Pipe makers, Hamish and Fin Moore, have launched a fundraising page on Indiegogo to make an album featuring some of the finest Scottish smallpipers playing Moore pipes in the key of C. There are 59 days left on the project, but it has already achieved the flexible goal of £10,000 […]
Tag: Allan MacDonald
Ian Green of Greentrax Recordings: embracing piping in all its forms
As Greentrax Recordings this week announced the upcoming July release of the new Kyle Warren album, Relentless, we take another look at a Piping Today interview with Ian Green of Greentrax. In this article Chris MacKenzie speaks to Ian about how he first got involved recording pipers and pipe bands, […]
Lowland & Border Pipers’ Society competition entries now open
Entries are open for this year’s annual bellows piping competition organised by the Lowland & Border Pipers’ Society (LBPS), and they have also announced a Piobaireachd Masterclass weekend with Allan MacDonald. The competition takes place on Saturday, April 9 at the Burgh Halls in the historical West Lothian town of […]
Allan MacDonald honoured at Scots Trad Awards / PPBSO AGM
Legendary piper, Allan MacDonald received the Hamish Henderson Services to Traditional Music Award at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards last night. Director of Piping at the National Piping Centre, Finlay MacDonald presented MacDonald with his award. Allan MacDonald [pictured], a former lecturer on the Scottish Music course at the Royal Scottish Academy […]
Committee changes / Recognition for Allan MacDonald / An appetite for piping / New details for Hamish / Archie Kenneth Quaich / Donald Drone
Dr. Lindsay Davidson has joined the committee of the Lowland & Border Pipers’ Society. Lindsay replaces Anne Duncan who served on the committee for many years. Lindsay is a former Town Piper of Linlithgow and was chairman of the Piping and Drumming Qualification Board from 2015-2017. He has composed many […]
Stories of the Tunes – Lament for Alasdair Dearg MacDonell of Glengarry
The subject of this attractive little tune was the eldest son of Donald MacDonald of Glengarry (‘Donald of Laggan’, the seventh chief of this powerful branch of Clan Donald) and Margaret MacDonald of Clan Ranald. Donald was aged 16 when Alasdair was born, in 1559 on Lewis. Alasdair’s epithet of […]
Hamish Moore: It might lead to dancing
I wonder if you have ever heard the old joke – “Why is the Free Kirk so opposed to sex before marriage?” Answer – “Because it might lead to dancing.” I am first going to make the assumption that everyone reading this regards the pipes as a musical instrument and […]
A 2021 season? / LBPS competition / Tony Crease tribute
Things look increasingly bleak for hopes of a return to a normal competition season this year, whether in the pipe band world or in solo piping. It’s only mid-January yet several major non-piping outdoor music events have already been cancelled, including, yesterday, the massive pop music festival held at Glastonbury […]
‘Fhuair mi Pog’ by Margaret Stewart and Allan MacDonald
Fhuair mi Pòg by Margaret Stewart and Allan MacDonald (Greentrax Recordings Limited CDTRAX 132). By Roderick D. Cannon. The title track begins with Allan MacDonald playing the song version of the famous piobaireachd (I Got a Kiss of the King’s Hand) on the full Highland bagpipe; then as the sound […]
Stuart Letford: The new piping normal
“We will not succeed in navigating the complex environment of the future by peering relentlessly into a rear view mirror. To do so, we would be out of our minds.” – Ken Robinson, Out of Our Minds (Capstone, 2001). Like most of you, I have now spent eight weeks self-isolating. […]