News
August 30, 2021

Roddy MacLeod to showcase Alex MacIver tunes at October 1st recital

The community hall in Balallan, Scotland, will be the scene for an October 1st recital by Roddy MacLeod, who will play homage to the Kinloch piper, teacher and composer, Alex MacIver.

The 7:30 pm, October 1st, recital continues the series of events put on by the Lewis & Harris Piping Society that had been hiatus due to the pandemic.

MacIver’s compositions are not well known to most, but his 30-odd tunes were compiled by Hector Russell after McIver’s death in 1989, and subsequently donated to the Kinloch Historical Society for future public availability.

Alex MacIver

A few of MacIver’s compositions can be purchased at Jack Lee’s BagpipeMusic.com site, including the marches “Dr. Alexander S. Bisset of Islay” and “Pipe-Major Donald MacLeod’s Farewell to Fort George.”

Roddy MacLeod has strong family connections with Kinloch, so the society asked him to include several MacIver tunes in his performance.

Roddy MacLeod [Photo Derek Maxwell]
According to background provided by the Lewis & Harris Piping Society, MacIver born in Glasgow, the son of John MacIver (Iain Mhurachaidh) and Catherine MacKenzie (Catriona Mhurachaidh Sheorais). Following his military service in India in 1947, he joined the 214th Boys Brigade as pipe tutor, and taught generations of pipers, including Iain MacLellan of the Glasgow/Strathclyde Police Pipe Band. MacIver was president of the Glasgow Lewis & Harris Association from 1958 to 1961.

Young local piper John Angus Graham will open the recital playing a set of pipes that belonged to his grand uncle, John MacDonald, known as “An Toad,” who served in the Camerons in World War II.

For his part, Roddy MacLeod is almost certain to play a set from his range of RJM Bagpipes launched earlier this year.

In addition to its series of recitals, the Lewis & Harris Piping Society also puts on the annual P-M Donald MacLeod Memorial Solo Piping Competition in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.

 


Related

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