Gandy lovin’ it at MacDonalds’

Sleat, Skye, Scotland – June 5, 2015 – Bruce Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, picked up his first Clan Donald Quaich for piobaireachd at the 29th annual Donald MacDonald Invitational held at the Clan Donald Centre on the isle of Skye. It was Gandy’s first try at the prize.

Others competing for the single prize were Stuart Liddell, Inveraray, Scotland; Roddy MacLeod, Glasgow; Douglas Murray, Cupar, Scotland; and Neill Stewart, Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland.

He played “Glengarry’s March” for adjudicator Jack Taylor. The event calls for contestants to submit two settings of tunes from the Donald Macdonald Manuscript and have to play one, and are provided several weeks to prepare.

“This is important as it does take quite a bit of time to study the manuscripts, decide how you are going to approach the tune, and pay respect to the different technical challenges that we are generally not used to in these scores,” Gandy said. “Being invited to play was an honour and I loved the challenge of taking a tune I did not know that well and trying to put my own stamp of musical interpretation on it. To be awarded the ‘quaich’ was both overwhelming and very rewarding for performing against some of the best players around.”

In between piping performances, the audience enjoys others singing Gaelic songs. Angus MacDonald of Portree, Skye, served as the fear an tighe and provided notes on the tunes, plus some bits of history on Donald MacDonald and the clan and the area.

The contest is sponsored by the Clan Donald Trust.