Archive
Greg Wilson of Tai Tapu, New Zealand, won the 2025 New Zealand Open Solo Piping Championship at the Turakina Highland Games, held for the 160th time, making it one of the piping and drumming world’s longest-running events. Wilson won the Piobaireachd and Hornpipe & Jig, while Auckland’s Liam Kernaghan won the March and Strathspey & Reel to finish overall runner-up.
The Sonerion Confederation, which governs bagads in Brittany, has cancelled all 2025 championship competitions, citing “major financial and organizational challenges.” “Sonerion has taken the difficult but necessary decision to pause the championship starting this summer,” the organization announced (translated from the French). “This step should allow us to adapt our […]
In Part 4, Hutcheon goes back to discuss her earliest days with Polkemmet Colliery under Pipe-Major Johnny Barnes and Pipe-Major Robert Mathieson in the 1980s, followed by one year (1987) under the legendary Ronnie Lawrie, and in 1988 as pipe-sergeant with Pipe-Major Davey Barnes. Polkemmet would win major championships and come second in the World’s before Hutcheon departed for, once again, Shotts & Dykehead, now led by Mathieson and Lead-Drummer Jim Kilpatrick.
We continue our conversation with recently-elected Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands’ Association President Liam Kernaghan, one of the youngest and most accomplished association leaders in history. In Part 1, Kernaghan discussed the RNZPBA’s legacy and the positive state and trajectory his predecessor, Iain Blakeley, created for the Kiwi scene in […]
Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe-Major Matt Wilson has appointed Ben Duncan the band’s pipe-sergeant, completing the leadership team with Lead-Drummer Willie Glenholmes. An Edinburgh native and resident, Duncan has been a member of Field Marshal Montgomery since 2022 and is one of the world’s top competitive solo pipers. “I am humbled […]
After an unsuccessful search for a new lead-drummer, the Grade 1 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) of Halifax, Nova Scotia, have decided to go on hiatus for the 2025 competition year “It is disappointing to announce that the band board and membership have agreed that the main option for us currently […]
At the Kansas City Marriott-Country Club Plaza Grand Ballroom, Alastair Lee of Surrey, British Columbia, was the aggregate winner across the two Gold Medal events to win the overall trophy in the annual Winter Storm Professional Solo Piping competitions. Washington, DC’s Andrew Donlon won the Gold Medal Piobaireachd prize, while Lee won the Light Music Gold Medal.
“Come along prepared to hold us to account” is a core message in Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands’ Association President Liam Kernaghan’s invitation to an open Town Hall to introduce RNZPBA members to their new board of directors, in his first major leadership initiative after two weeks in the role. […]
The Pacific Rim Solo Drumming Championship will return to British Columbia on March 8th at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby this year. The contest is run by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association and presented by the British Columbia Pipers Association as part of the RSPBA’s eight-contest Champion of Champions […]
We check in with Liam Kernaghan only a few weeks after starting his tenure as president of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Bands’ Association.
This installment includes the piobaireachds “Beloved Scotland,” “The Bicker,” “My Dearest On Earth, Give Me Your Kiss,” and “The Munros’ Salute.”
“The Drunken Man from Kalabakan” is celebrated Highland piping recording artist Ross Miller’s newest musical creation, combining “The Drunken Piper,” Pipe-Major Angus MacDonald’s “Kalabakan” and “Borneo,” and “The Man from Glengarry” by D.C. Mather into what he promises will provide “excitement aplenty” when it’s released on January 24th on major […]
Responding to the “repeated proposals by the membership at multiple recent annual general meetings,” the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association’s Music Board is embarking on a system to create A and B designations for existing and future members of its adjudication panel. The proposed approach and details on how […]
Glasgow – January 11, 2025 – The Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) kicked off its year with an in-person event at the National Piping Centre’s Otago Street premises. Craig Turnbull, Donald Morrison and Anthony MacLachlan were the overall winners in the Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 […]
The Pipe-Major Donald MacLeod Memorial Invitational Solo Piping Competitions will return to Stornoway in Scotland’s Western Isles on Thursday, March 27th (junior events), and Friday, March 28th (senior events) at the Caladh Inn. The event will be the 29th running of the competition; started in 1994 and has been held […]
In Part 3, she discusses the move to Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia under Pipe-Major Tom McAllister and Leading-Drummer Alex Duthart, more challenges as being one of only two female Grade 1 band players.