Gary West




 
Musician
     Broadcaster          
Ethnologist

News ~ Naidheachdan

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The full programme for Portobello Book Festival 2025 is now available and I'm pleased to say that I'll be there! On Saturday 4th October in Portobello Library I will be chairing a discussion about James Robertson's new edition of selected poems by Robert Fergusson at 12noon. Then at 1.30 pm I will be talking about my biography of Martyn Bennett: Brave New Music, with discussion chaired by Dave Francis. Do come along if you can! Tickets are available from the Portobello Library and full programme details can be found here! 



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 I was recently helping to host a tour of Scotland for 15 New Zealanders, visiting Edinburgh, Islay, the West Highlands and Deeside. 'Serving Up Scotland' was being run by my friend, Greg Norris of OneNineFive Tours, and I was serving as his 'cultural attaché'! We had great fun: a lot of music, stories, history, golf, whisky - and plenty of bagpipes of course!  It has also sown the seed for a future EYP tour. If that's something that takes your fancy, drop us an email and we'll keep you up to date as plans emerge!


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At last! It's been a while in the writing but I'm delighted to announce the publication by Luath Press Ltd. of my new book: Brave New Music - The Martyn Bennett Story , launched on 30th January as part of the Celtic Connections festival.  The first reviews have also come out  - all saying good things, thankfully! Books are now available to purchase from my webstore. Get your signed copy  here!


About

Piper's Persuasion 
Interview
Click Here To View
    'Tradition is a story,

told in the past,

shaped in the present,

looking to the future.'
Hello and thanks for joining me here! I am a musician, academic and broadcaster, and I specialise in researching, teaching and performing the cultural traditions of Scotland. My day job for the last 27 years was Professor of Scottish Ethnology at the University of Edinburgh, but I was also very active well beyond academia, as a piper and singer, and I presented Pipeline, a weekly specialist music programme on BBC Radio Scotland for twenty years. I have most recently moved on from my post at Edinburgh and as presenter/producer of Pipeline to new challenges, including making my own weekly podcast, 'Enjoy Your Piping', and developing new creative projects in music, film and media. 

Originally from Pitlochry in Perthshire, I played for many years with the innovative Vale of Atholl Pipe Band, winning the Scottish and European Championships. In my late teens I moved sideways into the folk scene, playing, recording and touring with the bands Ceolbeg and Clan Alba, and becoming a founder member of the ceilidh band Hugh MacDiarmid's Haircut. I have performed on around 20 albums, including my debut solo release, The Islay Ball, and a collaboration in 2009, Hinterlands, with harpist Wendy Stewart.

More recently, I played for two seasons in the Grade 1 Glasgow Police Pipe Band, and was one of the all-star cast in the Far Far From Ypres commemorative tour in 2018. I perform regularly throughout the year with fellow folk musicians Sandy Brechin and Gregor Borland, and together we make up the trio BrOg.

In 2016, I wrote, produced and performed in Jock's Jocks, a one act play based on the extraordinary collection of first world war testimonies recorded by North East folksinger Jock Duncan as a labour of love over a period of fifty years. I also edited these for publication as a book under the same title launched in 2019. Currently, I am writing the biography of piper Martyn Bennett, due for publication later this year.

In addition to my work in music and media, I am a former Director of the European Ethnological Research Centre, a board member of Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, and a board member of the Gordon Duncan Memorial Trust.

I hope you find someting of interest on these pages, and please do get in touch if you'd like to know more or to chat about Scotland and our rich and varied culture!

CURRENT ACTIVITIES 

Courses and Retreats:
Piping 
Instructor 

Tuition in traditional performing arts on short courses is a great way to accelerate and enhance learning in a relaxed but focused environment. This year, Far North Retreats, Celtic Arts Foundation and The Barga School of Traditional Scottish Song, Music and Dance have all booked me as a specialist piping instructor. Click on the button below for further information.
Find out more


Board
Responsibilities

Click on the logos below to find out more about the organisations and positions held.

JOCK'S JOCKS


Jock's Jocks is a collection of testimonies recorded from first world war veterans by North East folksinger Jock Duncan over the course of fifty years. A longstanding family friend, I was honoured to edit these remarkable and moving accounts for publication as a book and to bring them to the stage as a one act musical play. 

Read the Book
'...a document of lasting historical value.' (Undiscovered Scotland)

‘I believe this book is of national importance.’(James Robertson, Scottish Review of Books)
Listen to the Play Watch the Play
'Both play and book constitute a testament of valour, endurance and humour under appalling conditions, infused with sheer, resilient humanity.'                                               ( Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman)
It effortlessly slips from seemingly ad lib pure storytelling and reminiscence into full blown theatre’                           
(Mark Gorman, Think Hard)
'...listening to these voices is above all a refreshing, life-enhancing experience, and an affirmation of what it means to be human.'
(Donald Smith, Director of Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland)
 BrÒg
Folk trio with fiddler Gregor Borland and accordionist Sandy Brechin, performing regularly throughout Scotland. 
Get DVDs and CDs of our shows.
Find out more
Atholl Highlanders
I am Pipe Major of the Atholl Highlanders Pipe Band. The private army of the Duke of Atholl, the Atholl Highlanders perform ceremonial duties throughout the year, focused on the annual parade and gathering in the last weekend of May .

Learn more
'West is a brilliant soloist no matter which style he performs. Also, he's a great composer.'
(Gert-Ove Fridland, Hallandsposten, Sweden)

'Generally  cited as one of the country's finest contemporary pipers..' (Sue Wilson, The Herald)


Discography



'West has a warm way with a song...'(The Scotsman)

The Islay Ball

Click image to listen


Solo Album

Released: January 2001

Label: Greentrax Recordings Ltd

Purchase CD

Hinterlands

Click image to listen


Released April 2009

Label: Moulincairn

Purchase CD

 


Books


 
'Buainidh aon fhacal ceud'
'One word will set loose a hundred'



For a complete list of published work, click here

  To purchase or find out more about an edition featured below,
click on cover image.
'Gary....seeks to place the tradition within the wider world, looking at how location, or place, has been an influence.' (Gordon Potter, review of Voicing Scotland, in The Living Tradition)
Jock's Jocks
Understanding Scotland Musically
Voicing Scotland
An Historical Ethnography of Rural Perthshire 1750 - 1950
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