About the composer
A resident of Regina, Canada, Iain McDonald has decades of experience playing in Grade 1 bands in Canada and Scotland. He founded the Grade 2 City of Regina Pipe Band in 1992, and was pipe major for 30 years. He also received tuition from Pipe Major Donald MacLeod.
Currently Iain teaches piping at the Conservatory of Performing Arts, University of Regina. He has performed and recorded on Scottish, Uilleann and smallpipes, contributed articles to piping magazines, and published a novel about the life of Angus MacKay. In 2023 Iain received the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal for services to piping in Saskatchewan.
This tune won CNP’s 2024 competition for the composition of new piobaireachd, created to honour the McKay brothers, founding fathers of piobaireachd culture in New Zealand. Iain started on the tune a couple of years earlier, then completely revised it for entry to the competition.
The tune is performed here by Murray Henderson, CNP’s patron.
