Characters and contexts

Welcome Home My Dearie. Piping in the Scottish Lowlands, 1690-1900, by Pete Stewart, Hornpipe Music.

Review by Gary West

FOLLOWING ON from The Day it Daws, in which he traced the development of Lowland piping from the-15th to the 18th centuries, Pete Stewart here brings his story up to modern times with the same energy, knowledge and attention to detail as in the previous volume. As is to be expected, the source data are considerably richer for the later period, both in relation to piping itself and to the wider social and cultural contexts within which the tradition operated.

Stewart takes full advantage of the richness of his sources, sketching out the ever-changing backdrop for us with a lightness of touch which prevents his story from getting too bogged down with extraneous detail. Political union, agricultural improvement, ecclesiastical fashion, shifting moralities - his engagement with all of these societal developments and many more, help to take this work beyond that of a piping study and into the realm of a history per se. That said, the

trail of source material is not without its gaps, and as the author admits, we are still some way off being able to provide a confident, complete narrative of the history of Lowland piping in its entirety With this book, however, we are now much further down that road.

Although the contextual material is impressive, it is indeed the pipers and their music who take centre stage and they give a performance which is well worthy of their billing. Stewart has an uncanny knack for unearthing the finest detail on all things piping, however obscure the source may seem, and it is this determined thoroughness that is the great strength of this book. We are shown that there was no single “world” of Lowland piping, but actually many; the world of the mendicant beggar piper, castigated by church and shunned by society; but also the world of the well to do gentleman piper, celebrated and worthy, and of course characters of every social standing in between. Even those who served the towns and burghs were far from being a homogenous lot, and Stewart's various mini case studies of some of them reveal much about these players, their duties and their

place in the community, which varied a great deal across place and time. For some, their music punctuated the rhythm of the year - common ridings, harvest celebrations, annual ball games, horse races, for others, ceremonial duties beckoned in return for a home, a uniform, a small retainer and on occasion, a drink-fuelled notoriety

As well as function, Stewart also tackles more technical (and perhaps, controversial) issues of organology, repertoire and style. Again, his voice is confident and assured, and even if others may reach different conclusions on some of these issues, his fresh look at the evidence does convince in many instances. 1 won't spoil the ending by rehearsing his conclusions here (buy the book!) but he has something to say on most of the thorny topics which tend to raise their heads in Common Stock, so those of you who enjoy a good debate, argument or indeed flyting, won't be disappointed!

If 1 may be permitted one minor moan, the absence of an index is a bit of a pain, especially given the richness of the contents, for going in search of all he has to say on specific themes and references is time-consuming and frustrating (when you're trying to write a review of it for example!). But that apart, this is a highly significant work of which Pete Stewart should be very proud. It stands as another major landmark in our understanding of the piping past, and happens to be a really good read too. Financially supported by the LBPS, I'd say it has been money very well spent.