The late 1980s was a period of transition in piping. In 1987 the 78th Fraser Highlanders became the first overseas pipe band to win the World Pipe Band Championships and in 1988 Ottawa-born Amy Garson would be the first female invited to compete at the Glenfiddich. The 1988 Glenfiddich was […]
The 10 invitees to compete at the 2020 Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championships have been confirmed. The pipers who will take to the stage – and, in brackets, the number of times they have won the overall title – are: • Finlay Johnston (2)• Callum Beaumont • Jack Lee (2)• Roddy […]
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 […]
Finlay MacDonald, pictured, a member of staff at the National Piping Centre (NPC) for almost 20 years, has been appointed Artistic Director of this year’s Piping Live! Glasgow International Festival of Piping, the world’s largest bagpipe festival. MacDonald has been involved with the festival’s programming since its inception in 2003. […]
By Iain MacInnes (From the February 2020 Piping Times) Scotland’s musical roots run deep, and on the evidence of this new CD, have spread far. Recorded in Arlington in Washington State on the west coast of the USA, Westering Home features two distinctive musical strands: the Highland pipe tradition as […]
The National Piping Centre today begins the process to fill two leading roles within its business, that of Director of Piping and Director of the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland. The positions became vacant after the recent resignations of Roddy MacLeod and Alisdair MacLaren in the respective roles. The […]
The 2019 Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival generated over £2million (approximately US$2.67million for the city of Glasgow’s local economy, figures reveal. The figures indicate a modest increase from last year’s event, which generated £1.9 million (approximately US$2.5million) An economic impact report found that the 2019 event welcomed over 33,000 […]
By Stuart Letford I stood on the railway platform waiting for the train. My belly rumbled like a lion’s den. It was the postman’s fault for making me miss breakfast. He was early this morning. Despite this we had our usual intense and inspirational chat. We laughed, we argued. We […]
Grade 1 pipe majors wait in turn to receive their prizes at the British Pipe Band Championships in Paisley 2016. Inveraray won first prize that day, with Richard Parkes shown going to collect second prize, followed by Allen Tully, Chris Armstrong, Roddy MacLeod and Ryan Canning respectively.
By Roddy MacLeod MBE Welcome to Bagpipe.News! This is The National Piping Centre’s new information service for the world of piping. We hope that this service will be engaging, entertaining, educational and supportive. Our aspiration is to connect with individuals, bands, innovators, organisers, educators and all those who work towards […]
