Canada 150: the 15 Greatest Canadian Pipers & Drummers (deceased)
#11: William Barrie
William “Willie” Barrie had a massive impact on Canadian piping, particularly on the west coast Vancouver area. Up until his death in 2002, he was a tireless teacher of piobaireachd and one of the last direct links to the “Cameron” style of playing. A pupil of the great Robert Reid for many years, Barrie was only two generations of teaching removed from the famous Sandy Cameron, who taught John MacDougall Gillies, who in turn taught Reid. With his son, James, they produced Ancient Piobaireachd, two recordings of piobaireachd in the Cameron style, which remain some of the best examples of that approach to ceol mor.
Nice work! John Wilson published 3 collections of pipe music, the third being the Canadian Centenial collection…all three of which I continue to use and teach my students today…
Mike Baker
It is interesting that none of the excellent 15 selected musicians appear to be players who played predominantly for dancing. Today, we seem to be band players, solo competitors or piobaireachd pipers. Would there be any interest in a list of 150 ceilidh/dance pipers.