Finlay MacDonald (musician)

Not to be confused with Finlay MacDonald (Teenage Fanclub).

Finlay MacDonald (born 1978) is a Scottish musician and composer.[1] He was one of the first pipers to receive a BA in Scottish music and piping from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.[2] MacDonald is head of piping studies at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow.[3] He founded his own band The Finlay MacDonald Band, which toured between 2006 and 2007 to highly positive reviews, though in recent years they have been inactive.[3][4] Annually he works with Roddy MacLeod to organise the Piping Live! Festival.[3]

He performed with Jay-Z, P Diddy and Alicia Keys in 2010 and later with Bryan Adams at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.[3]

As well as musical collaborations and performances, MacDonald appeared in the Michael Keaton film A Shot at Glory.[3]

In 2012, MacDonald was the co-star with Alastair Campbell in a Sky Arts documentary, First Love, in which he taught the former Labour Party strategist, who had learned the pipes as a child, to prepare for a major solo piping performance at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. The experience rekindled Campbell's love of piping, and MacDonald has since become his tutor, and the pair have performed together at a number of events, including anti-Brexit rallies.[5]

  1. ^ Davidson, Vicky (4 August 2005). "Piping Alive; Forget tartan, shortbread and whisky - just dance!". Evening Times. Glasgow. p. 13.
  2. ^ Wild, Abigail (13 August 2005). "So cool, he's really piping hot; Profile Finlay MacDonald; With spiky hair and jeans, he seems more pop star than piper, particularly with his entourage of teenage female fans in tow. But who is the 27-year-old blowing the wind of change into traditional piping?". The Herald. Glasgow. p. 15.
  3. ^ a b c d e Ellis, Maureen (10 August 2011). "Piping Guru Goes from Rap to Reel in Jig Time". Evening Times. Glasgow. p. 26. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  4. ^ "Fort hosts prestigious piping contest". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 4 August 2007. p. 4.
    - Brooks, Cameron (11 November 2006). "Wet wet wet are headline act at Aberdeen's Hogmanay celebrations". Aberdeen Press and Journal. p. 24.
  5. ^ Ward, Rachel. "First Love, Sky Arts, preview". www.telegraph.co.uk. The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 August 2019.