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| Finlay MacDonald |
Recently Scottish musician and composer Phil Cunningham presented a fascinating 2 part TV program on the Pipes called 'Pipe Dreams'. He travelled to hear pipes and pipers play worldwide - from Ireland to India. – to inspire his new composition for the pipes.
In January I
attended the brilliant opening concert of Celtic Connections 2015 - the
orchestral debut of Scottish piper Martyn Bennett’s last album GRIT. The range
of dynamics , tones, energy, emotions, fun – play the tune on the chanter!
I wrote in my review of the
music - This album offers a musical journey - producing pounding bass rhythms,
hesitant strings, gradual and also unexpected crescendos, brass epic grandeur,
haunting Gaelic voices, thematic stirring pipes and also humour. The Grit album
is about pushing the boundaries and limitations.
Liam O’Flynn
of the Irish folk band Planxty, who plays the uilleann pipes, spoke of the importance of valuing
traditions, ‘ To find a secure place to
be part of a tradition. Hard won thing to be part of a tradition and its
important to be aware of that.’
The uilleann
pipes, have a lovely colour and emotion
In the 50s
there were only abut 100 players and today there are over 6,000 players of the uilleann pipes worldwide.
At a
Canadian pipe school the children were told, ‘We hope you have fun and work
hard – fun and work - .work WINS, fun never wins! Excellent instruction!
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