Fin is gaining a great reputation as a teacher of pipes having just completed his third summer season of teaching at the Gaelic College in Cape Breton. He has also taught at the Lowland and Border Pipers Society annual teaching weekend in Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

He has now performed at the Celtic Connection Festival in Glasgow, Celtic Colours in Cape Breton and the Edinburgh International Festival. This year he was invited by the internationally renowned Cape Breton band, SLÀINTE MHATH,  to tour with them for two months in Scandinavia.

Pete Stewart began playing traditional music in the early 1970’s, playing fiddle and pipe and tabor for dancing, including rapper sword and morris dance, and playing for the Grenoside (Yorkshire) Long Sword Dance. His interest in piping began in the early eighties when Julian Goodacre designed and made for him the ‘English Great Pipe’, which he has since been playing as one of The Goodacre Brothers, at the forefront of the revival in English Bagpiping. He also plays Scottish small pipes in the 18th century style and has recently begun playing the Bulgarian Gaida.

He has taught piping for dancing at various Bagpipe Society events and has published two books on the history of piping, Robin with the Bagpipe – The English Bagpipe and its Music (2001) and The Day it Daws- The Lowland Scots bagpipe and its Music 1400-1715 (2005). He has recently published Three Extraordinary Collections –Early 18th Century Dance Music for Those that Play Publick, an edition of three rare fiddle music books to which he has added an essay on the triple-time hornpipe. He has also been involved in the performance and recording of the ‘Rosslyn Motet’, a realization of the 15th century music encoded in stone at Rosslyn Chapel, and will be giving workshops on both this and the bagpipe hornpipe at the Gathering.

It all started with going to the country dance class at the high school so that when I went to university I naturally signed up to play for the sword dancers and the folk dancing group. I was playing fiddle then and only came across the small pipes when the dancers went out to events which included Scottish and Irish dancers and music from Northumberland in the shape of two pipers called Forster Charlton and Colin Caisley.
I was immediately taken with the sound of the pipes and asked Forster if he could get a set for me which he did some years later after I had left university. At the time I was studying I had also met up with Bill Hedworth who was teaching metal work as part of my degree course in sculpture. He would get us all started and then pull out a little box full of chanter keys which he would work on while we were busy. I found out that they were part of the small pipes and was introduced to the idea of making the pipes from that moment.
By the time Forster did turn up with the pipes I was just about to get married and spent the first six months copying the set that he had found for me. This had come from the collector and pipemaker in Glasgow, Willie Hamilton. With no complaints from my wife, the folk singer Ray Fisher, I was on the slippery road to becoming a pipemaker myself.
I would make about a set a year in between teaching in the local secondary school and playing the pipes and fiddle in our group the High Level Ranters. We toured abroad and at home and the set I had made at the beginning advertised for me as I played it in the group so that I built up an order book that helped me to make the decision in the seventies to take redundancy from teaching and become a full time pipemaker.
I was preceded in that decision by David Burleigh by five years who I had met while teaching at the Polytechnic. He was across the road at the Hancock Museum working as a taxidermist and like me was finding it difficult to keep up with an increasing demand to make pipes for folk at home and abroad.
With the decision made I had a small workshop built at the back of the house, upgraded my machinery and set to work on the pipes in my order book which would keep me busy for at least two years. In fact the order book kept getting added to and I have never stopped since. There was pressure at first to make the pipes to earn money to sustain my family of three teenagers but things went well enough so that I came out of that period knowing I could make enough to make it a pleasure to do what I really wanted to do.
Bill Hedworth said to me at the time to remember the saying of Ralph Waldo Emerson:- ‘ If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbour, tho’ he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.’ He added to include ‘make a better set of pipes’ and you wouldn’t have a problem getting work.
I had decided to model my pipes on what I regarded as the classic style as created by Robert Reid in the same way that a violin maker would regard Stradivari as a model. I have stuck to this with only small deviations, which is more to do with modern techniques in key making and tuning and tonal considerations than being different just for the sake of being different. The internal business of the reeds and especially the drone reeds I looked to Tom Clough who had adapted metal organ reeds. I had been taught reed making by Forster Charlton who was fine with the chanter reeds but never got away with the cutting of the all cane drone reeds so I decided to try Clough’s method of tying a metal tongue on to a metal body. This took some time to get right but was still not ideal because of tonal considerations and as I found out because of the build up of verdigris on the metal which would prove an ongoing problem due to the fumes from the bag dressing. I decided to try fitting cane tongues and the problem was solved and is what I use now although I have tried plastic tongues which do work very well but still prefer using cane.
I have still been playing the pipes and fiddle alongside my work as a pipemaker as I reckon to be a good pipemaker you need to know what to aim for in your pipes mechanically and soundwise. I think that the qualities needed are combination of being a musician, artist and craftsman along with being something of a businessman and nice guy which I will leave you to decide.

Annie grew up in the Highlands. Music played a large part in her formative years, and she began learning to play the bagpipes at the tender age of ten. Music Festivals and close harmonies with her four siblings gave her a solid grounding in singing and her wasted youth was spent marching up and down Fort William High Street with the Lochaber Junior Pipe band.

During her four years at Glasgow School of Art, she joined her first band, The Gunsmoke Trio and Pedro, achieving fame as buskers of great volume, outside M&S in Argyle Street. The Mighty Peelly Wally Ceilidh Band was her second group, which took up residency in the Vicky Bar. Then came the invitation to join a new band subsequently named Iron Horse.

Iron Horse became one of the acclaimed “new wave” folk bands of the nineties. The group was in huge demand, constantly touring and recording. They visited all corners of the world, headlining at major festivals including Vancouver Music Festival, Celtic Connections, and the Interceltique festival in Lorient. Annie’s voice became a feature of the band, as well as her ability to entertain audiences with her stories and infectious humour.

Musical projects with Iron Horse included the award-winning Voice of the Land (‘95) commissioned by the BBC, Stri (‘97) a collaborative fusion piece with the RSNO and tours with British Council projects in Central Asia. In 2002 Iron Horse collaborated with Sogdiana, the national orchestra of Uzbekistan, touring parts of the country, and producing a CD of the project.

Annie started to expand her musical horizons guesting on other albums with backing vocals or instrumentation. In 1998 she found herself surrounded by thirteen world music divas in the fantastic Female Factory show. Based in Amsterdam, this show toured Russia, Spain and Holland with a ten-piece band.

Other projects included Scottish Women 2001/2002, commissioned by Celtic Connections. Annie is also a member of the Scottish big band The Unusual Suspects, who were formed in Celtic connections 2003. This 22- piece band will be touring nationally again, in the autumn of 2005.

After Iron Horse retired in 2001, Annie’s acting ambitions came to fruition, and she performed in the award winning Accidental Death of an Accordionist (theatrecollective@highland), subsequently appearing in The Celtic Story (Wildcat 2001), The Wedding (theatrecollective@highland 2002), Homers (Traverse theatre 2002), the hugely popular Mum’s the Word (R.C. Kelly productions 2003), Miniatures (theatrecollective@highland 2004), her first one-woman show Poker Alice (Play, pie and a pint series, 2004) and Story Nation, four plays in four days! (Dumfries and Galloway Arts 2005).

In February 2004, Annie released her solo debut album Take me out drinking tonight to an overwhelming response, including a 5 star review in the Sunday Herald. The album, a sparkling collection of contemporary and traditional material, shows Annie at her mature and confident best, living up to her reputation as a superb singer and exponent of the whistle.

Current publications include The Gathering of the Clans Collection, (1990). A well researched historical/musical work on Nova Scotia pipers and pipe music that is now in its third printing with sales worldwide. The Cape Breton Collection of Bagpipe Music, (1995), and in 2001, The Gathering of the Clans Collection, Vol. Two.  This is a companion collection to Volume One and offers an historical essay on Nova Scotia community pipers, pipe makers, and pipers in the army. The book contains 137 tunes and 8 pages of historical notes on the tunes, their composers and arrangers. 

The CDs and books may be ordered directly from Barry.

Published Articles include:

Bagpipe Makers in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, 1807-1920. August, 1996, Piper & Drummer Magazine, Ontario

The MacKays of Gairloch, The Canadian Connection. August, 1997, Piper & Drummer Magazine, Ontario.

Pipe Music For Stepdancing. June/July 1987, The Clansman, Halifax, N.S.

Piping Families in 19th Century Cape Breton. February 1988, The Clansman, Halifax,N.S.

Pipers of The North British Society, June/July 1991, The Clansman, Halifax, N.S.

Eamonn Dillon was born and bred in West Belfast, Northern Ireland. He first learned the tin whistle from his father, then attended classes taught by Tara Diamond who taught whistle and flute. His uncle got him his first set of pipes from Sean McAloon, who would also give hints and tips while starting out.

He moved to the U.S. in 1992 and since then has played with many different music outfits, as well as recording with numerous other musicians. He also enjoys teaching whistle as well as pipes, as well as organising and participating in sessions in and around the state of Florida.

Bill Ochs has been called a "central figure in the renaissance of the tin whistle" by National Public Radio's All Things Considered and "the leading tin whistle teacher in North America" by New York's Irish Voice newspaper. He has devoted over thirty years to playing and teaching the instrument.

Ochs is author of The Clarke Tin Whistle handbook, now in its seventeenth printing with over 235,000 copies in print. He is producer of Micho Russell's Ireland's Whistling Ambassador, and co-producer of Cathal McConnell's Long Expectant Comes At Last, both of which were nominated for "Best Celtic Album of the Year" in the NAIRD Indie Awards.

Ochs also plays the Irish uilleann pipes, which he learned from master pipers Andy Conroy, Pat Mitchell and Tom Standeven in Ireland and the U.S. Ochs's piping studies in Ireland were supported by a 1976 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. His piping and tin whistle playing can be heard on the Rounder CD Light Through The Leaves.

Ochs's performing credits include playing for José Quintero's Broadway production of A Touch of the Poet, Pilobolus Dance Company's Broadway début, the soundtrack for Bob Rafelson's film Mountains of the Moon and the première of Wind by Eiko and Koma at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. He was also piper in the original touring lineup of The Green Fields of America, which included Liz Carroll, Jack and Charlie Coen, Michael Flatley, Sean McGlynn and Mick Moloney.

Ochs has written on Irish music for New York Magazine, Sing Out, The Pipers' Review and other publications. He is currently writing a book on the music of Micho Russell. He lives in New York City where he teaches at The Irish Arts Center.

She was a founding member of the popular group Kitty's Kitchen and now plays with Tara Nova, another popular Toronto based traditional group. Deborah has performed with Symphony Orchestras, recorded sound tracks for television shows and specials, regularly leads sessions in the Toronto area, has performed on CBC radio as well as on CDs with other musicians and has made numerous live solo appearances. She is a regular organizer of and performer in the annual Chris Langan Traditional Weekend in Toronto.

Debbie has taught pipes, reed making and whistle at various festivals including the Irish Arts Week in the Catskills, the Barrie Celtic Gathering, at the North American Comhaltas Convention, The Pipers' Gathering in North Hero, Vermont as well as the Chris Langan Weekend. She was a presenter at the Celtic Women's International Convention in Milwaukee. She also teaches the pipes and whistle privately in her own home.

After college Andrea's energies went into teaching classical flute, directing flute choirs, and raising a family. Then, fate stepped in! A friend took her to an Irish session at a pub and her musical life was changed forever. Traditional Irish music became her new passion and she was soon playing at sessions and ceilis in the Boston area. She now teaches tin whistle and flute to dozens of students each week and leads sessions, including slow beginner sessions. Her teaching affiliations include The Irish Cultural Centre of New England and the Comhaltas Ceoltiori Eireann Music School at Boston College and Harvard University. Most of her students are adults who were absolute beginners when they started and are now joyously playing tunes with others. Andrea's enthusiasm and dedication to passing on the tradition extends to the younger generation as well. In 2004 she founded the New Boston Ceili Band, a group of 14 teenagers.

Andrea performs with Boston Comhaltas and with The O'Carolan Consort, a group dedicated to playing the music of Turlough O'Carolan. She is a former member of the Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society Band. Numerous performances include the JFK Library and the Irish Connections Festival. A life-long interest in all kinds of piping has led her to take up the Uilleann pipes; there may be a public performance in 21 years.