Harry: whozit judges, chanter banter, Biggar’s better

other accomplishments. When you don’t do that, then people wonder just who the heck these people are. And of course when you don’t know, you tend to assume they’re unqualified.

Harry’s been watching the “majors” with some interest, and the top bands seem to be in excellent form, and getting better each time out. If you can ignore the judging assignments and some glaring discrepancies in results between judges, the first three contests have been loaded with great sound and music from a number of bands, and it has to be exciting for all concerned. No doubt the annual, “Will anyone beat FMM?” question is already being asked at pubs round the world, and yer pal Harry has a tenner both ways on that one. Remember last year when the world’s was thrown a curveball at the second-last championship before the World’s, with Field Marshal Montgomery placing fourth – fourth?! – at the Europeans? Lots of blather about the end of that reign. Blather.

Great to see the new Book 16 of the Piobaireachd Society‘s Collection out, with the official launch in August at Piping Live. It looks like they’re continuing the antiquated tradition of having the Glasgow College of Piping as the sole distributor. Really?! C’mon PiobSoc. Time to spread things around. Your veep has even moved on or “retired” or something or other. And, my prediction for the 2017 set tunes: get set to purchase Book 16; these piobs will feature in the Gold Medal list, so get a head start today! In all seriousness, cool that there is a body propping up music that otherwise might vanish.

Speaking of solid bets, the last two seasons have seen a quiet but definitive move to new chanters for a lot of bands. Shepherd and G1 chanters are appearing in all kinds of bands, with even Simon Fraser University setting aside those trademark-sound Sinclairs. Evidently, it’s battle-stations after missing last year’s World’s list. Everybody loves a winner, and Harry does too. FMM and ScottishPower have been setting the standard for Shepherd sound in Harry’s view, and last year Inveraray jumped to the fore with a change from Sinclair to G1 chanters, so this year bands across the range are swapping to Shepherd and G1, and you’d have to bet there will be Christmas bonuses in a few shops this December. But really, could you blame anyone for wanting to sound like FMM, Shotts or Inveraray?

Now Harry’s going to talk about clowns, and not the scary ones wi’ the big red noses (piping judges), but that interesting sub-genre of comedy, the stand-up bagpipe comedian. North Americans are well used to the sounds and stories of “Johnny Bagpipes Johnston” and while he won’t win any big piping contests, he is clever and funny enough to get a laugh out of a piping crowd. Now, added to that mayhem, we have “Claus Reiss, the only bagpipe comedian in Europe.” This is motivation for Harry, who has always fancied a wee touring show. Harry thinks he and Henrietta might just bundle the grandkids and do a run of “Harry’s Follies” wherein he performs grandly the ancient tunes, waxes eloquently about the perils of judging relatives or mooningpeace officers from the band coach, followed by a few songs from Henrietta and the grandweans. Or, I’ll just call the show “Harry Louder: I Love a Laughie,” and add a few lasers. Oh, won’t ye please buy a ticket tae help a’body?

Edinburgh Fringe Festival, here I come! But I still want to hear from my loyal Harry-ites, so be sure to send me your scoop, dirt and droll plays on words. Don’t worry, I’ll keep your name out of it. Mum’s the word, as long as we can shout from the ramparts the latest and greatest stuff that’s almost too hot to print.