It is not often you get to hear two superb, vintage sets of pipes in the one day. The first was John MacDonald, Inverness’s played by Duncan MacGillivray and the second, Bob Brown’s played by Dan Nevans. Neither disappointed. The occasion was the annual conference of the Piobaireachd Society held last weekend in the Royal George Hotel, Perth. Society committees met on the Friday night. The General Committee approved grants…

Thanks to permission from the National Library of Scotland we are now able to publish a copy of the hitherto ‘lost’ Lament for Donald MacPhee by John MacColl. Donald MacPhee (1841-1880) was a prominent professional piper and bagpipe maker during his short lifetime; he published a bagpipe tutor book and bagpipe music. By John Frater This from Seumas MacNeill’s ‘Masters of Piping’: ‘…at Bonawe Games young John [MacColl] had heard…