From the January 2010 « Emerald Society of the Boston Police:

Battle of the Bagpipe Bands

“February 27th will be the date of the first annual ‘Battle of the Bagpipe Bands’ from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at the St Nectarius Church hall across the street from 10 Birch Street. The bands will be dressing and lining up at our hall and marching across the street to compete. After the competition we will be hosting an after party from about 7:00 pm to midnight. Mark this date in your calendar. We are looking to have between ten to fifteen bands competing. This will be an early start to St. Patrick’s Day. It will be a great way for the entire family to celebrate their Celtic roots. More details will be in the next newsletter and in some of the local publications as well.”

(Via www.bpdemeraldsociety.com – Read Full Article.)

The Pipes of Christmas

Dec. 19-20, 2009

Tickets are now on sale for the 2009 edition of “The Pipes of Christmas.” The Celtic Christmas classic will celebrate its eleventh season with performances in New York and New Jersey this December.

NEW JERSEY CONCERT – SAT. DEC 19

Two concerts are scheduled for 2PM and 8PM on Saturday, December 19 at Central Presbyterian Church located at 70 Maple Street in Summit, NJ.

NYC CONCERT – SUN. DEC 20

The “Pipes” will also return to New York City on Sunday, December 20 at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, located at 921 Madison Avenue (at 73rd Street). The Manhattan concert begins at 2:30 PM.

The concert presents the music of Christmas accompanied by a selection of readings taken from Scripture and the Celtic literature of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Featured performers include Andrew Weir from the film “Braveheart,” uilleann piper Christopher Layer, three-time New Englad fiddle champion Paul Woodiel, the Solid Brass ensemble, Scottish harpist Jennifer Port, and the Grade III Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial Pipe Band of Redlands, CA.

Order Tickets Now

General admission tickets for the NJ concert are $50. Tickets for the NYC concert are $60.

Tickets for all performances are available via mail order. A downloadable ticket order form can be found on the concert’s website at www.pipesofchristmas.com.

Tickets for the NY concert may also be purchased online at www.smarttix.com or by phone at (212) 868-4444 or by mail order.

Premium VIP seats are available at both venues through membership in the “Friends of the Pipes of Christmas.”

About “The Pipes of Christmas”

Since making its debut in 1999, “The Pipes of Christmas” has played to standing room only audiences. Given the popularity of the program, a second concert was added in 2001 to accommodate the high-demand for tickets.

That same year, the concert began an award-winning partnership with HomeTowne Television by broadcasting concert highlights on Christmas Eve to an estimated 40,000 cable subscribers. Four productions have received the prestigious Telly Award for television production excellence.

Now a cherished holiday institution, the concert has provided audiences with a stirring and reverent celebration of the Christmas season and the Celtic spirit. Audience-goers return year after year to experience the program, many reporting that the Pipes of Christmas has become part of their family’s annual holiday traditions.

Piping Scholarships

Proceeds from the concert help fund three annual music scholarships. The Alex Currie Memorial Scholarship for Bagpipe was created in honor of the famed Canadian piper and is administered by the Gaelic College in Nova Scotia. An additional piping scholarship – The Pipe Major Kevin Ray Blandford Scholarship – is awarded annually by the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.

FLYER (PDF FORMAT) of EVENT

“The Redlands Community Music Association will present ‘A Celtic Christmas’ featuring Highland Way and the >Kevin R. Blandford Memorial Pipe Band.

This third Celtic Christmas event will focus on the music of Scotland and will also pay tribute to Scotland’s beloved poet Robert Burns.

Celtic music and dance will ring in the joy of the season for an evening performance at Redlands High School Clock Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and for a matinee performance on Sunday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m.

Scotland native Brian Caldwell of Glasgow leads a musical journey through traditional and modern Celtic melodies.

Rounding out the evening will be the Kevin R. Blandford Memorial Pipe Band rousing the audience with soul stirring sounds of the Scottish bagpipes.

Preferred seating is $40 and general seating is $20. Children 12 and under will be admitted free with adults in general seating.

To purchase tickets please visit the RCMA website at www.redlandsbowl.org or call the Bowl Office at 793-7316.”

(Via www.newsmirror.net – Read Full Article.)

SEAN FOLSOM-Cornemuse Bourbonais, French Bagpipes from BB Simmons on Vimeo.

Bagpipers in Edinburgh, Scotland on Vimeo:

Bagpipers in Edinburgh, Scotland from John Naughton on Vimeo.

Johnny “Bagpipes” Johnston performs in Timmins – from Timmins Daily Press – Ontario, CA:

“Johnny ‘Bagpipes” Johnston shared a laugh with a packed auditorium at École secondaire catholique Thériault on Saturday.

He entertained the crowd with his humour and by playing everything from the Star Wars theme to AC/DC. Proceeds from his show benefited the Timmins Police Pipes & Drums and the host committee of the 2010 Canadian Police Curling Championships which are being played in Timmins next April.”

( View Video of Johnny Bagpipe.)

Capital First For National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland Bringing together some of Scotland’s most talented young musicians, the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland will perform a brand new show on 28th November at Edinburgh’s recently refurbished Usher Hall.

Entitled the ‘Dragon’s Lair‘, the performance will feature the band’s signature sound, giving fans a chance to see one of the most dynamic and exciting pipe bands in Scotland and introducing them to world class musicians at the beginning of their careers.

Dragon’s Lair will mark the first time the band has performed in Edinburgh since its inception in 2002 and will round off a spectacular year for the NYPBoS, which has seen them play for HRH Prince Charles at the National Piping Centre as well as concerts across the globe from Skye to Germany.

The band also teamed up with world famous piper, Carlos Nunez at the Chihuahua Festival in Mexico in 2007 and will again feature with him at Celtic Connections 2010.

Made up of the best young pipers and drummers from across Scotland, including 13 year-old Connor Sinclair, personal piper to both Sir Sean Connery and First Minister Alex Salmond, NYPBoS provides unique development opportunities for its young members who are aged from 10 to 25 and an exceptional musical experience for its audiences.

With many of its members already competing at the highest level with some of the world’s most successful pipe bands, this will be an unmissable performance. Alisdair McLaren, Director of the NYPB’S commented, “This concert will showcase the phenomenal talent of some of Scotland’s most exciting young performers. The Dragon’s Lair is a brand new concert for the band incorporating a fantastic blend of traditional and contemporary music.

The fusion of pipes and drums with electric guitar, keyboard synthesizer, stand up bass, fiddle and drum kit pushes the boundaries of the stereotypical pipe band concert making the band possibly one of the most entertaining concert bands to see”.

Tickets, priced from £10 are on sale now and are available from www.usherhall.co.uk on 0131 228 1153, or in person from the Usher Hall box office on Lothian Road.

: Music & Concerts – Tampa Bay Newspapers: “The Dunedin Celtic Festival is Saturday, Nov. 21, noon to 9:30 p.m., at Highlander Park, Dunedin Community Center, 1920 Pinehurst Road.

Hear plenty of Celtic music with both an afternoon and evening show scheduled. The event also will feature food, drink and Celtic craft vendors along with a family-friendly atmosphere.

This year’s featured Celtic rock bands will include Seven Nations, Poor Angus and Lucid Druid.

A band once featured on a CNN Worldbeat special, Seven Nations will take time from their busy touring schedule to revisit Dunedin for this year’s Celtic Festival. Touring since 1994, Seven Nations has been known to spend up to 301 days a year on the road.

Along with festivals and regular concerts, the band has landed some high-profile gigs including playing for the Torch Lighting Ceremony at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2002; performing for the opening ceremony of the New York Marathon in 2001; and taking part in several symphony shows, including a performance with the Grammy-award winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

The name Seven Nations refers to the seven nations of the Celtic world, now known as Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Gallaecia.
“

(Via TB Weekly.)

Going on a Scottish tour – Entertainment: “Just before one o’clock the afternoon of November 11 people started to trickle into the Campus Union Ballroom for a lesson in Irish and Scottish heritage. Standing at the front of the room was a man in, drum roll please, a skirt. Actually his ’skirt’ is really what is called a kilt or a tartan. It represents either the clan the person is from or the country; in this case he told the crowd it was the national tartan of Scotland.

Scott Beach was dressed in a Scottish kilt, differing from a skirt because of the knife he had tucked into his sock called a Sgian Dubh, meaning black knife in Gaelic, and tall socks made for him by his grandmother with the national symbol of Scotland, the Thistle, on them, and Ghillie Brogue shoes.”

Scott Beach on Bagpiper.Com

Scott Beach Website

(Via enmuthechase.)

Around the block 111209 – The Augusta Chronicle: “An Irish evening

An Evening of Irish Music and Storytelling with Silent Auction Featuring Solstice will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 1501 Monte Sano Ave.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Augusta State University 2010 Ireland Study Abroad Program. Lillie Morris will be performing on the fiddle and vocals and Mike Hay will perform on the uilleann pipes, tin whistle and guitar.’

There will also be a variety of auction items available, some from Ireland.
Tickets are $10 at the door.

For more information, contact Debbie Van Tuyll at dvantuyl@aug.edu or Mariam Tafazoli at mtafazol@aug.edu.”

(Via The Augusta Chronicle.)

Media-Newswire.com – Press Release Distribution – PR Agency: “The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute kicks off the annual Williamstown Holiday Walk with an Irish flair by welcoming the story-telling, music, and dance of Tomáseen Foley’s ‘A Celtic Christmas’ on Friday, December 4, at 8 pm. Tickets are $28 ( $25 for members and children ) and can be purchased by calling 413-458-0524 or online at clarkart.edu. Advanced ticket purchase is recommended as this event will sell out.

Now in its eleventh year of touring nationwide, ‘A Celtic Christmas’ is an exciting exploration of Ireland’s rich cultural history that highlights the innocence and joy of the night before Christmas through story-telling, music, and dance. The performers recreate the warmth of Foley’s childhood Christmases in western Ireland with carols, reels, jigs, and stories.

‘Foley…is doing what his ancestors have done for years long before The Nutcracker or It’s a Wonderful Life. He is carrying on an ancient tradition…for the audiences that pack theaters across the United States every winter to see it,’ wrote the Mail Tribune.

Foley was born on a small farm in the remote parish of Teampall an Ghleanntáin in the West of Ireland. He is considered a master of the Irish narrative and a keeper of the flame for a priceless piece of Irish culture. ‘A Celtic Christmas’ also features Grammy Award-winning guitarist William Coulter, traditional sean-nós singer and harpist Sile Denvir, and world-champion level Irish dancer Brian Bigley on Irish fiddle, uilleann pipes, whistles, and flute.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm ( open daily in July and August ). Admission is free November through May. Admission June 1 through October 31 is $12.50 for adults, free for children 18 and younger, members, and students with valid ID. For more information, call 413-458-2303 or visit clarkart.edu.”

(Via News Wire.)

YouTube – KoЯn – Bagpipes / Helmet In The Bush (Live) @ Belton Expo Center.

Alan Bevan has always had a thing for bagpipes.

As a child, he would take his mom’s practice chanter (the pipe on which the melody is played), wrap it in a blanket and attach plungers to craft his own makeshift instrument.

Almost three decades of practice later, and Bevan is racking up the awards for his piping abilities.

His most recent accolade was on Sunday in Glasgow, Scotland, where he claimed the master’s invitational solo crown at the World Pipe Band Championships. He was among eight pipers invited to compete in the event.

via Abbotsford News – Pipe dream: Alan Bevan claims world title in Scotland.

As the annual festival of Piping Live! kicks in, Claire Sawers finds there are plenty of fans on hand to debunk the aging myths about bagpipes

In Germany they’ve got the doodlesack; in Sweden, the säckpipa; and in Italy, the zampogna. Nearly every country in Europe has some version of the bagpipe, giving the instrument a range and diversity that stretches way beyond that lone piper standing in his kilt on Princes Street, squeaking out ‘Scotland the Brave’ for tourists in ponchos.

Roddy MacLeod, director of Piping Live!, the international festival that attracted 25,000 visitors last year to Glasgow, thinks people will be surprised at how vast the modern day piper’s repertoire is. ‘Everyone has heard a piper playing ‘Highland Cathedral’ or ‘Scotland the Brave’, he says. ‘But new music is written for pipes all the time – from all around the world. Modern technology also means pipes can now be recorded and balanced with other instruments without drowning them out, so we’re seeing more experimental styles cropping up. The festival was set up six years ago to bring those styles together.’

via Bag of tricks: Piping Live! | The List.

The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, five times world champion, is hosting a free concert on Sunday, Aug. 2, at SFU’s Burnaby campus.
 For the band, it’s a warm-up for a concert in the Royal Glasgow Concert Hall on Aug. 12—and then the world championship on Glasgow Green on Aug. 15. In that, SFU is seeking its sixth world crown. There will be 200 bands from 16 nations competing.
 For concert-goers, Sunday’s concert offers a chance to meet the pipers and drummers and ask about their music and skills.

Fans can park free on Lot B or Lot C on the Burnaby campus.

A 25-STRONG team of traditional Scots musicians scaled one of the country’s top Munros to blast their drums and pipes at 3200 feet.The hills were alive with music as members of the Williamwood Pipe Band, dragged their equipment – featuring 10 sets of pipes, two side drums one tenor and a bass drum – up Ben Lomond last Sunday.

As well as playing the likes of ‘Scotland the Brave’ and apt tunes like ‘Gaelforce Wind’ and ‘High Road to Gairloch’, the members of Williamwood also raised an impressive s3000 through sponsorship.

Drummer Grant McDowell said: “We are delighted we completed our challenge to the top of Ben Lomond.

“It was very tough in the soaring heat, but positive team morale and motivation ensured that each and every one of us completed the climb successfully.”

The money will be used to help fund the south side band, which first formed in 1945 by the 128th Glasgow Company of the Boys’ Brigade.

via Glasgow pipe band drums up support – the Glaswegian.

LEGENDARY piper Bill Millin yesterday returned to Normandy — and was reunited with the bagpipes he played to lift morale on D-Day.

Brave Bill, 86, piped stirring tunes as he landed on Sword Beach under heavy fire in 1944.

He had looked set to miss the commemoration when the Government refused to meet travel costs — but The Sun stepped in and paid for him.

Yesterday he was handed his old bagpipes, which are kept in a museum at Pegasus Bridge.

The widower, from Dawlish, Devon, also led a parade by a French bagpipe band — which struck up Scotland the Brave in his honour.

He was given a celebration dinner and bagpipe concert — and besieged for his autograph.

Modest Bill said: “I feel very honoured — the welcome has been wonderful. It’s good to see how many people still remember what we did.”

via Bagpipe legend Bill Millin returns to Normandy | The Sun |News|Campaigns|Our Boys.

The New Westminster Police Pipe Band and other well known performers are holding a Celtic evening at Massey Theatre June 25.

Entitled Pipe Up, the program includes selections by the New Westminster Pipe Band—current Grade 2 Pacific Northwest champions—as well as the reigning world champion SFU Pipe Band.

The concert will also mark the North American debut of The Shee, an all-female band from Scotland, which combines powerful vocals and instrumental prowess. The group performs Scottish folk, Gaelic and Bluegrass music.

via New Westminster News Leader – Police, SFU pipe band performs.