By JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE • PART 5 • Nov/Dec 1923 On November 17th the Oban Times reported: “Noted Piper. There died in the Belford Hospital Fort William last week, Mr Alexander Cameron, an authority on pipe music, and himself a talented executants on the bagpipe. A Ross-shire man, he was for […]
1886/87 BY JEANNIE CAMPBELL MBE The 1886 Scottish Gathering was on June 26 at Stamford Bridge where according to the reports: “the ground basked in the summer sunshine and 3,000 people attended. During the day the band of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, under the direction of bandmaster J. Grant, […]
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 […]
Willie Gray (1883-1962) was one of the major figures of early 20th century piping. Most pipers today know his name through the well-known and ever popular 2/4 march, Pipe Major Willie Gray’s Farewell To The Glasgow Police. Composed by Pipe Major John MacDonald – Seonaidh Roidein – of South Uist […]
By Jeannie Campbell MBE In 1884 there was some doubt as to whether the Gathering would be held. The Oban Times of August 23 carried a letter from ‘Gillie Calum’ saying he had been watching the columns for the announcement of the Games – “so far nothing, are they to […]
Transcribed by Norman Matheson Angus MacPherson (1877-1976), a father figure in the piping world of his day, was one of the five sons of the renowned Malcolm MacPherson (Calum Piobair) who was piper to the MacPherson clan chief at Cluny Castle near Laggan. In 1898 Angus MacPherson, aged 21, became […]
RODERICK CANNON sent this article to the Piping Times in late 2014. It is an update on an article he had written elsewhere on the life and career of the legendary John MacDonald of Inverness, focussing on his personal and professional aspects rather than his music John MacDonald was born […]
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 […]
Place is important in music, and understanding the place that one is from, bides in, or looks to for inspiration, is a central part of traditional music in particular. It is with this in mind that I am going to ask for your help. But first, bear with me while […]
Roderick MacDonald was born on South Uist in 1901. He was a member of Glasgow City Police Pipe Band from 1923 to 1956. He served under two Pipe Majors, Willie Gray, then the famous John MacDonald, his brother. At the Argyllshire Gathering, Roderick won the March in 1928, the Strathspey […]
