "Forest Folk"
....all in all: you get an album, a piece of art and a tree book!
Includes unlimited streaming of The Woods
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
19.The Regeneration March / Little Berry of the Moor 3:46
In the Scottish Gaelic alphabet 'M' is used for 'vine', represented here by various berries of the genus Vaccinium. 'U' is often used for heather. Both of these plants for a crucial part of the understory of the Caledonian forest.
'U' is for UR [Oor], Heather, fraoch, haither.
- Ling.
- Bell heather.
- Cross-leaved heath.
The Caledonian Forests that were heavily felled during both world wars or destroyed in big wild fires, are gradually returning. This is a retreat march for the reduction of heathery moors and the steady increase of natural tree regeneration. The treeline of Meall a’ Bhuachaille above the Green loch at Ryvoan is creeping upwards as young saplings flourish beyond the forest edge - it is a joy to see. A heather tree can live up to 30 years, producing 100,000 seeds each of which can survive for a century.
Self-seeding pine forests eventually develop a natural spacing between trees, letting the optimal amount of light through the canopy so that the heather cannot dominate the forest floor. The balance in the understory between heather, blaeberry and other shrubs and plants is crucial for the survival of certain species, such as the capercaillie chicks that struggle to move around properly in deep heather. Heather needs lots of light, blaeberry much less so, but too much shade from the canopy and moss is likely to take over. There are three Scottish heathers - bog heather, also named fraoch-an-ruinnse (washing up heather), reinge-heather, Erica tetralix and cross-leaved heath. Then there’s bell heather, also known as fraoch-dearg (red heather), carline-heather, cat-heather, Erica cinerea and she-heather. The most widespread is ling, also called fraoch-gorm (blue heather), dug-heather, duggie ling, Calluna vulgaris and he-heather. Heather’s many uses included: honey, hops for beer, brooms, scourer, ropes, baskets, fences, pegs, nails, fire-lighters and housing materials such as thatching, insulation, flooring and mattresses.
'M' is for MÒINEAG [Moan-yak] Dearcag-monaidh, fraochag, caora-mhitheag,
plants of genus Vaccinium: whortleberry, blaeberry, bog-billberry, cowberry, bog-cranberry.
Blaeberries are the tastiest of the Vaccinium species that grow in Scottish woods, bogs and moors. Many locals will be able to recollect a time in their childhood when they returned from the woods with a very blue tongue!
credits
from The Woods,
released March 21, 2020
Musicians:
HN: D flute, piano
IW: fiddle
JH: Uilleann pipes
RA: Highland Pipes
JL: bass
SB: guitar, drums
All tracks composed by H Napier PRS/MCPS.
Produced by Andrea Gobbi & H Napier.
Arranged by S Byrnes & H Napier.
Recorded, mixed & mastered by A Gobbi at GloWorm Recordings & Carrier Waves, Glasgow.
Additional recordings by Barry Reid on location in Hamish’s livingroom, Grantown-on-Spey.
Field recordings by H Napier, W Boyd-Wallis and P Smith.
Scottish mega piper Ross Ainslie. awesome self-penned tunes, banging arrangements and all-round dynamite production! Ross and I have been collaborating for years on each other's gigs and albums! Hamish Napier
supported by 100 fans who also own “The Regeneration March / Little Berry of the Moor”
My father was born in Glasgow, yet somehow I have never visited Scotland. This lovely music sounds like my ticket of return to the country of his birth. Philip Graham
supported by 87 fans who also own “The Regeneration March / Little Berry of the Moor”
Just the most fun. Every set is one I want to sit down and learn, and they play with so much ENERGY and STYLE. Crunchy, tangible sound. I'll never get tired of listening to Kinnaris Quintet play. andpersand
Old-fashioned fiddles harmonize with rippling synths on the Scottish singer-songwriter's latest collection of original folk songs. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 30, 2022
