Reading of this book, I imagined it would make ceòl mòr more accessible to pipers who had little interest in it, hopefully inspiring them, and that it would help listeners gain greater enjoyment from performances. This has been attempted in the past and proved a tall order. There have been publications on the theme of piobaireachd appreciation before and Seumas MacNeil’s ‘Piobaireachd’ [available here] is one of the more successful….
The following is from a clipping from the Inverness Courier found in Donald’s papers. The headlines read ‘Great Washout at Northern Meeting’, ‘Disastrous Effect of Ceaseless Deluge’, ‘Handful of Spectators Watch the Games’ and ‘Balmoral Ghillie’s Piping Triumph’. In these days the Meetings were held out of doors in the Northern Meeting Park. The report goes on: Rain ruined the Northern Meeting Gathering which opened at Inverness today, even more…
What a busy month August was. From the Silver Chanter through to the annual Piobaireachd Society recital, August has delivered a bumper crop of piping in every format one could ask for after such a drought. It is only fitting that this big month has been bookended by the big music. The Piobaireachd Society recital has been held in St. Cecilia’s Hall at the University of Edinburgh in previous years…
We conclude this story on the revival of the piping tradtion on South Uist. This is from the archive of the late Donald Morrison. Readers might like to refresh the memory by reading the first part of this anonymous article here. Given that this excerpt mentions the ‘late’ John MacDonald, Inverness, it must date from the late 1950s or 60s. P/M MacDonald is pictured above in a rare photograph taken…
Thanks to Yves Tison for this picture of P/M John Weatherston. Yves writes: ‘Further to your excellent Piping Press article on Red Hackle pipe band, I have found in my photos an old pic of Pipe Major John Weatherston at the Festival de Cornemuse in Brest, Brittany, in August 1969.’ Good picture Yves. Jock was in the habit of wrapping a sweat-catching handkerchief round his neck. The joys of piping…
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