Brown and Nicol - Masters of Piobaireachd vol 8

(June 2006) 11 tracks: Isabel MacKay * The Lament for The Only Son * The MacKay’s Banner * Chisholm’s Salute * The Bell's of Perth * My King Has Landed in Moidart * Grain in Hides and Corn in Sacks * Weighing from Land * The Glen is Mine * The MacLeods’ Short Tune * The Old Men of The Shells * Park Piobaireachd No 1.

Volume 8 of this highly acclaimed series of original recordings of The Bobs of Balmoral, which consist of Robert U Brown and Robert B Nicol giving instruction on the art of piobaireachd.

When their competing days were over, "the Bobs" began the task of passing their knowledge on to future generations, and a steady stream of pipers beat a path to their Deeside homes. Many were armed with tape recorders, as in the case of Norman Matheson. Norman built up a sizeable collection of taped lessons, particularly of Nicol, and he exchanged copies of these recordings for others made at schools given by the Bobs around the world. A library of their singing and playing was thus accumulated.

The series is mainly intended for instructional purposes but the albums are also of great historic interest and value.

Editors Norman Matheson and Robert Wallace have worked tirelessly on the series and successfully maintained a formula throughout, namely that of leaving original recordings untouched, except for alterations to improve sound quality and to eliminate serious glitches.

Norman and Robert are grateful to those who have given freely of their material and in particular The Gordon Highlanders for permission to use the front cover pictures, which are taken from the regiment's Pipe Music Collection Volume 2.

"An authentic record of the teachings of two men who dedicated their lives to ceol mor and to promulgating the instructions they received from John MacDonald of Inverness. They are nothing less than an inalienable link with the past and genuine oral tradition." (Robert Wallace)

"A must for everyone interested in piobaireachd." (Malcolm MacRae, past president of The Piobaireachd Society)