I rose this morning to learn of the passing of Cyril Hall, Zimbabwe. His friend Aiton Shepherd wrote from Western Australia: ‘Cyril died last night in Mutare.
‘His eldest son, Bobby, who lives here in Perth, phoned with the sad news. I admit to a few tears. The attached photo [above] was taken by Craig Sked a few years ago at the 100 Guineas solo piping competition in Johannesburg.
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‘Cyril will undoubtedly be the piper who competed most in that contest from the 1970s and for over 40 years! His wife, Barbara, died a few months ago. Pauline and I will miss them both.
‘Cyril gave me a hard time when I joined the Churchill Pipe Band as a junior piper. After school we met again in the Salisbury General Hospital in 1963, where I was a National Serviceman recovering from rheumatic fever and he from a broken neck after a motor accident.
‘I think he met Barbara who nursed him then. ‘Hello Sheppie’, he said gleefully when he appeared next to my bed. He got back into piping and we became life-long friends. When we visited the Hall farm, Cyril and I would play for up to 10 hours a day while Pauline and Barbara chatted. They too were great mates.’
I first met Cyril, a tobacco farmer, on my first trip to South Africa in 1999. A native born Rhodesian, as he described himself, he first learned the pipes at school in Harare or Salisbury as it was in his young day. He enjoyed the band but listening to records and attending every recital and workshop he could, he developed an abiding love of solo piping and piobaireachd. He remembered hearing Peter MacLeod jnr. when he was living in that country.
As Aiton said, Cyril (and Barbs) made the trip to Jo’burg each year for the ‘Guineas’. Taking the top prize one year, he proudly and rightly declared that at that time he was ‘the best piobaireachd player in Africa’.
I was always intrigued by how someone with his background and circumstance could become so enamoured of ceòl mòr. He had an understanding not many could better, proving yet again that this music is world music.
I visited Cyril and Barbara in their home in 2014. It was about 40 minutes drive from Harare, double locked and metal shuttered for security. He had lost his farm because he was white. But he kept going and managed to eke out a living with resolute support from his family.
He still loved his now straitened country and took great pleasure in driving me round the pot holed roads showing me the sights.
He took me to the tobacco market where his expert eye homed in on the good stuff in the grading room. Down to earth with a sense of humour, he never lamented his loss of fortune. After all, he had a wonderful wife and family….and his pipes.
I would send him out reeds, once a bag, never sure if he was going to get them – but a few times he did and the African skies resounded again to the music of MacCrimmon.
Cyril Hall was a unique individual, a man of wit, an exceptional piper, a loyal Zimbabwean, and loved and respected by all who knew him.
I have very fond memories of the great Cyril Hall, who judged me as a young piper 50 years ago at Churchill School in Salisbury.
Cyril was a stalwart of the Rhodesian piping scene, together with other luminaries like Barry Martin and Keith Walker.
Rest in Peace Cyril – you will never be forgotten.
I was so sad to hear the news. Cyril was a huge part of the ‘heart and soul’ of bagpiping in Southern Africa. He will be sorely missed…
Thank you Rob, very well said. “Grumpy” as Barbara sometimes called him was an unforgettable personality and a piping inspiration to many of us. Rest In Peace, Cyril!
RIP Cyril, a great character and a very fine piobaireachd player, and a great exponent of the Bob Brown school.
Great article Rab. He will be sorely missed and we will never see his like again.