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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. In Ireland, it is often known as lilting. 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.

When they came across the ocean the ancestors of modern Scottish Americans brought their music with them, including mouth music, which was often incorporated into the lyrics of songs. It became an integral part of Appalachian music, roots music, and bluegrass, from whence it spread into many forms of American music. Its lasting influence can be seen in scat singing, a jazz technique where vocalists "play" melodies without words, and in modern beatboxing, a form of vocal percussion that is associated with modern hip hop music.

1. ^ http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/sub_section.jsp?SectionID=3¤tId=402 Am Baile (The Gaelic Village)

• Waulking song
• Mouth Music (band)

• Information on traditional Gaelic music

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