FTX-188 - A KISS FROM THE KING'S HAND

Scots Piping, Pibroch & Canterachd

A useful introduction to the art of Ceol Mor and Ceal Beag. Pipe-majors, William Ross and John Macdonald, were outstanding pipers leading the Edinburgh Castle regimental pipe-bands in the fifties. Hector MacGregor, Belle Stewart's uncle, & Alex Stewart, her husband, belong to the traveller, or tinker tradition, which has retained some of the older styles of Scottish piping.

Pipe-major William ROSS rec at Edinburgh Castle, 1951

1. Marches: BONNIE ANNE/ THE DUKE OF ROXBURGH'S FAREWELL TO BLACKSMOUNT - 2'43"

2. 93rd's FAREWELL TO PARKHURST/ DONALD CAMPBELL'S FAREWELL TO GLENDALE - 1'17"

3. Slow/Fast: BY LOCH ETIVE'S SIDE (Cameron)/ HIGH ROAD TO GAIRLOCH (old) - 2'06"

4. Slow: HAIL TO RUADH WATERUISH - 2'55"

5. Slow/Fast: LEAVING ARDTORNISH/ PORT ASKATE (Ross) - 1'40"

6. THE COUNTESS OF DYSART'S WELCOME TO EDINBURGH CASTLE - 1'04"

7. Pibroch: SEAFORTH'S LAMENT or THE OLD WOMAN'S LULLABY (Cronain na Cailliche) - 4'22"

8. Pibroch: DUNCAN MACRAE OF KINTAIL'S LAMENT (Cumha Dhonnachaid Mhic Iain) - 4'54"

9. THE ATHOLL AND BREADELBANE GATHERINGS: Pipe & drum March-past - 1'20"

Pipe-major John MacDONALD, rec as above:-

10. Cantearachd: CHARLES GRAHAM (March)/ THE MISTY MOOR (Strath)/ MERRY WIFE (Reel) - 1'58"

11. Chanter, bag & bellows: As previous - 1'48"

12. Cantering a pibroch: I GOT A KISS OF THE KING'S HAND (Fhuair mi pog o laimh an Righ: comp D M MacCruimain 1651) - 3'08"

13. Chanter: As previous - 2'48"

Henry MacGREGOR, rec by Peter Kennedy, Perth 1955

14. Cantering with talk: THE BRAES OF BALQUIDDER (song tune)/ BARLEY BUSHEL (Highland Schottische)/ THE DE'IL I' THE KITCHEN (Strathspey)/ INVERNESS GATHERING & UNCLE'S MARCH - 5'35"

Alec STEWART, rec by Peter Kennedy, Blairgowrie, Perthsh 1961

15. Played on the "goose": TWO MARCHES OF THE 74th. REGIMENTS - 2'59"

Henry MacGREGOR rec as above

16. Pibroch played on the practice chanter - 2'05"

17. Cantering - faded out - 2'00"

Recorded & edited by Peter Kennedy and first published by Folktrax 1979.

Pipe Major William Ross MBE (1879-1966) served 23 years in the Scots Guards and 12 years in Lovat Scouts and from 1919-1957 he taught the Army piping class at Edinburgh Castle.

PIOBAIREACHD, pibroch or CEOL MOR (big music), is the name for the slow bagpipe music, of which the McCrimmons were the most notable exponents. CANNTAIREACHD, or cantering, is the way that pipers used "vocables", not so much as a notation, but to pass on the music to each other, by word of mouth. The Pibroch compositions, usually of some considerable length, frequently last for twenty minutes. In fact, Henry's MacGregor's final canntaireachd when recorded lasted over 5 minutes. The pibroch starts with the URLAR, or Ground, which is followed by variations on the melody, called DOUBLINGS, which have their equivalent in the classical dance-suites of composers like Bach, Handel and Couperin. See TRADITIONAL AND NATIONAL MUSIC OF SCOTLAND by Francis Collinson, publ. by Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966, & THE KILBERRY BOOK OF CEOL MOR, Glasgow, 1953, C S Thomason's CEOL MOR NOTATION, East Indies, 1893, and the books of "THE PIOBAIREACHD SOCIETY". Later collections are associated more with the Pipe Bands of the Scottish Regiments.