Liddell, Shotts and May spotlight music of both Peter MacLeods Feb. 13 in Airdrie

The name “Peter R. MacLeod” might not be among the first to come to mind when thinking of the greatest composers of Highland pipe music, but Connor Jardine, Cameron May, and Dan Nevans are out to change that.

The three Scotland-based pipers are putting together the inaugural Peter MacLeod Memorial Recital on Friday, February 13th, at the Airdrie Working Men’s Social Club in Airdrie, Scotland, featuring Stuart Liddell, a Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia quartet, and May, an event that pays homage to the music of both Peter R. MacLeod Sr. (1879-1965) and his son, Peter R. MacLeod Jr. (1916-1972).

Each Peter MacLeod made some of the most creative and well-played tunes of the 20th century, including “John Morrison, Assynt House,” “Major David Manson,” “Donald MacLean,” “Pipe-Major Willie MacLean,” “Murdo MacLeod,” “Hugh Kennedy, BSc,” “The Conundrum,” and “Dr. E.G. MacKinnon” by Peter Sr., and, by Peter Jr., “Ballochyle,” “The Loch Ness Monster,” “The Blue Lagoon,” “Dora MacLeod” and “Inspector Donald Campbell (Ness).”

Father and son reportedly collaborated to compose the great reel, “Arnish Light,” which has seen a surge in popularity among solo pipers in recent years.

Jardine, May and Nevans have been working on The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) Pipe Music Collection, tunes composed by members of the regiment and from the Lanarkshire region, including those of the Peter MacLeods.

“The book’s just one part of a wider project to promote piping and drumming in Lanarkshire,” Jardine said. “I find Lanarkshire can be quite overlooked in the piping world, so we want to organize events in the county, one of these being an annual recital where we invite a Glenfiddich-level player to perform.”

Peter MacLeod Sr.’s creative music, in particular, was considered ahead of its time. The story that he wrote “The Conundrum,” with its peculiar and unorthodox off-beat accents, because his prosthetic leg (after a shipyard mishap in the 1920s) caused him to walk with a pronounced limp, is apparently apocryphal. Nonetheless, the composition is singularly creative.

“I think the MacLeods have been quite overlooked in modern times,” Jardine added. “There are quite a few people who think Peter MacLeod was one person, and I’ve also seen their tunes with the composer assigned to ‘Trad.’ We felt that hosting the recital as an annual Memorial recital was a good way to keep their memory alive and promote their music to the current generation.”

Inspired by the year-long celebration of the life and music of John “Jock” McLellan of Dunoon in 2025, the three pipers hope to do something similar in 2028, the 150th year since Peter MacLeod Sr.’s birth.

Tickets for the February 13th event are £20 (£15 for students, under-21s, and those 65 and older) and are on sale online.