Editor’s Notebook: Pipers’ Persuasion/ RSPBA Judges/ McIntosh Scholarship/ Iain Dall Memorial/ Bagad New York

Allan Hamilton has announced the last of his Pipers’ Persuasion interviews. What a service to piping he has provided. Beginning in 2010, he set about interviewing and filming noted figures in the piping world.

Many provided a fascinating insight into what made them tick, how they achieved their success. Now after 15 years and more than 100 interviews, Allan has hung up his camera and microphone.

He says. ‘I thoroughly enjoyed doing this work and seeing the results online. Many thanks to all of our viewers and site friends. It has been a wonderful experience and a privilege to speak to the world’s greatest musicians.’

He took not a penny, expended a lot of his own savings, placed everything online free to access. As time goes on this archive will grow in importance. Allan deserves our gratitude for all his work.

He can now enjoy a well-earned break satisfied that hours of piping and pipe band history have been saved for posterity. Check out this valuable resource here.

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McIntosh Scholarship
The Jimmy McIntosh Piobaireachd Scholarship Committee has selected as its next recipient Peter Liu from Nashville, Tennessee.  

‘All the pipers who applied demonstrated a great deal of promise,’ said the Committee. ‘Our decision was difficult. We are confident that Peter (pictured) will reap tremendous benefits from the piobaireachd instruction to be provided by our excellent panel of instructors.’

The instruction will begin in June with an intensive piobaireachd weekend in Pittsburgh, taught by one of Jimmy’s most successful students, Mike Cusack.

Peter’s scholarship experience will culminate with a piobaireachd workshop at Carnegie Mellon University in February of 2026 with Mike, Nick Hudson and Andrew Carlisle. The Winter Workshop is open to all and organised by Pittsburgh Piping Society in conjunction with the JMS Committee.

The Committee added: ‘Thanks to all who have contributed to the scholarship fund. Contributions are still being accepted at pittsburghpipingsociety.org. We are extremely thankful for the generous support of the New World Celts, Dunedin Chapter, and the Piobaireachd Society.

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Memorial Cairns
Thanks to those who pointed out my omission of Iain Dall MacKay from my report of last week on Scotland’s memorial cairns for famous pipers. The Iain Dall memorial is not a cairn, more of a memorial installation. It is splendid nevertheless and is in an idyllic spot in Flowerdale Glen, Gairloch, Wester Ross. A pleasant woodland walk takes you there.

Iain Dall was a renowned composer and teacher. It is believed he lived from 1655 until 1754. He is credited with such classic piobaireachd compositions as the Blind Piper’s Obstinacy, Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon, the Unjust Incarceration, probably Munro’s Salute and the Anapool laments (Laird and Lady), and maybe Corrienessan’s Salute too.

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Bagad New York
The band have sent this….Bagad New York is a New-York based instrumental music ensemble presenting traditional Breton music in the format of a Bagad, or Breton pipe-band. The band consists of over a dozen musicians from across New York and New England as well as North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, and Louisiana.

Bagad New York is the only bagad based in the United States, and one of only a handful outside Brittany.

Upcoming performances: Saturday July 26th, concert in the greater New Paltz, NY area. The concert will feature over 50 minutes of music as well as participatory Breton dance for beginner to advanced levels. Details will be announced once finalised.

Saturday August 2 to Saturday August 9, Bagad New York will be at the Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Brittany, as invitees to the festival’s ‘Les Cousins d’Amérique’. Our selection to this year’s festival is a positive recognition of the band’s 16 years of devotion to sharing Breton music in North America. The seven days of performances will feature parades, concerts, and collaborations with bands from
Brittany.

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