I haven't seen the sleeve notes in question so can't comment.
Donald MacLeod was a Pipe Major in the Seaforths and perhaps the most famous
composer of Scottish music last century. I'm surprised you have no knowledge
of him. Practically every pipe band, dance band or ceilidh band in the world
plays at least a few of his tunes which range through the entire spectrum of
pipe music.
But he was far from infamous, quite the opposite. Nicknamed 'Wee' Donald to
distinguish him from 'Big' Donald, he was also one of the mainstays of
piobaireachd in the 1960s and a pupil of John MacDonald, Inverness. He was
also one of the foremost competition winners of all time.
The 'Farewell to Oban' was for Donald MACLEAN and composed by Blind Arhcie
MacNeill. That is certainly one of the best 'modern' 2/4 marches in the pipe
idiom and is never really done justice when played as an accordion tune.
By the way, Donald MacLeod (who compiled six books of ceol beag in all which
contain many of his own compositions and one book of piobaireachd of all his
compositions) came from Stornoway, not Skye - that is yet another Donald
MacLeod, but he was not infamous either.
Hope this helps to flesh things out at least a wee bit.
regards
Bruce Campbell (Editor, CELTIC WORLD - now printed in Scotland and
Australia)
Duntroon Publishing
81 Marine Parade
Kirn
Dunoon
Argyll PA23 8HF
TEL: 01369 702 287
MOBILE: 077 5984 5201
From: David Francis [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [scots-l] Battle of Waterloo
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 17:26:57 -
Kate Dunlay wrote:
The bad thing is that the notes on the Sole Music
CD say a classic 4/4 march by the infamous Skye piper which means
that we must all be supposed to know why Donald MacLeod is infamous
BUT I DON'T KNOW!!! So, can somebody please help me out?
Is this the same Donald MacLeod who left Oban in high dudgeon after failing
to win a piping competion as expected, thus occasioning the classic 2/4
march 'DMcL's farewell to Oban' (composer gone from memory banks)? His
other deeds of infamy are unknown to me, but since he was a piper there
must
be some...
Quite agree about Hamish's playing of the tune, and the others in that set
-
a revelation that marches could be played lyrically like that.
Dave Francis
Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To
subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to:
http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
_
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music Culture List - To
subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
