When Piping was Strong: Tradition, Change and the Bagpipe in South Uist

Based on documented history and insights of local performers looking back on a lifetime of music making, this work examines the role of piping and pipers within Hebridean custom and how it has changed over the course of time. From this a picture emerges of a dynamic musical tradition which has adapted and survived through centuries of social change - through clanship, Catholicism, war, and the impact of wider Scottish authoritarian influences on piping in the 20th century. Overall, the book is a record of the history and aesthetics of the Great Highland Bagpipe in the southern Outer Hebrides from an intimate Gaelic perspective. Interviews with local sources were conducted in Gaelic and consideration is given to the context of traditional Gaelic social culture.