About the only thing the various commentators agree on is that this tune was written by PM James Robertson (1886 – 1961), from Banffshire, up in the northeast of Scotland.  He was a piper with the 1st Battalion Gordon Highlanders. As to the date of composing the tune, some accounts have it as 1915 when James was a POW in Germany following the capture of large numbers of the unsuccessful British Expeditionary Force sent to France in 1914.  He composed it during a lengthy sentence to solitary confinement, having persistently refused to undertake military-related work for the Germans ..read more

Who would have guessed that Highland Cathedral was written by two German gentlemen? Ulrich Roever, a piper, and Michael Korb, a composer and arranger, were the parties involved. They composed the tune for a contribution to a Highland Games gathering in Germany in 1982. It took root quickly and was the anthem of the Royal Hong Kong Police until the hand-over in 1997 when it was played during the final Flag Lowering Ceremony at Government House. With lyrics provided by Ben Kelly in 1990, it has also been taken up by Scottish Rugby Union fans as a patriotic pre-match spirit-raiser. On the fa ..read more

By Jim Lawson A child prodigy and a composer of hundreds of pipe tunes, his talent and musical prowess took him all the way from the Inner Hebridean island of Raasay to the court of Queen Victoria where he became the first-ever piper to the Sovereign, a post which exists to this day. So when the present Queen Elizabeth decided to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria recently it was fitting that a piper who was a descendant of the legendary Angus Mackay be asked to play. That man is the retired banker, Andy Tasker, 62, of the City of Leeds Pipe Band. With t ..read more

2018 is the year for a couple of big anniversaries with the end of WW1 being marked in November. But before then there is the celebration of 100 years of the RAF. As part of a series of events being organised this year under the banner RAF100, a few of our guys travelled to RAF Brize Norton to take part in a massed band event for the RAF Benevolent Fund. They joined pipers from as far away as Hong Kong along with bands from around the UK. The post RAF100 Brize Fest – RAFBF Pipes and Drums (Massed Band) appeared first on The City of Leeds Pipeband ..read more

The Barren Rocks of Aden is a march tune and is one of the first tunes our pipers learn to play on the pipes. It that has a strong association with the Gordon Highlanders Regiment because you can play it for the dance called ‘The Gay Gordons’. We play it as part of a set along with The Brown Haired Maiden and Mhairi’s Wedding. The tune is said to have been composed by piper James Mauchline, who was delighted that his regiment was leaving the hot, dry port of Aden, in what is now South Yemen, in Arabia. It rains less than once a year in Aden, and the Old Town is inside the shell of an extinct v ..read more

This used to be considered Scotland’s national anthem; now several songs are in contention for that honour. It is the first tune that many people learning the bagpipes play, as it features in the College of Piping Tutor Book 1. Robert Burns called this stirring song ‘Robert Bruce’s March to Bannockburn’, using the ancient tune ‘Hey Tutti Taitie’. He imagined what ‘one might suppose to be the gallant Royal Scot’s address to his heroic followers on that eventful morning’. Scots, wha hae wi Wallace bled Scots, wham Bruce has aften led Welcome to your gory bed Or to victorie! Now’s the day, and no ..read more

Thanks to the City of Leeds Pipe Band, Wharfedale & Aireborough Observer reporter Jim Jack was given a once-in-a-lifetime musical opportunity performing one stage with André Rieu. Here is his first-hand account of taking part in André Rieu’s Christmas concert at the First Direct Arena, Leeds on Friday, December 15. The original article can be found online here. THIS was it – we were about to march out in front of 13,000 people to play for André Rieu. Reporter Jim Jack (centre) performing with the City of Leeds Pipe Band at Andre Rieu’s December 15 concert in Leeds Nothing can really pre ..read more

As published by the College of Piping in the July 2017 edition: Pipers are being asked to take part in a unique and simple way to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War. The College of Piping is assisting Bruno Peek LVO OBE OPR, founder and pageantmaster with ‘Battle’s O’er – A Nation’s Tribute’. This will be a mass playing of the retreat march, When the Battle’s O’er outside cathedrals and other locations 06:00 on Sunday, November 11, 2018. Pipe Major William Robb, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. Many millions were either killed or returned home dreadfully wounded, along wi ..read more

Acclaimed filmmaker Guy Ritchie brings his dynamic style to the epic fantasy action adventure “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.” Starring Charlie Hunnam in the title role, the film is an iconoclastic take on the classic Excalibur myth, tracing Arthur’s journey from the streets to the throne. CHARLIE HUNNAM as Arthur in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ fantasy action adventure “KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD,” distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures. When the child Arthur’s father is murdered, Arthur’s uncl ..read more