The Argyllshire Gathering has added an important new competition to its list of light music events. The Argyllshire Gathering MSR (Intermediate) title will be competed for at the annual games held at Mossfield Park. First prize will be a year’s retention of the P/M RG Hardie Memorial Trophy and £50. The competition is only open to pipers who have played in the MacGregor Memorial Piobaireachd competition on the first day of…
It was a pleasure to talk to Sandy Hain the other day. Sandy is the composer of the popular jig Donald MacKillop, now better known, erroneously, as Duncan MacKillop. The eponymous Donald was from Wick and a piper in the Black Watch through WW2. Sandy was Pipe Major at the regimental depot in Perth. Sandy ‘did the course’ with Willie Ross 1950 -51 along with Bob Crabb (Scots Guards), Peter…
Longing for summer? Missing those glorious days at the Games, piping midst all the fun of the fair? Here US piper and enthusiast Peter Beckford looks back on his trip during the Summer of ’15 and compares games on both sides of the Atlantic….. I’ve never been to a Highland games as an impartial spectator. I go for the piping, as a competitor in the US, or parent and fan….
I agree with Dr Hester on the need to encourage and promote modern piobaireachd. It is something I have done all my piping life through Duncan Johnstone’s ‘Lament for Alan’, John MacKenzie’s ‘Salute to the Soldier’, playing the tunes of John MacLellan, and in many other ways. Without new works the art stagnates. Two comparatively modern tunes ‘The Phantom Piper of the Corrieyairick’ and a ‘A Son’s Salute to His Parents’ have…
We continue with our interview with P/M Alasdair Gillies from 1999. In it he talks of the infamous occasion when he was ordered from the stage by one of the adjudicators and a former Piping Convenor of the Northern Meeting, the highly respected Lt. Colonel DJS Murray….. ‘1991 will always be remembered. I was red carded from the Gold Medal. I had bet my old man I would be teetotal…
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