Canntaireachd is a method of orally describing the various movements in piobaireachd music. It probably dates back to before 1500 A.D., and has existed in many different “dialects”. The predominant dialect of today is the Nether Lorn canntaireachd, as used in the Piobaireachd Society books. This is what will be described below, taken more or less verbatim from their preface.

The example of canntaireachd below also contains a sample of the MacCrimmon canntaireachd. More about this will be added to these pages at some point.

Sven Axelsson was born in the Swedish town Uppsala in 1962 to parents Per and Maj Axelsson. He has a sister, Gunilla Bergersson, and a brother, Gunnar Axelsson, both considerably older than himself (15 and 12 years respectively), so in practise he grew up as the only child in the family. At the age of 6, the family moved to the small town Enköping, and then at the age of 8, they moved on to Karlskrona at the south east coast of Sweden.

He moved to Göteborg at the age of 17 and is still living there after brief excurses to Dublin, Ireland and Lowell MA, USA..

Below you'll find some more specific information about Sven's achievements in life.