AE FOND KISS by Robert Burns

Published on Jan 5, 2013 copperleaves·57 videos

"I have known this song for many years, but I had always heard it sung by classically trained sopranos and tenors, so I never dared to sing it. A couple of weeks ago, I heard a rendition of it performed here on YT by Scottish popular singer Eddi Reader, and I loved it! So I decided to take a crack at it myself.

Robert Burns is Scotland's poet/ambassador to the world, and this song (only one of many that he wrote) is for me one of the most poignant songs of unrequited love that has ever been written. I'm not going to bore everyone with the history of this song. If you are curious about it, here is the Wikipedia entry that will tell you the whole story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ae_Fond_Kiss

The instrument I am playing in this video I call the "tibicen" (this is the Latin word for "piper"). I devised this instrument myself because I love to sing with the pipes but it is impossible to play them and sing at the same time. The tibicen is entirely electronic and consists of two parts (only one of which can be seen in this video). There is a keyboard "chanter" which sits on the knees of the performer and can play in any key over a range of many octaves. The other part is a pedal board similar to an organ (which is not visible in the video) which plays the drones, and can change keys and harmonies very much like the Irish uilleann pipes.

Part of the problem with pipes (and with the hurdy gurdy which I also play) is that they are extremely loud and their volume cannot be controlled by the player so they tend to drown out a singer. With the tibicen, every aspect of the sound, volume, slides, range, etc., can be controlled, and it is ideal for an electronic musician like myself."