Famous Pipers: John D. Burgess/ Calum Campbell Concert

It is hard to believe that it is ten years since the death of one of the great pipers and characters of the recent past, P/M John D. Burgess. Today we mark this anniversary with a feature on John in our Famous Pipers column. Read it here. A concert is being held in Balivanich Hall, Benbecula, tomorrow night to celebrate the launch of a book of music ‘Ceol Chaluim’ by…

Richard the Third – Concluding Part of Our Interview with P/M Parkes of Field Marshal

IN this, the concluding part of our interview with P/M Richard Parkes MBE of Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, we hear of his early influences, what he thinks of the players in his band, and the support he gets from his family and employer. Read the earlier excerpts from this interview here. PP: Who would you say were your biggest influences? You mentioned Ian McLellan and Strathclyde Police and what they…

78th Fraser Concert/ Fred Recital/ John MacLellan Contest etc

The organisers of the 78th Frasers  Concert at Celtic Connections next January have sent the announcement below. The above picture shows the band under P/M Bill Livingstone in 1987, the year they created history by becoming the first ever overseas band to win the World Pipe Band Championship:  Superstar Percussionists Added to Cast of Glasgow’s 2016 Celtic Connection Festival’s Celebration of the Music of ‘Live in Ireland 87’  A group…

P/M Richard Parkes Interview Part 2: My Pipe Band Philosophy

Today we continue with our interesting interview with P/M Richard Parkes of Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, the most successful of modern times. The band suffered a setback this year when trying for their fifth Worlds title in a row, but they still had a very satisfying season winning three Major titles and the Grade 1 Champion of Champions title. However, the Worlds was the big one, and here P/M Parkes…

PP Ed’s Blog: A Kist o’ Riches – Tobar an Dualchais

Alan MacColl of the 214 BB Ex-Members has alerted us to the following:  ‘Having this evening watched the Paul Murton BBC programme ‘Grand Tour of the Scottish Islands’, I was interested in hearing of Canna House. Basically this was where many recordings of Gaelic life are held. I then went on the following website: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/results  and was amazed at the amount of digital recordings available. I had just put in Lewis as a search…