MacNeill of Barra's March
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- This is a strong, bold tune which appears in Angus MacArthur's Manuscript, Angus MacKay, and the Campbell Canntaireachd. It is composed therefore prior to 1797.
The illustration is of The MacNeill of Barra, taken from the famous McIan Print collection.
Love this, one of my favorites
Sheinn fuaim na pìoba bhuaibh a-steach do mo chridhe 's m ’anam. Moran Taing.
Who is playing this tune? Is this a recording of you Colin?
It seems almost too solemn and stately to be what one might think of as a march, but perhaps the genres and traditions of the ceòl mór are not quit the same as in ordinary European music... Or perhaps a march in the Scottish tradition is not necessarily as limited in form as in other traditions?
Post 1746, and with the militarisation of the Highland Clans into British regiments of line, came many changes in cultural and linguistic expression. With piping, and in particular ceòl mór, the great classical tunes and melodies were slowed down in playing, for the sake competition in adjudication. This, coupled with the generational gradual loss of the native language, the importance of the native vowel stresses in the interpretation of ceòl mór, added further to the sanitising and ultimate deracination of those classical masterpieces borne of pure indigenous Celtic genius, that much of their impetus was lost and their message lost to the subsequent generations. The early form of transmission of those great pieces from piper to piper was through the singing of the notation either via 'canntaireachd' (vocables) or linguistic word phrase repetition of the 'urlar', ground or theme, hence the term "seinn na pìoba" - "sing the pipes" as opposed to "cluich na pìopa" - "play the pipes". We still sing the 'òran a 'chiuil mhóir' lit. 'song of the great music' I have many of those in my oral repertoire, but have avenues of publicly expressing or showcasing them live or on-line, at the moment, have been restricted.