Author Description

No matter where you go in Nova Scotia, you can't help but notice that there's always music. Rock bands and Cape Breton Fiddle music to be sure, but also the lovely haunting strains of the Great Highland Bagpipe that echo through the hallowed halls and dark green forested hills of this fair province by the sea. For those who live in Nova Scotia, Canada, pipe music is a part of the fabric of their very being. <P>"Pipers of Nova Scotia Biographical Sketches 1773 to 2000" lists more than 1600 pipers who were and are an integral part of Nova Scotia's cultural mosaic. Many entries have detailed biographies, and there are more than 200 photos, some of which never before appeared in print. Here you will find out about pipers young and old, male and female, famous and obscure, dating from the arrival in Pictou Harbour in 1773 of piper John MacKay aboard the immigrant ship "Hector" and continuing right up to the present time. Some of the most interesting stories are not about those who achieved the highest acclaim in provincial, national and international competitions, and many Nova Scotian pipers did, but from those for who piping became an integral part of their daily lives and of the social life of the communities in which they played. The stories of their struggles to learn and master the intricacies of this most difficult of instruments and their joy in the music they shared with others should serve to inspire pipers for generations to come.