Band Concert: Recent Episodes
Jamie McEwan
The skirl of the pipes and the rhythm of the drums are showcased on Band Concert, a programme dedicated to bringing this centuries old instrument to a 21st century audience.
Host Jamie McEwan brings you the latest and greatest recordings of piping and drumming, as well as all of the latest news and results from New Zealand and the world. Jamie took over the helm in 2009 from the late Jim Fraser who started the show in the 1990’s.
Jamie has brought a new slant to the show – by highlighting the diversity within the pipe band genre. Tune in to hear a bit of everything – solo piping, drum fanfares, techno, choral singing, even some traditional pipe bands! Recordings from the latest contests and competitions are also featured regularly.
Jamie is a current member and former Leading Side Drummer for the grade 1 Canterbury Caledonian Society Pipe Band. Outside of competing in the band, he is an active participant in the pipe band scene in New Zealand. Jamie is a well respected tutor, having taught at numerous NZ National Summer Schools and various workshops around the country, and is also Vice President for the Canterbury Centre of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Band Association.
Band Concert is produced with the assistance of the Canterbury Centre of the RNZPBA and plays Sunday fortnightly at 12.30pm.
Some piping themed Chirstmas carols and tunes to get into the festive spirit plus results from the Palmerson North Square Day contest.
With the end of year upon us, there's only a couple of comps left before Christmas so looking ahead to the RNZPBA Summer School - featuring performances from the 2 international tutors Scott Wallace and Jake Jorgensen.
Time to head to the archives to enjoy some classic tracks from the 1980's from the likes of 78th Fraser Highlanders, Polkemmet and Strathclyde Police pipe bands.
A quick wrapup of the World Solo Drumming Championships and Labour Weekend Silver Chanter piping events.
Top solo pipers gather in Chch over Labour Weekend for the annual Silver Chanter Competition. Jamie McEwan whets your appetite for a full report in the next episode with some great tunes from around the piping world.
Some more recordings from the World Championships and surrounding events with a focus on the 4 NZ bands in attendance - Auckland & Districts, Manawatu Scottish and the two Canterbury Centre bands, Canterbury Caledonian Society and St Andrew's College.
Some recordings and talking points from the 2023 World Pipe Band Championships held in Glasgow on August 18 and 19.
Some recordings from the UK Champs held at Lurgan, Northern Ireland on 10th June. Recordings courtesy of the youtube user dronechorus.
Clips of the G2 Medley event from the 2023 NZ National Pipe Band Championships held on March 10-11 in Christchurch. Courtesy of the live stream from the RNZPBA - video available on their youtube channel.
Clips of the G2 MSR event from the 2023 NZ National Pipe Band Championships held on March 10-11 in Christchurch. Courtesy of the live stream from the RNZPBA - video available on their youtube channel.
Recordings from the Saturday Grade 1 Medley event of the 2022 World Pipe Band Championships held in Glasgow on Aug 12th and 13th. Full replay of the bands performances available on theworlds.co.uk.
Recordings from the Saturday Grade 1 MSR event of the 2022 World Pipe Band Championships held in Glasgow on Aug 12th and 13th. Full replay of the livestream available on theworlds.co.uk.
Some recordings from the Friday Grade 1 Medley event of the 2022 World Pipe Band Championships held in Glasgow on Aug 12th and 13th. Full replay of the livestream available on theworlds.co.uk
Some recordings from the Friday Grade 1 MSR event of the 2022 World Pipe Band Championships held in Glasgow on Aug 12th and 13th. Full replay of the livestream available on theworlds.co.uk
A few clips to warm us up for the Worlds that take place this weekend. A couple of performances from the 4th RSPBA Major - the Scottish Championships, and also from the North Berwick International Highland Games the weekend before the World Champs.
Some recordings from the All Ireland Champs held in New Ross on July 2nd, also a round up of local Centre band activities.
A few recordings from the 2022 European Championships held in Inverness on June 25th, courtesy of the youtube user DroneChorus.
A series of recordings from the recent RSPBA UK Championships held at Lurgan Park on June 11th, courtesy of the youtube channel DroneChorus.
To celebrate the Queen's platinum jubilee we have some recordings from the British Champs, the first RSPBA major in 2 years
A couple of old favourite tunes as well as some of the latest recordings from online solos and Northern Hemisphere bands starting to get back into it.
A couple of toe-tappers, plus a couple of youtube clips where the number of views are over 200k, hopefully some great pipe band performances being seen by people in the mainstream - not just us pipe band-y people!
A few performances from past national championship winning bands on what would have been weekend of the 2022 National Championship in Auckland, that were unavoidably cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic.
With covid restrictions in place cancelling local pipe band activity, a brief rundown on the RNZPBA plan for 2022, plus summary of dates in the RSPBA calendar for the months ahead. And some great tunes of course!
A wee nod to Robbie Burns during the week marking his birthday, plus some tunes by the Red Hot Chili Pipers to mark the whole country being in Traffic Light Red for a week!
A discussion with my eldest daughter about pipe band music that she was listening to while she studied lead to me creating a playlist for her - so have included a sample of that in today's show.
Part 4 in the series of highlights of the RSPBA Majors from the past 5 years. Today's show features a number of performances from the Scottish Championships that normally are held in late July.