On presenting a silver chanter to young MacCrimmon, the Fairy Queen said: ‘This can give you either great skill but no fame, or great fame but no skill. Which is it to be?’
MacCrimmon chose the former. The Fairy Queen was so impressed she granted him both.
This mythic promise holds true today for all winners of the coveted trophy – and there is none more skilful, nor more famed, than the 2024 recipient, Angus MacColl.
By Robert Wallace
On first, he led from the off. His plangent pipe and controlled phrasing of Lament for the Children entranced the large audience. Crisp, unhurried technique, brought this majestic piece to a fitting climax. As Angus retired to sustained applause, I thought to myself, ‘this is the tune to beat’.
Fred Morrison came close. Half way through Colbeck’s Lament, Benderloch was under siege, make no mistake. The ground and first variation displayed tastefully nuanced expression, helped by the sweetest of pipes. He swept on into the triplet singling, perfectly judged…. but then his control seemed to vanish. He pushed on too eagerly in the doubling.
Colbeck is a long piece. The temptation is to push on, but that is a temptation that must be resisted. Fred succumbed; the spell was broken. He may have sensed he’d lost something. Concentration sagged and he forgot to play the three B crunluaths before the cadences at the end of each line of the singling. No cigar for Fred this year, but the first half of his tune was truly memorable.
All the other pipers presented well in the pressure cooker atmosphere, lights, cameras, microphones, learned audience. Sarah Muir didn’t quite settle the pipe but gave a pleasant reading of Donald Duaghal MacKay nevertheless. More time over the cadences in Variation 1 would have improved her delivery.
Derek Midgley was a wee bit square with Patrick Og, and chedari was not always consistent – and that B for a D in the taorluath didn’t help his cause. A fine pipe from the big American.
Alasdair Henderson had a bold instrument too, the very dab for the Battle of Waternish, but the interpretation could have been more focussed on the theme notes. Variation Two singling was over prominent in the notes after the taorluath – plus a very minor fumble had to be considered.
Innes Smith produced a rich, fulfilling drone sound for the Earl of Antrim, but he put us on edge with slightly forced handling of the double echoes. Moreover, he cut the short notes in the variations leaving the poor Earl somewhat the worse for wear at this point. The patient recovered well from Variation Three onwards.
All pipers played to a background of projected images of the magical Skye islands courtesy photographer Cailean Maclean: the MacCrimmon Cairn, the John MacKay croft on Raasay, the mighty Cuillin and scenes of battle commemorated in the classical music of the pipes. This added significantly to the audience’s enjoyment, an audience that contained several noted professional pipers and a good number of youngsters who got in for free.
Stringing the evening together so well was Fear an Tigh, Decker Forrest. He regaled the audience with stories of the tunes and the pipers, talking often in Gaelic and conveying always the sense that the music we were hearing was part of the soil and soul of our island host.
I am indebted to Decker for the Fairy Queen tale, and also for the knowledge that the esteemed Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean considered the Lament for the Children Scotland’s greatest ever work of art. Had Sorley been around to hear Angus MacColl’s rendition it would have surely confirmed him in that view.
- The Silver Chanter 2024, held at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Sleat, isle of Skye, August 7th. Pipers qualified for invitation following their success at the Skye Gathering, Northern Meeting and Argyllshire Gathering. Pipers: Angus MacColl, Benderloch, Sarah Muir, Campbeltown, Derek Midgley, New Jersey, Innes Smith, Dunblane, Fred Morrison, Bishopton, Alasdair Henderson, Dunoon. Judge: Robert Wallace, Glasgow. Each piper submitted four MacCrimmon piobaireachd of their own choice, chosen tune given in the final tuning room. Sponsored by Torabhaig Malt Whisky and the Piobaireachd Society. Angus MacColl’s winning performance and the other tunes will be available on the Piobaireachd Society website soon.
I first heard the great Ceol Mor 50 years ago in the old Scout hall in Oban. l think it was at the local Mod. l was hooked. l was fortunate enough to be working on Skye last week so my 30 mile journey from Portree to Sleat for the Silver Chanter was insignificant compared with those that had travelled from as far away as America, Germany and Belguim to hear this great recital. I dont think I’ve ever listened to such high quality Piobaireachd as l heard last Wednesday night. The backdrop of the Skye and Raasay landscape during each tune added to both the history and experience. A very healthy crowd all stayed to the end and l spoke to a young Belgian couple on the way out who described the music as “mystical and beautiful”. The sponsor’s dram at half time was an added bonus.
So how do we build on this? Piobaireachd is a cultural treasure that has so many links to Gaelic language and our history but is largely excluded from mainstream ceilidhs and events and stuck away in the corner of games fields. We could start by having a tune at every event and let the seeds grow.
Was the competition recorded? Would be great to hear Angus playing the Children.