Archive
There are few places on earth as Celtic music-infused as the Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, where bagpipes intermingle with fiddles, bodhrans, keyboards and all manner of stringed instruments pretty much wherever you go. The New Brunswick Piobaireachd Club was formed in February […]
City of Angeles of Los Angeles won both Grade 3 competitions in the top grade at the annual Scottish Fest at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa. The event is traditionally held over two days on the United States’ Memorial Day weekend.
Cameron Bonar of Surrey, British Columbia, won the World Amateur Champion of Champions Invitational held via Zoom in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP). The nine most successful amateur solo pipers of 2023-’24 were invited, even if they had been elevated to the adult or professional/open grade during that time.
The top prizes were split between Sandy Cameron (Premier/A-Grade Piobaireachd), Steven Leask (Open MSR), and Ben Duncan (Open Hornpipe & Jig) at the annual Atholl Gathering, held on the grounds of Blair Castle. Edinburgh’s Brodie Watson-Massey also had a great day, winning the B-Grade Piobaireachd and prizes in both Open light music events. Nearly 80 solo pipers competed.
Great Lakes of Cleveland, Ohio, won both the Grads 2 Medley and MSR events at the 55th Alma Highland Festival against two other bands. There were no entries in Grade 3. The weather was light in the morning but turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon.
We continue with the fifth installment of 10 “Castle Recordings” piobaireachds 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. “A Flame of Wrath for Squinting Patrick” “The Battle of Waterloo” “Castle Menzies” “The […]
Usually, a Grade 1 band headlines a concert, and a lower-grade group might be a supporting act, but on Saturday, May 25th, the Grade 4 and Grade 5 Hamilton Police Pipe Bands of Hamilton, Ontario, have top billing and the Grade 1 78th Fraser Highlanders will be in support. “Rise […]
The world of piping and drumming can be a strange and unusual place for non-piping/drumming parents of young kids who become involved with the art. As a child of a mother and father who knew nothing about the mysterious and exclusive club before allowing their boy to become involved, I now recognize how difficult it can be, even more so after teaching young pipers plunging into our pool of competition, decorum, and tradition.
The UK’s Sky Arts television channel is creating Battle of the Bagpipes, a three-part series that will begin on July 3rd. Pipers, pipe band drummers and pipe bands often bemoan the lack of attention their art and achievements receive from mainstream media, and Battle of the Bagpipes appears to recognize […]
The 161st Victoria Highland Games saw brilliant sunshine and perfect conditions in the afternoon at Topaz Park for Pacific Northwest pipers and drummers. Robert Malcolm Memorial 3 took the top competitive prize in the Grade 3 band competition. Alastair Lee of Surrey, British Columbia, won all three Open solo piping events, repeating his 2023 aggregate title, and Blair Brown won both Open solo snare drumming contests.
Campbell Naismith, the accomplished and well-known piper from San Diego, has published his seventh collection of music, this time a book dedicated to piobaireachd with his interpretation of the historic Compleat Theory of the Highland Bagpipe published by Joseph MacDonald in 1760. The Rising Sun Collection also showcases 24 piobaireachds […]
Until 2015, the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association published The Voice, a quarterly print magazine that reported on association activities and informative feature articles for its thousands of members. After a hiatus due to financial constraints, the organization is relaunching “The Voice” as a monthly podcast with regular features […]
After a successful trial run at the St. Louis Highland Games, the Midwest Pipe Band Association has decided to use audio adjudication for the rest of its sanctioned pipe band competitions in 2024, taking advantage of Competition Suite cloud-based software and thus becoming the first pipe band association in history […]
The weather was overcast, chilly and windy in the morning but bright and much warmer in the afternoon for the annual Saskatchewan Highland Gathering & Celtic Festival, held at the provincial capitol’s downtown Victoria Park. Seven bands competed, and St. Andrew’s Society of Winnipeg and Saskatoon Police Pipe Bands took the first prizes in the Grade 4 competition in which five bands competed, and the overall award went to St. Andrew’s Society of Winnipeg.
St. Laurence O’Toole of Dublin won the 2024 United Kingdom Championship, held at Ward Park. The contest was the first of the five major events of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s outdoor competition season. The association’s Northern Ireland branch was key in securing and running the event.
The May 18th weather forecast for the first major competition of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s 2024 season looks promising. Bangor, Northern Ireland, is predicted to have sunshine and a high of 19°C. Ten Grade 1 bands, the full complement from the UK and Ireland, will compete at Ward […]