Archie Kenneth, the Competition in His Name and More on the Man Himself

The competition for the prestigious Archie Kenneth Quaich will be held under the auspices of the Piobaireachd Society’s Music Committee this coming Saturday, May 22, at 9am BST (GMT+1). All members are welcome to tune in to the broadcast on Zoom. It will run throughout the day with the pipers playing ‘live’ from their chosen venue. There are 23 entrants and each has submitted two tunes. The judges, Society members Iain Speirs and…

Review – The Shasta Collection of Modern Piobaireachd

On being asked to review this recent publication I realised that I have stated many times in recent years that I am a supporter of modern piobaireachd composition. With further reflection the realisation dawned that many of the tunes in my repertoire I considered modern were approaching fifty years of age. I was facing an opportunity to take a look at much more recent compositions. The book reproduces the scores…

Ten Years After: The World Pipe Band Championships, Glasgow, August 2011 – Part 1

There won’t be a Worlds this summer for the second year in a row. The international pipe band community is in need of a fix, a reminder of the excitement, the adrenaline and maybe the disappointment of the biggest day in the pipe band calendar. PP staff have trawled the archives for pictures and comment from the Championship from ten years ago, the place Glasgow Green. How times fly. Here…

Editor’s Notebook: Audience Restrictions Lifted/ Talk Piobaireachd/ Duncan Watson/ Tryst Supergroup

Anyone thinking about putting on a ‘live’ piping event should consider the following positive guidelines from Scotland’s administrators: Level 2 of covid restrictions begins on Monday May 17, Level 1 from ‘early June’ and Level 0 in ‘later June’. What this means in audience numbers is as follows: If the will is there, there is no official impediment to running a piping or pipe band competition this summer. Reader Ian…

RSPBA in ‘Sound’ Financial Position Despite Fall in Revenue – Auditor Agrees Accounts

We conclude our final report taken from the RSPBA’s 2021 AGM Order Paper. The AGM was held last March online. The Association accounts show a fall in income following the cancellation of all major championsips in 2020. This was offset by the savings in expenditure and Government grant assistance. In 2019 the Worlds generated £254,195; income for this event for 2020 amounted to £47,487. Other Chanpionships raised £301,480 in 2019….