Scotland Magazine author Ronald M James

The pipes, the pipes are calling

The bagpipes act as a strange ambassador for Scotland. Ronald M. James looks at their chequered history

After the 1745 Jacobite Rising in Scotland, anyone caught with a set of bagpipes could be executed. English forces regarded the instrument as a weapon of war because they recognised that the pipes had power to stir the soul of a nation. With the prohibition lifted after a few decades, the bagpipe b...

Scottish Music from Issue 23 published on 14/10/2005