This year’s Clan Donald Quaich competition, one of the most lucrative in world solo piping, will be held on June 2 in the Clan Donald Centre, Sleat, Skye. It is sponsored by the Glencoe Foundation. First prize is £1,000 with each piper receiving £750 ‘appearance money’. They are Callum Beaumont, Finlay Johnston, Stuart Liddell (a previous winner and pictured above with the Quaich), Ian K. MacDonald and Iain Speirs. The chosen…
Jim Stack has sent information about the EUSPBA’s ‘Piobaireachd Conference’ to be held in New Jersey on the weekend of March 31 – Apr 2 when the main speaker will be Dr Angus MacDonald. Events take place in the Madison Hotel, Morristown, and include a ceol mor and an MSR contest. A weekend ticket is $100. Contact Jim for more info. Please don’t confuse the above with the Piobaireachd Society…
A new book of piobaireachd music is to be launched at the Piobaireachd Society Conference at the end of this month. ‘Pipers Meeting’ (the title comes from one of the tunes) is taken from the Campbell Canntaireachd manuscript and many of the tunes have never been published in staff notation before. The book’s compilers are Patrick Molard and Dr Jack Taylor, friends and students of the ‘Bobs of Balmoral’, RU…
Writing of Dr John MacAskill’s self-penned piobaireachd on Friday served as a reminder of the current impetus there is behind ‘modern’ ceol mor. At the end of the month we will have the Donald MacLeod Memorial contest in Stornoway (see banner ad.) where his music will be enjoyed once more by the large crowd. Donald’s tunes feature in this year’s Silver Medal lists too, and other modern tunes such as…
Gaelic broadcaster, writer and photographer, Cailean Maclean has unearthed a new piobaireachd composed by the late Dr John MacAskill. What’s more he has provided a copy of the tune and a recording of the writer playing it. Dr John, who died in 2003, was a renowned composer of such ceol beag masterpieces as the reel Lexie MacAskill and an article on him featured earlier in Piping Press. Cailean writes: ‘Dr John…
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