Stuart Highlanders Pipe Band Concert
On Saturday, March 26th, Bagad New York had the distinct pleasure of performing at the annual Stewart Highlanders Pipe Band Concert outside of Boston, MA.
This was a great performance for the Bagad and was an excellent opportunity for us to spread
the word about what we do and who we are.
BNY was approached last summer about playing at the concert with the Stewart Highlanders as well helping the pipe band pick out some Breton tunes to play by themselves; we were more than happy to help out and very thankful for the opportunity to play as well! BNY was given 15
minutes to perform near the end of the first half of the show and we decided to play two sets in couple, with Alex Bartholomew and Sean Buchta playing a Kaz Ha Bar on bombarde and pipes, followed by Alex and Mike MacNintch playing a Hanter Dro on bombarde and Biniou Kozh. The rest of BNY’s performance was as a full band with Sean Buchta, Jared Otto, Yoann Le Goff, Rory Cullen, and Gordie Peters on pipes,
Matt Lewis on snare, Jake Otto on bass, Mike Eagle on percussion, and Alex Bartholomew and Mike MacNintch on bombarde.
Congratulations to Jared Otto and Mike Eagle, for whom this was their first performance with BNY! We started off with a Breton march “Tro ha tro d’Iliz” and then played a set beginning with a tune called “Elle ou est mon valise” followed by a dance called a Scottish. The set went very
well overall and we were more than happy with our performance. Near the end of the show, Mike MacNintch and Alex Bartholomew went back out onto stage to play with the Stewarts for their Breton set.
BNY helped the Stewarts learn three different tunes: a slow Breton song known as a gwerz, a Breton march called St.
Noyal, and a dance called a Plinn. The Stewarts worked very hard to master the intricacies of these tunes and played them to a very high level. We sincerely appreciated their openness to broadening their musical horizons and we were very warmly received at the two practices we attended.
BNY is very thankful to the Stewart Highlanders organization for allowing us the opportunity to help spread our love of Breton music and for the excellent venue at which to perform.
We had great fun playing with the pipe band and we look forward to working with them in the future.
