Forget the golden rules – and he did
On this morning’s drive into town (it takes a bit under 30 minutes to go from door to door – and 27 km) I listened to a recording of last week’s (June 14th) edition of Mary Ann Kennedy’s Celtic Connections on BBC Radio Scotland. The very first track on the show was an eye- (or ear-) opener, an energiser and foot-tapper. It was a bagpiping piece, contemporary, fast and innovative. The piper’s name was given as Mark Saul.
We humans have a tendency to put things into slots and categories (even on this blog), and my first thought was to think “he’s a Martyn Bennett or a Paul Mounsey”. Sorry, Mark, you’re a Mark Saul.
The track played on Celtic Connections was “Forget the Golden Rules” from Mark’s “Mixolydian” CD. I’m pretty sure some piping traditionalists may think that Mark broke the rules! And, boy, am I glad he did.
On visiting Mark’s web site I discovered that’s he’s based in Melbourne – a mere 1000 km from here – with an interesting history in the piping scene.
There’s not much more for me to say to say given that I’ve only heard the one track, but based on that I’m heading off to order the CD. Thanks be to Celtic Connections.
[...] CD “Mixolydian” arrived a couple of days ago, and I’m on my 6th run through it. I mentioned this CD a week or so ago after I had heard a track being played on BBC Radio Scotland’s Celtic [...]
Currently listening to … Mixolydian, Paul Saul « The MacAlba
March 9, 2009 at 10:18 am