Piping Live! Festival

Piping Live! Festival
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)Glasgow
Years active21
Attendance30,000
Websitewww.pipinglive.co.uk

The Piping Live! Festival (a.k.a. Piping Hot Festival) is an annual bagpiping event held in Glasgow by the National Piping Centre. The festival was created in 2003 and occurs on the run-up to the World Pipe Band Championships.[1] It is estimated that the festival alone adds £12 million to Scotland's tourism revenue and it is the largest bagpipe festival in the world.[1][2]

The festival is always opened with performances in the Royal Concert Hall by musicians including The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland.[3][4] The festival itself consists of over 150 individual events including free classes, concerts and ceilidhs throughout the week.[5][4] The festival also has its own "Canada Day" to celebrate the multitude of Canadian Grade I bands who participate in the Championships.[6] The Piping Centre also produces and releases albums around the festival, such as Seudan by the band of the same name in 2011.[7]

The festival won Event of The Year at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards in 2008 and in 2010 Eve Muirhead was named the festival's ambassador in an effort to reach out to a younger audience.[8][9] The event is directed by Roddy MacLeod.[1][10]

  1. ^ a b c Augustine, Lalila (11 August 2012). "Piping festival sells twice as many tickets as last year". The Herald. Glasgow. p. 8.
  2. ^ "Pretty Little Skirl". Daily Record. 9 August 2011. p. 23.
  3. ^ Duncanson, Hilary (3 June 2009). "Prince to Meet Young Entrepreneurs". Press Association Mediapoint.
  4. ^ a b Gray, Rebecca (7 August 2012). "City tunes up for the Olympics". Evening Times. Glasgow. p. 18.
  5. ^ "Scotland's own Olympics will be piping hot!". Evening Times. Glasgow. 18 July 2012. p. 9.
  6. ^ Reid, Marelle (3 August 2012). "SFU pipe band off to world championships; Burnaby-based pipers heading off to Glasgow for annual competition". Canwest News Service.
  7. ^ Gilchrist, Jim (3 August 2011). "Folk, Jazz, Etc : Different key for pipe treasures". The Scotsman. p. 37.
  8. ^ Wilson, Caroline (8 August 2009). "City braced for its biggest ever piping festival". The Herald. Glasgow. p. 9.
  9. ^ "The pipes are calling a younger audience". The Times. London. 19 May 2010. p. 16.
  10. ^ Gilchrist, Jim (14 August 2010). "Review: Glasgow alive with pipers for clash of the titans". The Scotsman. p. 36.