Event marks start of Northern Meeting Piping competition in Inverness
Event marks start of Northern Meeting Piping competition in Inverness
Transcript
00:00 We're here in the Tannhaus tonight, Northern, meeting piping competition starting tomorrow.
00:05 How are you feeling?
00:06 Well, we're so much looking forward to the competition here.
00:10 It's always nice to start the event with the Tannhaus reception here and we're delighted
00:15 that the Inverness Council have supported us and sponsored us for this again.
00:20 But the pipers are in town now, I know they're getting excited and getting ready for tomorrow
00:24 so we can't wait for it to start.
00:27 And for us, it's wonderful for us to be able to host this event tonight because this launches
00:32 the whole competition so they'll be off to Eden Park tomorrow for two days.
00:36 But it's wonderful that everyone can meet on a social scale and then they'll be ready
00:42 for the fierce competition which happens in the morning.
00:46 Fantastic, yeah, probably been able to socialise a bit before actually getting to the fierce
00:52 competition tomorrow.
00:53 That's great.
00:54 We have people from all over the world tonight so we've seen a fantastic interpretation earlier
01:00 by last year's wieners so yeah, how important is it on a global level as an event?
01:07 Absolutely, I mean the people that have come from so far away from America and New Zealand
01:14 or Australia to play the pipes, it's just amazing the fact that they come to Inverness
01:19 and do the competition.
01:21 I think there are a few maybe nervous people in there who are preparing for tomorrow.
01:26 I'm sure that is the case, yeah.
01:28 We have over 100 competitors as Jackie was saying but a third of those are from overseas.
01:34 Traditional piping places, Canada, North America, New Zealand, Australia and so we've had a
01:41 great two days of piping.
01:43 And I think you've got some young pipers in the competition as well.
01:47 Yes, so we have the senior competitions on Thursday and Friday but on Friday itself in
01:52 the chapel associated with the Eden Court Theatre we have under 15 Masters Pairing Peeble
01:58 and then also under 18 Masters Pairing Peeble so it's great to see the junior competitors
02:04 at the event as well.
02:05 That's brilliant and are they also from all over the world or are they more local?
02:09 Most of them tend to be more local.
02:10 We have come from the Central Belt as well but they don't travel from business class.
02:14 Right, well it's a long travel for everyone, let alone if you're a kid travelling with
02:19 a bagpipe.
02:21 I'm thinking how does this put Inverness on the global map because it's such an important
02:26 event worldwide?
02:28 Well everyone in piping knows about the Northern Meeting.
02:32 I mean it dates back to 1841, it's the oldest piping competition in the world and if you
02:37 speak to anyone in the solo piping community and you mention Inverness they know exactly
02:42 what you mean.
02:43 So people try to win the gold medal and for the former winners of the gold medal they
02:47 play in the class competition and normally people who win these big events go on to be
02:53 professional pipers and seem great for us.
02:58 And for us I think for them to hold the competition here in Inverness it's really an integral
03:04 part of piling culture so we're really really pleased that they come back year and year
03:09 again so we're hoping for many more years to come.
03:12 So well good evening, can I ask you who you are and why are we here tonight?
03:18 Thank you, my name is Maurice Gibson and I'm on the committee of the Northern Meeting
03:23 Piping Competition.
03:25 We're here tonight to start the 2023 Northern Meeting Piping Competition which has been
03:31 in existence for over 200 years and we've been very kindly invited to the townhouse
03:36 tonight by the Highland Council and Inverness Councillors and Provost Glenys Campbell-Sinclair.
03:43 Awesome, so there's going to be pipers from all over the world tonight and for these three
03:52 days in Inverness so how important is it for the piping scene all over the world?
03:58 Well you're absolutely right and as we heard earlier on Nick Hudson from Houston in the
04:04 States, he opened the competition by piping and he won one of the top medals last year.
04:11 We have pipers from Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, Ireland and of course
04:18 Great Britain and it is seen as the solo piping world championships or Olympic Games I should
04:25 probably say so it's a huge event, it's massively important for us to lay it on properly and
04:31 give our competitors from all over the world the best opportunity to display their immense
04:36 skills.
04:37 How important is it to Inverness to host such an important event for, again it's a worldwide
04:45 global event, the Olympics of solo piping so how important is it to put Inverness back
04:50 on the map?
04:51 Well we've been fortunate that the Northern Meeting Piping Competition was born out of
04:57 the London Society, the London Northern Society over 200 years ago and it originated in Inverness
05:04 so it's only been in Inverness for all the years it's been run and there have been obviously
05:10 a couple of occasions when there's been a war or we've had Covid where it has not taken
05:14 place so it's immensely important and you know the townhouse by opening its doors to
05:20 us tonight proves that they feel it's something that we really should continue to do for as
05:25 long as we can.
05:27 Definitely and I'm thinking in terms of such as the Island Games for instance it's something
05:32 that takes Scottish culture all over the world, brings it back, how important is it to...
05:39 It's all about the Highland bagpipe in this occasion because there are different bagpipes
05:43 but this is about the Highland bagpipe, not bagpipes and so therefore to keep this alive
05:50 is extremely important to the committee, to the piping world but also to Inverness and
05:56 the councillors here who administrate us.
05:59 Can I just ask you what's particular about the Highland bagpipe?
06:04 To be honest I'm not a bagpiper but the Highland bagpipe I know from my military career is
06:11 the one we went to war with and it's inspired us to get out of the trenches, to cross land
06:18 being raped by enemy fire and get to the far side and do all we're there to do.
06:25 So it's an immensely important instrument of war I would say.
06:30 And so well the competition starts tomorrow, are you all ready for giving it a start?
06:38 Absolutely, the competition starts tomorrow morning at 8.30 in the Empire Theatre in Eden Court.
06:44 It goes on all day and then in the evening we have the former winners march, Strasbourg
06:51 in real event which goes on until about 10 o'clock at night.
06:55 It's hugely significant, it's a brilliant thing for people to come and see and listen to.
07:00 They will be inspired by what they hear.