By Lt. Col. D. J. S. Murray In the year 2000 there was published Dr William Donaldson’s seminal The Highland Pipe and Scottish Society, a well written, well researched and well sourced book which one thought would have been well received by the serious piping fraternity. The contrary was the […]
By Archie MacLean My father, John MacLean, was born in the solitary house on the small tidal island of Kirkibost, North Uist, where his father, Angus, was the herdsman. My father’s birth certificate shows his birth date as April 23, 1900. There was no doctor present at the birth (not […]
By Captain John MacLellan The year 1781 has much more significance to piping than the fact that it was the first time that a properly organised competition for ceòl mòr was held. As to the past, we can only surmise that competitions were held – none are on record. Apart […]
While clearing out my garage last month I stumbled across two boxes. Each was packed with VHS video cassettes – remember them? – of various films and comedies over the years. Mostly from the 1970s and 80s, of course. There were three piping tapes in the box: MacKinnon Productions’ West […]
Another summer passed and some regrets at having to return home By Malcolm McRae The last day of August saw Dugald MacNeill and me judging the Piobaireachd event at the Scottish Pipers’ Association Competition at the College of Piping in Glasgow. The new recital auditorium is an ideal venue for […]
Round the games in late summer and yet more interminable tuning … we continue with Senior Judge, Malcolm McRae’s diary as he adjudicated at various highland games around Scotland in 2008. By Malcolm McRae Into August, and Aboyne was a day of showers and little sunshine. Ronald Clark, Norman Matheson […]
In the summer of 2008, Senior Judge Malcolm McRae recorded his thoughts as he adjudicated at various highland games around Scotland that year. His diary was serialised in the Piping Times. A judge’s ramblings – my trip around the games in July 2008 By Malcolm McRae What a privilege it […]
Today we look at a tune that is quite often the first piobaireachd most of us will learn. It is a straightforward yet musical tune in the Primary classification. A little known snippet of information is that the man for whom the tune was named was the inventor of the […]
The Modder River is a tributary of the Riet River that forms part of the border between the Northern Cape and the Free State provinces of South Africa. On November 21, 1899 the river’s banks were the scenes of heavy fighting in the beginning of the Second Boer War (from […]
In 2010, renowned pipe maker and restorer, Blue MacMurchie of West Calder, Scotland, was asked to refurbish a set of pipes that belonged to a solider who was killed playing them just before the Great War ended. Blue wrote the following account in the November 2010 Piping Times: By Blue […]
