Inspiration comes from many places. For G. S. MacLennan, for exampe, it was a dripping tap that inspired him to create The Little Cascade. For Donald MacLeod, it was seemingly the sound of some pipers throwing up on a bus returning from a pipe band competition that lay behind his […]
After last week’s post on Andrew Pitkeathly appeared, we were contacted by quite a number of readers who wrote of their fond memories of this unassuming piping legend. One of them, Graham Adams from Australia, was a pupil of Andrew’s father, Bob for many years and he came to know […]
The altpibroch website, which has lain dormant since the death of ceòl mòr scholar J. David Hester, has been rebranded and relaunched as The Pibroch Network. The website curates a network of digital resources devoted to the learning, teaching, performance and wider public appreciation of pibroch. Known as The Alt […]
In the second part of the 2017 College of Piping Lecture, ALAN FORBES talked about the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society. At the start of Alan’s presentation, the audience was treated to a performance of Roddy Campbell’s Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society by Andrew Frater, Robert Frater and John Frater. The Scottish […]
This year’s Duncan Johnstone Memorial Piping Competition will go ahead in person on Saturday, March 12, This popular competition is run jointly by the Competing Pipers’ Association (CPA) and the National Piping Centre. B Grade contests will be held at The National Piping Centre’s campus in McPhater Street while C […]
The first leg of the Grade 1 competition at year’s Breton pipe band championship has been cancelled. Organisers, Bodadeg ar Sonerion, cite the ongoing COVID-19 situation in France as the reason. The competition was due to take place in Nantes on February 13. The fate of other grades will be decided […]
The 2017 College of Piping Lecture, held at the Birnam Hotel on the night before that year’s Piobaireachd Society conference, considered the role and relevance of piping organisations today. Two case studies – both based in Edinburgh, Scotland – were selected. Alan Forbes of the Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society spoke […]
By Alastair MacMillan One of the features I enjoy reading on Bagpipe.news is the Stories of the Tunes series. One article that took my eye recently was the one about the reel, The Black Mill – or Muillean Dubh in Gaelic – a two-part reel that remains popular with pipers. […]
Alex Duncan, the talented piper and son of pipe band legends Ian and Chris Duncan, had “sky-high levels” of cadmium in his body when he died aged 26 in September 2020. A post mortem revealed dangerously high levels of cadmium in his urine with his kidneys damaged by the toxic […]
Celtic Connections intends to run a ‘hybrid’ online version of the festival. The news comes one week after the festival was forced to cancel most of its in-person shows due to ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 safety measures in Scotland. A new programme will be published next week. Performances will be […]
