Fourth ANAPBA Meeting January 10-12

The fourth annual summit of the Alliance of North American Pipe Band Associations (ANAPBA) will be held from January 10 to 12, hosted by the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association (EUSPBA) in Atlanta, Georgia, in the warm and sunny U.S. south.

The session is the annual meeting of the organization, which comprises 10 piping and drumming associations and societies from across North America:

Also attending will be Ian Embelton, Executive Officer of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association. This is the first time that the RSPBA has sent a representative to the ANAPBA summit.

ANAPBA representatives from the EUSPBA and BCPA reportedly held a meeting with the RSPBA in Glasgow on August 18 last year. Details of the meeting are not known.

While the ANAPBA was quiet in 2002, relative to previous years, some anticipate that the 2003 summit will be a more controversial affair, with some particpating organizations looking for more tangible meaning from the group.

One of the more contentious issues on the table will reportedly be the subject of a unified set of criteria for judges in North America. While some laud the spirit of the notion, others feel that ANAPBA’s member associations are at far different levels of quality, experience, and overall evolution, and thus such unification could be impractical.

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