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Old and New World Highland Bagpiping |
eBook Available
An innovative use of oral history that challenges accepted accounts of traditional bagpiping.
Old and New World Highland Bagpiping provides a comprehensive biographical and genealogical account of pipers and piping in highland Scotland and Gaelic Cape Breton.
The work is the result of over thirty years of oral fieldwork among the last Gaels in Cape Breton, for whom piping fit unself-consciously into community life, as well as an exhaustive synthesis of Scottish archival and secondary sources. Reflecting the invaluable memories of now-deceased new world Gaelic lore-bearers, John Gibson shows that traditional community piping in both the old and new world Gàihealtachlan was, and for a long time remained, the same, exposing the distortions introduced by the tendency to interpret the written record from the perspective of modern, post-eighteenth-century bagpiping. Following up the argument in his previous book, Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945, Gibson traces the shift from tradition to modernism in the old world through detailed genealogies, focusing on how the social function of the Scottish piper changed and step-dance piping progressively disappeared. Old and New World Highland Bagpiping will stir controversy and debate in the piping world while providing reminders of the value of oral history and the importance of describing cultural phenomena with great care and detail.
The work is the result of over thirty years of oral fieldwork among the last Gaels in Cape Breton, for whom piping fit unself-consciously into community life, as well as an exhaustive synthesis of Scottish archival and secondary sources. Reflecting the invaluable memories of now-deceased new world Gaelic lore-bearers, John Gibson shows that traditional community piping in both the old and new world Gàihealtachlan was, and for a long time remained, the same, exposing the distortions introduced by the tendency to interpret the written record from the perspective of modern, post-eighteenth-century bagpiping. Following up the argument in his previous book, Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945, Gibson traces the shift from tradition to modernism in the old world through detailed genealogies, focusing on how the social function of the Scottish piper changed and step-dance piping progressively disappeared. Old and New World Highland Bagpiping will stir controversy and debate in the piping world while providing reminders of the value of oral history and the importance of describing cultural phenomena with great care and detail.
Details
Part of the McGill-Queen's Studies in Ethnic History Series (number 2.13 in series)
450 Pages, 6 x 9
Illustrations
ISBN 9780773539235
September 2011
Formats: Paperback, eBook
"An excellent work, well researched, splendidly footnoted, a book anyone with an interest in the subject will find a 'must have.'" The Canadian Historical Review
"John Gibson has provided in this new book an incredible wealth of information." Mario Champagne, Department of Music, Stanford University
"Throughout Old and New World Highland Bagpiping, John Gibson emphasises and decodes the traditional Gaelic social and cultural relationships between many of the clans and families in Scotland and in Cape Breton. Gibson manages to do an exceptional job of this while incorporating his awareness of social differences between classes for each Gaelic Scot and their experiences with piping and pipers. This book should be regarded as an excellent reference book... Gibson provides an endless list of questions and concerns within his own research that would provide a solid foundation for further academic research and stimulate debate in the area of piping history." Erin C.M. Grant, University of Guelph
"Gibson presents an overall view of piping patronage among the Scottish clans which has only been dealt with piecemeal in the past. Such a general survey has not been done before in such a comprehensive manner." Peter Cooke, School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh
"Gibson's is a voice which deserves to be heard on the history of the highland bagpipe. His passion for the subject shines through on every page and there can be no denying his knowledge of the sources for piping history, in Gaelic as well as in English and other languages. He has produced another book of great learning." David Waterhouse, University of Toronto, and long-time piping student of late P/M John Wilson (Edinburgh), was formerly in the Pipes and Drums of the 48th Highlanders of Canada
"John Gibson has provided in this new book an incredible wealth of information." Mario Champagne, Department of Music, Stanford University
"Throughout Old and New World Highland Bagpiping, John Gibson emphasises and decodes the traditional Gaelic social and cultural relationships between many of the clans and families in Scotland and in Cape Breton. Gibson manages to do an exceptional job of this while incorporating his awareness of social differences between classes for each Gaelic Scot and their experiences with piping and pipers. This book should be regarded as an excellent reference book... Gibson provides an endless list of questions and concerns within his own research that would provide a solid foundation for further academic research and stimulate debate in the area of piping history." Erin C.M. Grant, University of Guelph
"Gibson presents an overall view of piping patronage among the Scottish clans which has only been dealt with piecemeal in the past. Such a general survey has not been done before in such a comprehensive manner." Peter Cooke, School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh
"Gibson's is a voice which deserves to be heard on the history of the highland bagpipe. His passion for the subject shines through on every page and there can be no denying his knowledge of the sources for piping history, in Gaelic as well as in English and other languages. He has produced another book of great learning." David Waterhouse, University of Toronto, and long-time piping student of late P/M John Wilson (Edinburgh), was formerly in the Pipes and Drums of the 48th Highlanders of Canada
John G. Gibson, a scholar of Gaelic culture and ethnographer who lives in Judique, Nova Scotia, is also the author of Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945 and The Back o' the Hill.
