By Stuart Letford for Bagpipe.news Pages from the 1921 Census in the United Kingdom (UK) were made available for the first time yesterday. Unfortunately, the pages only cover England and Wales. The pages that cover Scotland won’t be released until late this year due to “complications” as a result of […]
The solo piping competition organised by the Glasgow Uist and Barra Association normally kicks off the solo piping year. The 2020 competition was the 75th year of the contest. The competition didn’t take place in 2021 and it’s too early to say whether it will return in 2022. In the […]
A reader in North America has contacted us regarding the book, The Piobaireachd of Simon Fraser and about Fraser’s controversial theories on ceòl mòr. Simon Fraser had a remarkable piping background. He was a pupil of Charles MacArthur’s great grandson and his father had seemingly been a pupil of lain […]
Some years later the Scottish Pipers and Dancers Association formed and I was put forward as one of the committee. Also included were Pipe Major John MacKenzie (Big John), James Mclvor, Pipe Major George Ross and others. I forget the names of the dancers who were also on the committee […]
1919-1920 By Jeannie Campbell The competitions resumed in 1919. Advance news of the Argyllshire Gathering appeared in several newspapers during July and August that year. The events were the same as before, with three piobaireachd competitions, a march confined to those who had not won previously and a march for […]
1906-1908 By Jeannie Campbell After the resignations of the previous years, the remaining members continued the work of the Piobaireachd Society and produced a second book of six tunes in 1906. The six tunes in the book were set for the 1906 competitions and the rule was stated that, “No […]
By Thomas Pearston The photograph of four chanters, below, is a confirmation of the rise in pitch over the past 50 years. Chanter A is a chanter from the First World War, B is about the early 1940s and C is a modern chanter as played to-day. D is a […]
The Scottish Pipers’ Association (SPA) is to mark its centenary on January 10 – exactly 100 years since its founding in Glasgow – at The National Piping Centre Otago Street in Glasgow’s west end. All are invited. Distinguished guests are expected as well as performances from Tom Johnstone (President), Logan […]
Part 2 of Iain MacInnes’s 2000 John MacFadyen Lecture Competition is very much part and parcel of the piping culture here in Scotland, and its shaped not just the music, but also the style of performance. It all goes back to 1781, when the Highland Society of London started the […]
The first excerpt from Iain MacInnes’s John MacFadyen Lecture of spring 2000 entitled ‘The Ancient Martial Music’ Piobaireachd, ceòl mòr, is, I think we’d all agree, a very remarkable and distinctive music; music of the Gaelic speaking Highlands which has travelled, and has taken root in remarkable places, from Vancouver […]
