Robbie Burns night celebrates Scottish traditions – Vermilion Standard – Alberta, CA:

“Mannville’s Recreation Centre will turn a little Scottish in celebration of Robbie Burns’ night this year.

An annual Scottish tradition, Robbie Burn’s night is typically held on January 25, but in Mannville it will happen on January 23, a Saturday. The evening gets underway at 5 p.m. with cocktails, a meal at 6 p.m. with a dance to follow. One of the highlights of the event is the performance by the Mannville/Vermilion Dance Club. Dot Cleland, the president of the dance club, said the night is a lot of fun and full of Scottish tradition.

‘It’s the Scottish tradition to celebrate Robbie Burns and we do it with a meal and some highland dance and song,’ said Cleland.

‘We’ll have haggis and turnips as well as roast beef. But the traditional part of it is the turnips and the haggis.’

Traditionally Dr. Stewart Hunter performs the address to a haggis, which is a poem Robbie Burns wrote. Cleland says it is part of the evening’s tradition, however this year Dr. Hunter won’t be in attendance.

‘There’s a weird tradition where Scotsmen talk to their food before they eat it,’ said Cleland.

‘They address the haggis. It’s about sheep and the parts of the sheep you eat. So they talk to the sheep they are about to eat and the tradition is for someone to do a performance with the dagger (Skian Dubh) in their sock.’

The highlight though, Cleland said, is the show put on by the dance club.

‘The Mannville/Vermilion Highland Dance club puts on a show of traditional highland dancing,’ said Cleland.”

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

Item from Morpeth museum in North East historic list – Northumberland communities – Morpeth:

“An artifact from the Chantry Bagpipe Museum in Morpeth has been picked as one of the top man-made objects which sum up the North East, its past and its impact on the world.

The regional objects are part of the History of the World project between the BBC, the British Museum and a further 350 museums and institutions across the country.

Musette de cour from the Chantry Bagpipe Museum is a rare example of a bagpipe played at the French court, which some believe to be the forerunner of the Northumbrian pipes.

The regional lists complement a series A History Of The World In 100 Objects, which began yesterday on BBC Radio 4.

The series dips into the British Museum’s world collection. Ten objects have been chosen from each of Wearside and County Durham, Tyneside and Northumberland, the Tees and Cumbria.”

(Via morpeth.journallive.co.uk – Read Full Article.)

Irish minstrels and musicians: with numerous dissertations on related subjects By Francis O’Neill

Francis O’Neill (1848–1936) was an Irish musician and music collector from Co. Cork who emigrated to the U.S. and eventually became the chief of police of Chicago. He is best known for his seminal tune collection “O’Neill’s Music of Ireland.”

But O’Neill was also a highly prolific and very entertaining prose writer. His “Irish Minstrels and Musicians,” published in 1913, is one of the best sources we have for anecdotal information about Irish piping in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

I just learned that this important work has become available in its entirety on Google books. You can now download it for free here.

“Irish Minstrels and Musicians” is a wonderful read for anyone who is interested in the history of the pipes or in the history of Irish music in general.

O’Neill’s other major prose work, “Irish Folk Music: A Fascinating Hobby,” also recently came back into print and is now available for purchase from Amazon.

This second O’Neill book contains many interesting anecdotes about O’Neill’s collecting experiences and has more information about old pipers he knew or had heard of. Appendix A contains O’Farrell’s Treatise and Instructions on the Irish Pipes, published circa 1797-1800. Appendix B contains Hints to Amateur Pipers by Patsy Touhey.

‘Dudelsak‘ follows Canadian bagpipe virtuoso Matt MacIsaac on his journey to find the little known origins of the modern day bagpipe. Matt’s musical adventure takes him from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to France, Austria, Italy, Spain and eventually the Middle East. Using his assortment of modern celtic instruments, Matt transcends barriers of language and culture, finding common ground and forging connections with musicians from very different backgrounds.

Dudelsak from Matt Trecartin on Vimeo.

Legendary Irish Band BLACK 47 Celebrates “20 Years On The Road”: “Black 47’s NYC shows have been described as ‘a rite of passage for all New Yorkers.’ For the last nine months they have been touring the country, along with recording 13 new songs for Bankers and Gangsters, which will be released in February 2010. But for four nights they will celebrate their New York City beginnings with 1989 prices of $10.  Along with the new material they will highlight songs from all stages of their controversial career.

Black 47 formed in the Bronx in late 1989 and burst onto the American scene in 1993 with their hit single, Funky Céilí.  With a controversial eclectic sound as well as provocative lyrics, Black 47 fuses Reggae, Rock, Traditional Irish, Hip-Hop, Folk, New Orleans & Modern Jazz into a New York City gumbo. Their lyrics reflect the drama and black humor of a changing world as they see it, from Belfast to Baghdad, The Bronx to Kabul. “

(Via PR LOG.)

“Five Characters in Search of an Exit”

I am all set to record the Twilight Zone episode titled “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”, set to air on July 4th, 2009 at 11:00 AM EST on the SciFi channel, on my local cable carrier. This episode features a Bagpiper as one of the 5 characters looking for that elusive exit.

This episode was originally aired in 1961 and I remember seeing it when I was a kid, but I wasn’t into bagpiping then !

After becoming aware of the episode again when researching Bagpipes in the Movies, I have tried to remember to record the show when it airs on TV again over the last couple of years, but I always missed it. There is a Twilight Zone Marathon this 4th of July Weekend, Check you local TV Listings !

Opening Narration:
Clown. Hobo. Ballet Dancer. Bagpiper. And an Army Major. A collection of question marks. Five improbable entities stuck together into a pit of darkness. No logic, no reason, no explanation. Just a prolonged nightmare in which fear, loneliness, and the unexplainable walk hand in hand through the shadows. In a moment, we’ll start collecting clues as to the whys, the whats, and the wheres. We will not end the nightmare, we’ll only explain it, because this is the Twilight Zone

UPDATE:

After searching for additional information about the episode online, I found that you can watch on your computer at CBS – (Click Here to Watch):

Not that I am going to watch online with my 15″ MacBookPro, I will reserve that pleasure once I can watch on my 52″ TV, when it airs on the SciFiHD channel. For those with with two SciFi channels on your tv, make sure you record the HD version of the SciFi

ONLY in Scotland could musicians playing our national music to a world class level be so despised.

It beggars belief that the philistines who occupy police headquarters at Pitt Street in Glasgow could plot the demise of the iconic ensemble that is Strathclyde Police Pipe Band – and gloat about it in the name of force efficiency, as did Chief Superintendent John Pollock last Friday.

His outburst stuck in the craw of every right-thinking Scot.

No one should be under any illusion as to what the future of the band is.

Morale is so low that I doubt they will exist next year and a 123-year tradition, a proud history of 22 World Pipe Band Championship titles and the affection of an entire community will be gone.

Can you imagine the Royal Marines telling their musicians they weren’t needed any more? To say it costs hundreds of thousands of pounds to keep the band going is nonsense. They receive £29,500 per year from the force.

via Can you imagine the Royal Marines telling their musicians that they weren’t needed any more? – Scotsman.com News .

Move over Harry Potter  - Just found this website about a new movie being released in the Fall of 2009 “Pipes of War”

The Story of Piper James Richardson, VC. Canada’s only piper to earn the Victoria Cross. An epic documentary from the Academy Award winning Paradigm Motion Picture Company. The film will recount the war experience of the 16th Battalion Canadian Scottish and Richardson’s action during the Battle of the Somme, 1916.

Movie Website - The Pipes of War .

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.

Edmond Jackson’s passion for music is a family love affair spanning several generations and three countries. His father was an Irish musician stationed in Malta with the Royal Irish Fusiliers during Malta’s years as a British colony, while his grandmother was Scottish. When Edmond’s father fell in love with a Maltese woman – later to be Edmond’s mother – he did utmost to stay in Malta and eventually settled here.

He played several forms of bagpipes, and passed on his knowledge to Edmond, but he never learnt the Maltese bagpipe called the ‘zaqq’ (stomach). He used to tell Edmond of a man he knew while in the army who was the only person he’d met who knew how to play the zaqq. He used to help this musician out, supplying him with cane drone reeds which the man used for making instruments. Unfortunately, over the years, Edmond’s father lost track of him and in the end could not even remember his name.

Edmond was determined to find the bagpipe player in the hope of learning how to play the instrument himself. Despite the smallness of Malta, his search proved a massive challenge. Bad luck and wrong leads meant his search lasted over 25 years. Until one day, a friend of Edmond’s told him that he may have come across the person he was looking – a man nicknamed Il-Hammarun – living in Naxxar.

via Malta bagpipe player | Malta Inside Out.

The Piper to the Sovereign – referred to as the “Queen’s Piper” – steps into the Palace garden. He is wearing a  kilt of Royal Stewart tartan and two eagle feathers in his headwear.  The Queen and Prince Philip listen as he tunes his bagpipes. For the next fifteen minutes, the Queen’s Piper plays a selection of bagpipe tunes below the dining room window.

via The Queen’s Piper « Lisa’s History Room.

Andrew MacNeill lived and farmed on the Isle of Colonsay. Like the composer of this tune, Andrew MacNeill studied under Robert Reid

via Lament For Andrew MacNeill of Colonsay .

John Coleman, a Cleveland Heights fire inspector, said that he will not return to the Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drum Corps after his suspension. He was suspended for six months after he was caught giving President Barack Obama a nod and wave during the inaugural parade last week in Washington D.C.

In an interview with Channel 5 news, Coleman said, “It would probably be best that I just leave. With this, it’s come to a point where I don’t want embarrassment anymore between the pipe band and myself,”

He has been with the band for 17 years, but said that there is too much hurt on both sides for him to return. He said that he had no other choice.

When asked if he might consider changing his mind, Coleman said, “I don’t think it would happen, especially with the way things have gone.”

Coleman said that he has been inudated with phone calls and e-mails from around the country, most in support.

“They are in support of me and would have done the same thing. I just want to thank the people who have supported me and just take it from there,” he said.

Discussing the incident, Coleman teared up and said that he was hurt by the decision to suspend him.

Bandleader Pipe Major Mike Engle, however, insists that he violated the proper decorum required of a military parade.

Suspended Fireman Will Not Return to Pipe and Drums Band | Cleveland Leader.

Band member banned for six months after giving a friendly wink to Obama at inauguration | Mail Online.

A friendly wink and a wave is usually a good welcoming gesture, particularly when the recipient is your newly-elected President.

However it cost one band-member his place in a band after he was caught tipping his head in the direction of Barack Obama during his inauguration celebrations in Washington last week.

Ohio firefighter John Coleman, Drum Major of the Cleveland Firefighter’s Memorial Pipes & Drums, has been given a six-month suspension from his role in a pipe and drum band after CNN caught him giving the nod along with a fleeting wave.

How Bagpipes Are Constructed.

Almost everyone I know loves the sound of bagpipes. I love the sound myself even though I am of Native American and French origin. Let’s take a look at what creates the unique sound of bagpipes

All bagpipes are made with an air supply, a bag, and a chanter. More sophisticated bagpipes may also include more chanters and drones to enhance the sound.

The most common method of supplying air to the bag is by a blowpipe, into which the player blows. The blowpipe can be fitted with a non-return valve, or the player can close the tip of the blowpipe with their tongue while they breathe.

Starting back in the 6th or 17th century a bellows began to be used to supply air. The big advantage to using a bellows for the air supply is that the air has not been moistened and heated by the player’s breath which allows one to use more delicate reeds and also allows the instrument to be played longer…

Tags: bagpipe construction, how to

KILREA Pipe Band is celebrating its 85 anniversary.

Members and friends met in Kilrea Orange Hall to mark the very special milestone for an anniversary meal.

After an excellent dinner, there was time to reminisce about years gone by. Band members were taken back to 1924 thanks to a slideshow where they got to view the band as it was back then.

Kilrea Pipe Band was formed by Kilrea Apprentice Boys L.O.L. 366, after some young men decided to learn how to play the bagpipes.

85 glorious years for Kilrea Pipe Band – Coleraine Today
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Traditional Mallorcan music is unthinkable without the Xeremia a bagpipe. Go to any village festa and you will hear them, together with small drums, flutes and tambours. The Mallorcan bagpipe is most likely a variation of an Islamic instrument, brought by the Moors a very long time ago. The bagpipes are very much in use on a regular basis, and are mostly played by young bearded men. As much as Mallorca is a location with a rich tradition of musical schooling for both, males and females, I have only seen one female playing a Xeremia in over twenty years.

Xeremias and Xeremiers « Mallorca Daily Photo Blog

MOVES are under way to drum up support for the formation of an adult pipe band at Banff.

The stirring sights and sounds of a town band in full flow were last seen in the burgh almost 40 years ago.

A father-and-son piping duo are behind an attempt to see if any interest exists in getting a new band off the ground.

Electrical engineer Kevin Cook, 57, of Grant Street, Whitehills and his son, Andrew, 25, of Boyndie Street West, Banff, have organised a meeting to gauge local enthusiasm for the idea.

Supermarket worker Mr Cook jun said: “I think it would be good to have a band for events like galas and other community events.

“If we can get people interested in the first place, we can take it from there.”

A pipe band at Banff was formed originally in 1907 by Pipe Major Hector Fraser and performed until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when it went into abeyance.

Father and son beat drum for new band – Press & Journal
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In the early part of the 20th century, it was somewhat rare to find a fiddler sawing away at the community dances in Cape Breton. Instead, organizers preferred to bring in the heavy artillery — bagpipers, who could be heard no matter how loud the crowd became. It was not uncommon for pipers to be working five days a week, playing everything from funerals to weddings to the ever-popular dances.

But modern technology soon put an end to the pipers’ domination — once the violin could be amplified, the fiddlers soon took over, and they have been drowning out the sound of the pipes ever since. That’s just one of the fascinating stories to be found in Dance To The Piper: The Highland Bagpipe In Nova Scotia by Barry W. Shears.

Fiddles overtook pipes — author – Nova Scotia News – TheChronicleHerald.ca.

This Sunday all over the world many churches will observe the Kirkin’ o’ th’ Tartans , a celebration of Scottish heritage and culture.

What is The Kirking of the Tartans?

Etymologically it simply means:

Kirking, from the Scottish Gaelic word kirk which means church, in this usage means “blessing.”

Tartans are the traditional plaid emblems of Scottish clans represented in unevenly spaced colored lines and rectangles on woven wool cloth.

Historically, the story is a bit more varied. The popular legend goes as follows:

On July 25, 1745, the young Prince Charles Edward Stewart, “Bonnie Prince Charlie” returned from exile in France and landed at Lochnanaugh in Scotland where he began to enlist the Highland Clans for an unsuccessful attempt to dethrone George II of England and to restore the Scottish throne to the Royal House of Stewart.

History of Kirking of the Tartans | Bill Petro.