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Salute to Rona Lightfoot

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The original girl piper and trailblazer for women pipers, Rona Lightfoot is a world-renowned piper, singer, story-teller and teacher.

This pair of CDs comprises 37 tracks – stories from Rona’s life and piping life, and pibroch songs/piping. The CDs include the group of piping songs which she taught at Fèis Rois in 2015 and 2016.  Whilst she learnt some of these from her mother, Rona gratefully acknowledges the assistance she had from Allan MacDonald and Margaret Stewart in compiling her teaching resource of piping songs.   The songs are sung by a group of singers whom Rona has taught over many years at Ceòlas and Fèis Rois.   Each song is followed by the related piping tune or pibroch (or part thereof). During our “Covid” year, all the contributors have generously donated their time without payment.  And all the recordings have been conducted by the artists themselves or by Linn using mobile recording equipment on location or in a nearby studio where this was possible, creating a tough task for our sound engineer James Jelliman, and we are grateful for the fantastic job he has done in the editing, mixing and mastering of these CDs.

This project was the brain-child of Linn Phipps, when – after the holiday of a lifetime in Antarctica – she was stuck on at sea unable to get home. Whilst doing the useful and long-overdue task of sorting computer and phone recordings from Fèis Rois etc class recordings, she recalled a recent chat over a Burns Night dinner … And she thought … why not record the piping songs as a resource and in recognition of all the joy Rona has brought to her classes? … linking up with pipers playing the tunes and Rona’s own story…. And here we are!!

How to listen to sample tracks / buy the CDs

You can buy the 2 audio CD set as a digital downloadable album on bandcamp here https://salutetorona.bandcamp.com for £12.

Until recently the printed CD set has been available for £16/set PLUS postage and packing costs through a Paypal link.  (You can use Paypal to pay without having a Paypal account, if any problems please contact Linn on her contact page). However very few remain of the first batch (please contact Linn to see if any sets remain), so until a further printing can be funded, please buy on bandcamp as above.

You can listen to sample tracks in the player below the track listings.

Track listings

Disc 1
  1. Rona’s story – First memories
  2. Fhir a Chinn Duibh – Linn Phipps
  3. Lament for the Children – Iain Speirs
  4. Rona’s story – Early memories, milkbottles
  5. Cailleach Beinne Bric horò – Rena Gertz
  6. Old Woman’s Lullaby – Iain Speirs
  7. Rona’s story – A rebel in school
  8. Gabhaidh sinn an rathad mòr – Jean Mackay
  9. We’ll take the High Road / Calum’s ceilidh – Duncan Nicholson
  10. Rona’s grandfather Neil, ‘Gen’
  11. Cha tìll MacCruimean – Linn Phipps
  12. MacCrimmon’s Lament / MacCrimmon will never return – Duncan Nicholson
  13. Stories: ‘Gen’ used to teach Rona tunes; Grandfather playing for four lttle girls
  14. A Cholla mo Rùn – Jennifer Speirs
  15. The Piper’s Warning – Iain Speirs
  16. Story about Angus Campbell
  17. Mnathan a’ ghlinne-sa – Jean Mackay & Linn Phipps
  18. Mnathan a’ ghlinne-sa – Ashley MacDonald, Jean Mackay & Linn Phipps
Disc 2
  1. Rona’s story – Early years learning pipes
  2. Maol Donn – Linn Phipps
  3. MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart – Iain Speirs
  4. Rona’s story – Fhuair mi pòg à làmh a Rìgh & Rona sings the Canntaireachd
  5. Fhuair mi pòg à làmh a Rìgh – Jennifer Speirs
  6. I got a kiss of the King’s hand – Iain Speirs
  7. Rona’s story about Shonnie “Rhoidainn”
  8. Moladh Mòraig – Rena Gertz
  9. In Praise of Marion – Michael Grey
  10. Rona’s story – Meeting her brother at Glasgow Queen Street
  11. Rona sings Canntaireachd: MacIntosh’s Lament (first pibroch)
  12. Cumha Mhic an Toisich – Linn Phipps
  13. Lament for Mackintosh – Calum Alex MacMillan
  14. Rona’s story – The Northern Meeting
  15. Pìobaireachd Dhòmhnuill Duibh – Jean Mackay
  16. Black Donald’s March – Iain Speirs
  17. Rona tells stories about the two heifers; and Christmas dinner
  18. A’ Ghlas mheur – Rena Gertz
  19. The Finger Lock pibroch – Duncan Nicholson

Illustrated Note on Rona’s life

Here is the illustrated Note on Rona’s life.

Rona-life-story-V4-4.21-pdfDownload

Note on the contributors to the CD

Singers: Jean Mackay, Jennifer Speirs, Linn Phipps, Rena Gertz

Pipers: Ashley MacDonald, Calum Alex MacMillan, Duncan Nicholson, Iain Speirs, and Michael Grey

Here is the Note on the contributors.

Bios-combined-for-Rona-Web-revd-V6-8-22-Download

CD Song words and translations

Here are the words for the songs on the CDs with translations.

Salute-to-Rona-Lightfoot-Song-Book-V1-pdf2Download

Note on the piping tunes/ pibrochs by Professor Joshua Dickson

Here is the Note on the piping tunes/ pibrochs, written by Professor Joshua Dickson.

Pibroch-and-tune-notes-Prof-JDDownload

Beneficiary Information:

This is a non-profit-making CD set: any proceeds over and above production costs will go to Ceòlas, South Uist, https://www.ceolas.co.uk.

Contact:

Please email linnphipps@gmail.com for further information or if you cannot access the resources linked on this page.