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 -0000 > >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
