New Recordings from Alasdair Gillies and Jimmy McIntosh/ Letter

Two new recordings today. The first is from Jimmy McIntosh who has added part of Donald MacLeod’s composition, A Son’s Salute to His Parents to his audio archive.

This is one of the set tunes for the senior piobaireachd competitions at  Oban and Inverness this year and may be of interest to contestants. It is one of Donald’s more difficult tunes.
Of it,  Donald writes: ‘A tribute to my parents, and through them to all parents who, even beyond the bounds of parental duty, made many sacrifices on the altar of the family.’

Alasdair receiving one of the fiurst of many trophies at the Northern Meeting. This historic picture was taken in 1978. Standing behind the trophy is the NM's fondly r-remembered Piping Secretary of the day. Ross Martin. Looking on with pleasure is the great P/M Donald MacLeod
Donald (far right) looks on as a young Alasdair Gillies receives one of the first of his many trophies at the Northern Meeting. This historic picture was taken in 1978. 

In addition to sending us this recording, Jimmy has included some very interesting information on the time he had with Donald at Fort George, the regimental HQ of the Seaforth Highlanders. In his letter we learn of Donald’s trips for lessons with John MacDonald, Inverness, and read, for the first time, of the first name Donald gave to his hornpipe masterpiece Crossing the Minch. Read about it in our Letters column.

Donald is featured in the famous picture (above) of Queen’s Own Highlanders (Seaforths & Camerons) Gold Medallists. Back row: William M. MacDonald (Inverness), Iain MacFadyen, William MacDonald (Benbecula), John MacDougall, John D. Burgess and Iain Murdo Morrison. Front row: Hugh Macrae, Captain DR MacLennan, Capt. John MacLellan and P/M Donald MacLeod. The photograph was taken in 1970 at the Northern Meeting.


Our second recording is from Alasdair Gillies and adds to his archive of superb ceol beag available on Piping Press. These recordings sit well with his Famous Pipers column currently featuring on PP.
Just a word on the PP Audio Archive. Multiple contributions are arranged in playlists dedicated to the contributing piper. Clicking on the playlist will trigger a re-run of the whole list. Clicking on the artist’s name will reveal the playlist and its several constituent recordings. The listener can then choose his/her preference.

Anyone with recordings they would like to share with our thousands of readers worldwide should email them to pipingpress@gmail.com. The PP Academy Audio Archive is so described because of its instructional purpose. We endeavour to have the highest quality recordings possible, but inclusion in the archive is primarily predicated on two criteria: educational worth and historical interest. Since this free facility began last year there have been over 6,000 plays of the various tracks.


Wannabe  a piping or drumming snowbird?…then  catch some heat at the South Florida Pipe & Drum Academy! Places going fast!

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