I am about to tell you about a book that includes among its photographs and images a picture of me drinking whisky directly from a bottle. And on that point, it can be said there has never been a book that features bagpipes quite like Richard McLauchlan’s ‘Bagpipes: A Cultural History‘.
It has a broad reach: from the instrument’s pre-history over two millennia ago and Emperor Nero, to the Chilli Pipers and Treacherous Orchestra, no drone is left unturned.
McLauchlan is a piper but also a writer by profession: easy, elegant, and almost conversational in his prose, Bagpipes is a pleasure to read.
By Michael Grey
His own words say best what the book is about: ‘To tell the story of the bagpipes in a historically accurate way but to keep the romance and magic alive.’ He acknowledges, too, that ‘a fine line has to be navigated … my aim is to draw attention to those moments … when history and romance combine and grant them license to affect us.’
And so he does. At 273 pages with over 90 of these pages standing as endnotes, bibliography and index, McLauchlan backs his stories and statements, like so many good tunes, with firm grounding. In fact, the notes themselves – and I found myself flipping to the back pages with nearly every annotation – all offer fascinating reading, as in chapter 8, note 10:
‘Lord Lovat’s father also deserves a place in the annals of piping, for it was through him that Willie Ross’s position of the famed instructor at the Army School of piping was secured. Interestingly, the Rosses were keepers on the Fraser estate for three generations.’
Looking for a job? It’s not what you know .. But then, the great champion and personality, Willie Ross, I suppose, was a pretty fair candidate for such a post.
In his exploration of the cultural history of the bagpipes it is the author’s slim opening salvo, ‘Origins’ that got me reflecting. I had never thought (consciously) of the carnal metaphors the bagpipe has provided.
Says McLauchlan, ‘If an instrument is needed to evoke the highs and lows of human nature there is no better choice than the bagpipes.’
Indeed. I can’t think of any other instrument that spans the human emotional spectrum of joy and grief. The author supports this notion completely.
The scholarship in ‘Bagpipes’ is impressive. Take the author’s look at the earliest solo piping competitions where the French geologist, Bathélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, after attending the 1784 Edinburgh competition, said, ‘He seemed then to be convulsed; his pantomimic gestures resembled those of a man engaged in combat; his arms, his hands, his head all in motion … this fine disorder seemed keenly to interest everyone …’.
And a quote here invoking McLauchlan’s said conversational writing style, ‘Saint-Fond’s bizarre description of the competing piper mid-piobaireachd – as if John Cleese had been strapped with a bagpipe before filming the Ministry of Silly Walks …’.
But it is the vast breadth of human stories – piping stories – that is the gold in this book. Every person making their way in the piping world offers a slice of life. Richard McLauchlan looks at so many of these stories, so relatable to everyone.
We learn (or are reminded) of a famous piping aficionado and judge, Major General Frank Richardson, and his fascination with Napoleon’s small penis (‘Napoleon: Bisexual Emperor – 1972’), the arguably evil nature of Donald Ban MacCrimmon’s ‘boss’, Norman MacLeod; of a libel court case centring on the existence of said MacCrimmons; the trials and triumph of a trans sexual Scots Guards Pipe Major and the dramatic bomb-filled funeral of Malcolm MacPherson, one of the 20th century’s greatest players. You can’t make this stuff up, as goes the aphorism. And you can be certain Richard McLauchlan has not.
Richard McLauchlan has gifted us an easy-to-understand look at the world of the Great Highland Bagpipe. And, just as important, has given the piping world a primer on the greatness of the instrument.
Says the author, ‘…the bagpipe transcends our capacity to speak of it; or, to put it another way, … it brings us to the point of speechlessness’.
Maybe so, but this is the book I am giving to every person I know who expresses even the slightest interest in piping and the pipes.
- Order your copy priced £20 here. Also available in digital format.
Do you have a copy of this rare book and are willing to sell it? Top price paid. Contact Marco here.
