Hi Allan: Was just listening to David Murray’s interview. Fantastic all of this work you’ve done! I know you had been trying to fit me in at some point and unfortunately I was seriously under the weather when Willie McCallum was over last summer. However, I’m playing with Inveraray this summer and will be over for two weeks at the end of June and three weeks prior to the World’s. Perhaps we can get together at some point if you are still up for it. Cheers and thanks, Jim
Mr. Hamilton —
I’ve just sent a small donation, but wanted to thank you especially for
your interview with Dr Angus MacDonald and the Journey from Skye video.
I have A’ Sireadh Spors in both vinyl and digital already, but am long
overdue to lay hands on Maidean Dubh’ an Donais. Hearing about the
person behind the playing and his other contributions to the
music/cultural scene was very interesting. And your journey video is a
wonderful bonus on top of that. Maybe one of these days you can get an
interview with the 3rd MacDonald brother as well.
Margaret
Fraser MacInnes 11:52am Feb 26 2016
Great stuff Allan! I watched some of it last night…a nice narrative of the important instruments and documents owned by, and entrusted to, the College Museum. I’m sure it will help promote the museum and the College to a wider audience. I’ll arrange for it to uploaded to our website. Again, I appreciate your efforts in creating a vital archive of piping culture. Fraser
Allan,
You’re very welcome and I am glad to help out. The work you are doing is highly important. The younger generation of pipers have no idea or access to these great names except as pipe tunes, composers of pipe tunes or on sheet music. These stories need to be told by the pipers who lived them. My pipe teacher was Tom Shearer of whom Ian McLellan spoke of with the Renfrew Pipe Band and his emigration to the US in 1957 in your interview. It brought a warm smile to my heart to hear Ian retell stories that I so often heard from Tommy.
In the 1980’s I had introduced myself to Ian at a Worlds competition as a friend and student of Tom Shearer. Although Ian was distracted and caught up in the day, he took the time to chat to me and inquire on his old friend’s wellbeing. He was very much the gentleman that Tommy had spoken of.
I had also met “Wee” Donald McLeod on one of his visits to the US thru Tommy when I was a teenager many years ago. I credit Donald for teaching me circular breathing on the practice chanter back in the late 70’s. I look back on that memory with great joy for at the time as I was fairly unaware of Donald’s presence on the world stage of piping.
I look forward to watching more interviews as many of the names on your interview list have touched my piping life in personal meetings, story and achievements.
I have always been a proponent of knowing where we have been in the past and where we come from in order to move intelligently forward into the future.
A thank you to you and your endeavours with these great pipers for now their stories will be here long after they are gone. Keep up the good work,
Kenny Adams
Pete Martin 10/22/15 at 12:24 PM
Thanks Pete for your donation of £10 towards Pipers’ Persuasion. With 60 interviews up and more to come I have constant costs in travel and computer programs etc and so your donation is very welcome.
Dear Howard,
I see that you have donated towards Pipers’ Persuasion. I am very grateful for this and the money will go to general expenses incurred in travelling and maintaining equipment related to the project.
Currently I’m making an interview to be shown of the life and work of Iain MacDonald of Neilston. Last week I filmed at his house there and we’ll also go to the National Piping Centre to film his collection of pipes from around the world.
I have just returned as you know from the Piobaireachd Society Conference having made a presentation there on Recently Composed Piobaireachds. So, the whole project is still very much alive and continuing thanks to you and others.