Manawatu releases new recording, will return to World’s

Every time New Zealand’s Grade 1 Manawatu Scottish Pipe Band attends the World Championships every member travels more than 12,000 miles, and thus Twelve Thousand Miles is the title of the band’s new recording.

 

The CD will be released in the northern hemisphere this spring, according to Pipe-Major Stewart MacKenzie, and is the follow-up to the band’s positively received 2003 CD, The Calling.

 

“Twelve Thousand Miles pretty much sums us up,” MacKenzie said. “It’s the distance between New Zealand and Scotland and the distance our ancestors travelled all those years ago, and how far the band must now travel in return to compete against the World’s best. It also represents the geographic spread of the band’s membership across the globe.”

 

MacKenzie also confirmed the band’s plan to travel once again to the World’s, after having to miss last year’s event.

 

He described the recording as “diverse,” saying that several tracks are composed by band members. “We’ve also looked to push the envelope on a few tracks, including the use of a ‘baritone’ bagpipe for recording tunes from outside the Celtic idiom.”

 

The band recently suffered a setback when it was knocked off its near-decade-long place as New Zealand Champions, when Auckland & District took the crown in March of this year.

 

“We’re philosophical after coming runner-up at the New Zealand Championships,” MacKenzie added. “Auckland & District played very well and it’s apparent that the overall Grade 1 standard is improving in New Zealand, which is good to see.

 

pipes|drums readers can download a sample track from the new Manawatu CD here.