Blustery wet weather did nothing to dampen enthusiasm at Brittany’s 20th annual celebration of ceòl mòr, ‘Pibroc’h en Bord de Mer’, held on its north coast on 7th/8th September, writes Dr Jack Taylor.
While colleagues battled it out at Braemar and Blairgowrie, players from Brittany and beyond enjoyed playing and hearing the great music just for the sake of it with not a judge in sight. Every performance was greeted by rapturous applause and cheers, imperfections or not.
To mark this 20th year, the Saturday tunes were played with the magnificent medieval abbey Mont-Saint-Michel as a backdrop.
The event’s founder Jakez Pincet started proceedings with one of his own compositions, accompanied by accordion and voice. Rapturous applause, and again when he repeated the performance at the beach on Sunday afternoon.
Jakez has just released his fifth album ‘Solo Piping Art’ featuring recordings he made 1998-2018 including his own compositions, the piobaireachd Chisholm’s Salute, MSRs and six-parted jigs.
To the war memorial in Cancale on Sunday morning, and more classic tunes. After a lunch of oysters and other delicacies at the beach, the latest generation of young players, taught by Jakez’s pupil Hervé Le Floc’h played with passion and musical maturity – not to say there wasn’t the odd more than half decent touch from those of more advanced years.
A wide selection of tunes was played, including Glengarry’s Lament, Massacre of Glencoe as written by Angus MacKay and Donald MacDonald, the Fairy Flag from PS book 16, and Ceol na Mara – Music of the Sea, John MacKenzie’s 20th century composition.
This festival shows ceòl mòr at its best. Jakez, Remy le Castrec and his committee are to be congratulated on organising a weekend which brings out the true spirit of piobaireachd.
Raasay Competition
A new solo competition unlike any other was held on the island of Raasay last weekend [Sept. 7th], writes Decker Forrest.
Held in the island’s Community Hall, the ‘Raasay Piping Competition’ was sponsored by the Isle of Raasay Distillery and devised by Hamish Moore. Its inspiration, wrote Hamish, came from his belief that, ‘Piping has, over time, consistently been losing connections with its Gaelic roots. This connection was once central to, and at the heart of, how our music was interpreted and played. It is hoped that this competition will significantly contribute to reconnecting piping with its Gaelic roots and grow in popularity and significance year by year.’
Pipers were allocated 15 minutes each to perform a selection of step dance style jigs, a piobaireachd song/Gaelic air and a selection of strathspeys and reels to be played with a tempo and rhythm suitable to be danced to by a hard shoe percussive Scottish step dancer.
Ten pipers competed: James MacKenzie, Angus Nicolson, Michael Grey, Decker Forrest, Lorne Cousin, Duncan Nicholson, Ben Duncan, Micheal Steele, Ailis Sutherland and Ciar Milne
Four judges invigilated, Dr Angus MacDonald and Anna Murray for the piobaireachd song/Gaelic air, and Angus MacKenzie and Frank McConnel for the ceòl beag.
The judges were kept behind a partition to protect the identities of those playing. At the end they announced the winners’ numbers in the order of 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The identities of the prize winners were then revealed to all at the prizegiving.
An information sheet was handed to members of the audience at the start of the event with the names, photos and biographies of the pipers. A steward held up the name of each competitor to the audience prior to them performing.
The results were: 1st Angus Nicolson (formerly from Sleat, Skye, but now living in Fort William) who received a small cask of Raasay Whisky worth £3,000; 2nd Ailis Sutherland (Kirriemuir) – A selection of bottles of Raasay whisky worth several hundred pounds; 3rd Decker Forrest (Programme Leader for the Gaelic and Traditional Music at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Gaelic College on Sleat, Skye) – a limited edition print by the renowned Irish colourist, John B. Vallely depicting the MacDonald brothers of Glenuig, entitled ‘Homage to Glenuig’. It may be that the first prize, in terms of cash value, is the highest in solo competitive piping.
