Puirt a beul

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Puirt a beul (Scottish Gaelic: puirt a' bhèil "mouth music", literally "tunes of the mouth") is a traditional form of song native to Scotland, Ireland, and Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Usually, the genre involves a single performer singing lighthearted, often bawdy lyrics, although these are sometimes replaced with meaningless vocables.

In puirt a beul, the rhythm and sound of the song often have more importance than the depth or even sense of the lyrics. Puirt à beul in this way resembles other song forms like scat singing.

Some elements of puirt a beul may have originated as memory aids or as alternatives to instrumental forms such as bagpipe music.

We also have puirt a beul or mouth music - songs in which the rhythm of the words is meant to replicate the rhythm of certain dance tunes. Some of these songs may have been composed to assist fiddlers, and occasionally pipers, in learning a tune. Others may have been composed as a means of remembering tunes when the playing of the bagpipes or fiddle were proscribed or frowned upon.^[1]

Normally, puirt are sung to a 4/4 or 6/8 beat. Performances today may highlight the vocal dexterity by one or two singers, although four-person performances are sometimes made at mods. The Scottish band Capercaillie have recorded puirt a beul (Puirt a Beul on the album Crosswinds; Cape Breton Song on the album Delirium). Mouth Music also records traditional puirt a beul and original compositions based on the style.