Lorne MacDougall, the young multi-instrumentalist piper from Carradale can now add Disney film musician to his already impressive CV. Along with the cream of the traditional music scene in Scotland, Lorne’s playing will feature in the sound-track of “Brave”.
This next Disney Pixar film is a tale set in ancient Scotland about the headstrong Merida, daughter of Kind Fergus, and her heroic journey. It is released in the summer, and fortunately the producers saw fit to get hold of some of Scotland’s most gifted young musicians late last year to create and record the sound-track. As well as Lorne, Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis features prominently, as do John McCusker and Kris Drever.
This news is ‘leaking’ out now because a wee teaser advert featured in a break at the Oscars on Sunday night. All involved in the film, musicians included, are inevitably required to keep something akin to a vow of silence about it all – especially the plot. So Lorne revealed little about exactly what instruments he plays for the movie, whether whistle, great highland bagpipe or other type of 'pipes. And while editing is still going on maybe even he doesn’t know exactly what part of his musical input has survived through to the final cut.
That said, I am sure I can hear some of his low-whistle playing in the excerpts on the film website. More will doubtless be revealed as the PR machine cranks up in the run up to the summer release. Here is the Oscars special teaser advert: http://io9.com/5888610/sing-along-with- ... ve-trailer. Who knows, if the film picks up a sound-track nomination for the 2013 Academy Awards, maybe it will be Lorne and his accomplices who step out onto the red carpet in Los Angeles this time next year!
More about the film here: http://disney.com/brave. The cast is impressive, featuring Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane, Kelly MacDonald, Julie Walters, Craig Ferguson and Kevin McKidd, among others.
I have always really enjoyed Lorne’s musicianship, and am delighted that he was picked to do this. It does - again - emphasise what fabulous talent we cultivate in Kintyre.



