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Gary West

 Musician
     Broadcaster          
Ethnologist

News ~ Naidheachdan

The first outing in their native Perthshire hills (as far as I know) for my 1884 MacDougall of Aberfeldy pipes, so generously gifted to me by the family of the late and greatly missed Skye Richendrfer. What a joy to help lead the Atholl Highlanders through Glen Tilt to the Braemar Gathering, a tradition that goes back to 1845. And what a glorious day for it!

Commemorating 250 years since the death of poet Robert Fergusson, I will be taking part in a concert in the Reid Hall at Edinburgh University this November. Along with Billy Kaye, Steve Byrne, Karine Polwart and Sarah Hoy, we will bringing to life the Scots poetry of Fergusson with songs and tunes from the period. Join us for what promises to be an entertaining evening! Details and tickets here!

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About

Piper's Persuasion 
Interview
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    '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!
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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)

 


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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