Archive

St. Andrews of Queensland was the big winner at the 119th MacLean Highland Gathering at the MacLean showgrounds in the small Scottish-heritage town of Maclean in Northern New South Wales, one of the largest gatherings in Australia. It was a full weekend of pipe band and solo piping competitions, Highland dancing, heavy events and a famous street ceilidh.

Greg Wilson of Tai Tapu, New Zealand, and Palmerston North, New Zealand’s Stuart Easton were the big winners at the 72nd Hastings Highland Games, where more than 100 solo pipers from across New Zealand and Australia competed.

In Part 1 of the Pipes|drums Interview with Mike Cusack, the greatest competitive piper in American history talked about his earliest years learning the instrument. In Part 2, Cusack discusses his relationship with John MacFadyen in greater detail and his experience as a 15-year-old living in Glasgow with the master piper, attending Eastwood High School, […]

Less than five months’ time is left before pipe bands converge on Glasgow in August for the week of the World Pipe Band Championships. This year, there’s a new wrinkle with the European Championships on Sunday, August 11th. It’s a rare opportunity to attend two RSPBA major contests in the […]

“The goal is to create a successful platform to build on for the future,” said Ross Davison, co-leader with fellow Ontario-based piper Tyler Bridge about the new Ontario Youth Pipe Band (OYPB), formally announced by the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario. Inspired by the 20-year success of the National […]

Kenny MacLeod is one of few pipers in history to have competed playing a bagpipe they made. At the annual indoor competitions put on by the Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway branch of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, MacLeod joined the likes of John Ban MacKenzie, Robert Reid, Peter Henderson, Brian Donaldson and Jack Lee as he emerged the winner of of the Adult category after a 30-year hiatus from competition.

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.