Archive
The Clan Donald Trust for the Gaelic Performing Arts is adding to its already long list of sponsored piobaireachd competitions with the Charles MacArthur Memorial Prize for Piobaireachd at this year’s Isle of Skye Highland Games on August 5th I Portree. This brings the organization’s collective prize money put up […]
“Lament for Captain MacDougall,” “Lament for Pipe-Major Hugh Fraser,” “Lament for the Duke of Hamilton,” “MacKenzie of Gairloch’s Salute,” “Prince Charles’ Lament,” “Salute to the MacCrimmon Cairn at Borreraig,” and “You’re Welcome, Ewen Lochiel” are the latest additions to the exclusive series of recordings by Captain John MacLellan MBE, with an introduction by Colin MacLellan.
Bill Livingstone, one of the most influential Highland pipers in history, died in Whitby, Ontario, on February 22, 2025, a month before his eighty-third birthday. A man of firsts – the first pipe-major to lead a non-Scottish band to a Grade 1 World Championship title, the first North American piper […]
With first prizes in both events, Finlay Johnston of Glasgow was the easy winner of the third annual Ardmore Cup Invitational Solo Piping Competition held at St. Declan’s Village Hall.
Liam Nunes of Virginia investigates the effect of World War II on the Highland pipe and pipe bands. His discoveries and conclusions are illuminating.
The Eagle Pipers Society has confirmed that the Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Dinner & Recital Competetion will return to the Waldorf-Astoria Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh on Saturday, August 3oth. The annual competition invites four world-class pipers to the event. Each is assigned a piobaireachd composed by, or closely […]
Mike Huddle of New Brighton, Minnesota, won the 2025 Skye K. Richendrfer Challenge Cup for novice piobaireachd, held at Macalester College, the contest’s namesake’s alma mater.
The 2025 New Zealand Championships will feature 57 bands overall, including six in Grade 1, 17 in Grade 4B, and 12 in Juvenile, making it possibly the second-largest band contest in the world outside of Scotland. This year’s “Nationals” are in Invercargill, New Zealand, on March 7 and 8. Several […]
At the end of 2024, the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association embarked on a project to rate its panel of approximately 90 judges into A and B categories. The leaders of the world’s largest piping and drumming association by geography said they were responding to repeated requests from members […]
A brief conversation with Helen Urquhart, Head of Events with the National Piping Centre and manager of the Balvenie Medal, on the nomination and award process for the award for selfless and unstinting service to the piping world.
Jamie Hawke has announced his plan to step down as pipe-major of Grade 1 Canterbury Caledonian of Christchurch after the New Zealand competition season in March. Hawke has held the post since 2017, when he succeeded his father, Richard Hawke, in the role. Under the younger Hawke, the band has […]
Some pipers are wedded to ceol mor (and if you don’t know what ceol mor is, you can stop reading now), and some families are even made by piobaireachd. Murray and Patricia Henderson are both legends of piping. Both will teach at a special seminar for pipers of all abilities […]
What prompted Donald Roy MacCrimmon to compose this beloved piob? Was it a fair and bonnie Highland lass who spurned his advances? Or maybe he wooed a woman playing it at the door of her shieling at Borreraig? Well, neither were the beneficiaries of this dulcet bagpipe love song. Not even close.
Following the February 5th departure of Grade 1 Police Scotland& Federation’s Leading-Drummer David Henderson and several members of the band’s drum section to Grade 1 Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia, we received the following open letter opinion piece from Police Scotland & Federation Pipe-Major Ewan Henderson.
A set of pipes, accompanying pipe chanters, and original pipe case purportedly owned and played by the great Robert Reid have sold at auction in Glasgow for £7500. Including commissions and ancillary charges, the total price will be around £10,000, or nearly $18,000. The pipes are believed to have been […]
Last week, the Grade 1 Police Scotland & Federation Pipe Band of Glasgow and the pipe band world at large were surprised by the sudden departure of Lead-Drummer David Henderson and several members of the drum section for the Grade 1 Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia. The move has left the […]