Archive
Not only will the annual Pipe-Major Donald MacLeod Memoria Invitational Solo Piping Competition feature eight top-flight contestants, but the pipes once owned by the John Morrison of Assynt House will be on hand and played during a break by Stuart Liddell. Liddell will join Callum Beaumont, Alasdair Henderson, Finlay Johnston, […]
We continue with the second installment of 10 “Castle Recordings” piobaireachd in our exclusive series of performances captured on reel-to-reel tape at Edinburgh Castle in the early 1960s by the late Captain John A. MacLellan MBE. “War or Peace” “The MacRaes’ March” “Corrienessan’s Salute” “In Praise of Morag” “Lament for […]
Luke Kenndey won the Jimmy McIntosh MBE Quaich for most aggregate points in the B-Grade events at the annual Duncan Johnstone Memorial Solo Piping Competition held at both National Piping Centre locations and organized by the Competing Pipers Association as an event especially for solo pipers graded B or C.
The Captain John A. MacLellan MBE Memorial Dinner & Recital Competition will see Callum Beaumont, Stuart Liddell, Ian K. MacDonald and Iain Speirs perform on Saturday, August 24th at the Waldorf-Atsoria – Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh for the black tie event run by the Eagle Pipers Society. According to the […]
“Showcasing a new direction with a heavily pop-influenced sound,” uber-creative piper and fun-loving piper Ross Miller of Linlithgow, Scotland, has released two new singles with and accompanying videos, the latest in his series of bringing high-quality Highland piping to the masses. Miller’s got a group of crack musicians accompanying him […]
The UK’s solo pipers graded B and C by the Competing Pipers’ Association will go at it in record numbers at both National Piping Centre locations in Glasgow with the annual staging of the Duncan Johnstone Memorial on Saturday, March 23rd. The CPA, which organizes the event in partnership with […]
The tiebreakers we use were made for a different era. Today, they make little sense, and, like so much in piping and drumming, they’re perpetually used either out of habit or sheer laziness.
The annual Scottish Pipers’ Association Solo Piping Competition has been a staple on the UK calendar since 1920. This year’s event will occur on April 6th at the National Piping Centre’s McPhater Street headquarters. Nine events will be held across all CPA grade levels, including an MSR for previous winners […]
He’s making the news a lot these days, so it’s another good reason to check in to hear how he’s feeling with all the accolades and milestones coming down on him. Does it point to retirement, or is there still more fuel in the tank?
Canterbury Caledonian Society successfully defended their title by winning the 2024 New Zealand Pipe Band Championship in excellent conditions at the two-day event. Celtic (Nelson) took the Grade 2 title. As is the custom in New Zealand, the full prize lists were not announced at the prize-giving ceremony.
The fourth event in the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s new eight-contest Solo Drumming Champion of Champions league is the second annual Pacific Rim Solo Drumming Championship, this year moving to ScotFestBC, also known as the British Columbia Highland Games on June 14th in Coquitlam, BC. The PacRim will also […]
He’s one of the most accomplished contributors in pipe band drumming history, and today Simon Fraser University announced that J. Reid Maxwell will be conferred with an honorary degree for his lifetime of service. The SFU Pipe Band leading-drummer will receive the honour at the university’s convocation ceremony in Burnaby, […]
We catch up with the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland’s Director, Steven Blake, Senior Drumming Instructor Grant Cassidy, and piper Ryan McCreadie, who also plays with reigning World Champions People Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia, to discuss the organization and its concert on April 14th in Perth.
The venerable Mackenzie Caledonian Pipe Band organization – affectionately known as “Mac-Cal” – is putting on a show by Willie McCallum, one of the most prize-winning Highland pipers in the history of the instrument, on April 26th at the Woodlands Hotel near Broughty Ferry, Scotland, the original home of the […]
After an absence since 2019, the memorable Toronto Indoor Games will finally return on March 30th at its familiar downtown Toronto location at Moss Park Armoury. The event’s staging was interrupted by the two-year pandemic crisis and various logistical issues, but the 2024 edition promises to provide a full slate […]
Ian Green, the founder and manager of the Celtic music record label Greentrax, died in Edinburgh on March 10, 2024, at the age of 90. From the 1980s onward, Greentrax captured almost all of the greatest pipe bands, solo pipers and even solo pipe band drummers of the era, becoming […]