Here's a couple of fun tunes. It wasn't all piobaireachd at the College. The tune Flett from Flotta has an interesting story behind it. Donald MacLeod, MBE, was a very prominent piper of old in the Scottish regiments. The regimental silver was on it's way down to London for a big "do" and Donald and another soldier were guarding the silver on a train. While sitting on the crates containing the silver, they played their chanters to while away the time. Donald said they should write a tune to pass the time and when the tune was finished they were looking for a title. He asked the big soldier what was his name and where was he from. The rest is (as they say) history. The tune was written after Donald observed the peculiar gait of Flett. The rhythm is supposed to reflect his awkward walking style. Helps with the phrasing of the tune if you think of it like that, too. Flett from Flotta is the second tune and I hope you enjoy it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I looked up the website today because we are on holiday in Strone, near Dunoon and its the Highland Games this weekend. We noticed one of the pipeband tunes was Flett from Flotta and since my dad (who died 20 years ago was John Flett originally from Flotta. I was very interested to read the background to the tune. Thanks for the info.
Kind regards Helen Main (nee Flett)
I hope it's not too late for this blog to come alive again but the version of the story I heard was that the Regimental Silver had been buried in the Orkneys to protect it from Hitler who had obviously started WW2 just to get his hands on it!
The 2 gentlemen on the train also drank to pass the time as well as write and play their pipes but the purpose of the trip was to take the sliverware to clean it to celebrate the victory. The slightly 'wobbly' gait reflected both John Flett's unusual walk AND the fact that they were both 'wearing wobbly boots' after testing the regimental whisky that had also been buried.
In Australia we have just celebrated ANZAC Day which our day of remembering our war dead and those who survived. In typical Australian and New Zealand character we hold this day to commemorate one of our worst defeats. I marched in memory of my father, Don Flett, who survived 40 operations over Europe. As I marched with the 5 Sydney based survivors of his squadron we strode down Sydney's main street ... to the tune of Flett from Flotta........
Alan Flett
only 3 generations out of Orkney
I have just celebrated my 80th birthday and I was treated with a local bag pipe band playing Flett from Flotta as a surprise at my celebration. I was interested in finding out more about the silverware story. I grew up in the town of Powell River, British Columbia, a small paper mill town up the coast from Vancouver, British Columbia. Canada. Powell River Pipe band was quite famous in the early 50's. The mill needed workers and the Scots who were pipers and drummers were brought over to help build this famous pipe band. Our family was also from the Orkney Islands.
Post a Comment