Dunaber Music

John Wilson’s Finest Tune: Tom Kettles

In his autobiography, “A Professional Piper in Peace and War” (1979), John Wilson wrote that he considered his composition, the six-parted reel, Tom Kettles, his “finest composition”. It’s a technically tricky tune, full of interest – and original melody. As I’ve mentioned before, for me it straddles the line between hornpipe and reel, with maybe the reel vibe edging out that of the hornpipe by a hair. It’s a happy-sounding tune with a bright and lyrical – almost song-like – quality to it.
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John MacDonald on the Radio at 84

Anyone who has visited the excellent G S McLennan website will have seen a smashing photograph of John MacDonald of Inverness. I include it here for easy reference (well, for those click-averse). This version is colourized and “enhanced” – and I’m not entirely sure its better than the original.
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To confer importance: John Ban MacKenzie

Thanks to technology we’re all photographers. The mobile phone-cum-camera is everywhere. The late writer, Susan Sontag, famously wrote of the subject in her book On Photography (1977). I’ve talked about some of her ideas before but her cleverness stands repeating. She wrote that to photograph is to confer importance. I suppose importance is relative to the photographer and the person that observes the photographed subject. Your pic of your take-away boxed lunch of chicken tikka, pilau rice and Gulab Jamun is likely to mean much more to you than me. But, still, to be fair, a tasty lunch of colourful Indian treats has, for a time, an importance of sorts to any photographer and so there’s a ring – or, maybe, tinkle – of truth to Sontag’s words.
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(Tunes for) Summertime

Here’s a few tunes to help while away your day – a holiday if you live in Canada.

Here’s me playing my solo spot at the May 21, Toronto Police Pipe Band show at the el Mocambo club in Toronto.
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