ON Saturday April 25, George Square will be filled with thousands of passionate Yes voters attending the Hope Over Fear pre-election rally.
Those present will witness the world’s first live collaboration between a Scottish, Gaelic-speaking rapper and a Ghanaian drum band.
Griogair Labhruidh (pictured far right) will be performing alongside Kakatsitsi as part of an Afro-Gaelic project the group are working on this year. The upcoming live showcase will feature rapping, drums, chants and bagpipes.
From Ballachulish in the Highlands, Griogair is already a well-respected artist on the Scottish folk scene. In recent years he has performed at the Commonwealth Games and Celtic Connections as a master bagpiper and Gaelic singer, but this year he’s planning to release a full-blown hip hop album in the language.
An aficionado of all African-American art forms, Griogair is also influenced by both traditional Gaelic poets and New York emcees. It was only two years ago that he decided to conjoin the two styles.
Griogair, who uses his first name as his rap pseudonym, said: “I’ve been a Gaelic poet for years and always found this tradition to be one of the deepest, most complicated traditions anywhere in the world.
“The meters and rhymes you’ll find in ancient Gaelic actually work incredibly well with hip hop.”
The "colonisation of Gaelic culture” is an issue dear to the west Highlander’s heart, and he believes his inclination towards rap stems from “anger coming down through the generations.”
“A lot of rap is about struggle,” says Griogair. “Hip hop began as a mode of expression for an African-American community who were colonised. We don’t need to imitate them though, we have our own traditions. People don’t hear the Gaelic struggle.’’
Despite the language, the folk musician-cum-emcee’s approach to hip hop is certainly reminiscent of a particular style. Referencing Brooklyn as the “the motherland of hip hop”, Griogair is inspired by conscious-styled rappers such as Mos Def and KRS One.
His latest released track Cogadh no Sith?, translated as War or Peace?, boasts immaculate, 90s-styled boom bap production, and he frequently samples jazz records for his tracks.
His art is also openly political, and he was massively involved in the Yes campaign last year. “You can’t help but be political when you feel the pressures of a dying culture on your shoulders,” explains Griogair. “Traditionally, Scottish art was always gritty, it was often satirical and old Gaelic is full of swearing.
“When you put it that way, Gaelic hip hop makes a lot of sense.”
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