Escaping the Black Argyll

[OC Richard]

About the previous stability, here's a band in 1935 and a band in 1976 compared.

Same hat, same shirt, bow tie, same jacket, same tartan hose, same buckled shoes.

The only evolution was the style of sporran from long hair to Evening Dress seal & silver (the latter is often seen being worn by pipe bands after WWI) and the laying aside of the plaid.

[McMurdo]

Caber Feidh was the coolest band in my area. My pipe teacher was a member of this band.








Maxville 1976

https://youtu.be/cWlFrjDjqz4

[OC Richard]

Thanks!

There's virtually no change in uniform between the 1935 band I posted and the 1960s photo you posted of City of Toronto.

In the decade 1967-1977 one sees a big change in the size of the bowties, and the size of the hair!

I would think that in the next decade 1977-1987 the band changed over to the new pipe band look.

BTW interesting that Toronto's "regulation" doublets have buttons on the cuffs and front but none on the skirts.

Another thing, is there any way you could reduce the file size of the 3rd photo in your post above? It's making my screen go wonky, I don't know about anybody else's.

[McMurdo]

Another thing, is there any way you could reduce the file size of the 3rd photo in your post above? It's making my screen go wonky, I don't know about anybody else's.

It has been changed.

[Silmakhor]

I started playing pipes at age 10 and quickly moved into the competition scene, playing with the Atlanta Pipe Band and, briefly, the Grandfather Mountain Highlanders. I started band competitions probably in 1988 or so.

I am just getting back into highland wear and kilts, and the one thing I will avoid like syphilis is the black Argyll/white hose/glengarry look. For one thing, I went over to the dark side and now play Irish music primarily, so the pipe band look would not fit at all for gigging. And, in my mind that look is just *so* regimented and devoid of creativity.

I feel validated by this thread

[OC Richard]

I started band competitions probably in 1988 or so.

I am just getting back into highland wear and kilts, and the one thing I will avoid is the black Argyll/white hose/glengarry look. For one thing, I went over to the dark side and now play Irish music primarily, so the pipe band look would not fit at all for gigging. And, in my mind that look is regimented and devoid of creativity.

I feel validated by this thread.

Ah, so you got into the competition pipe band thing at the very time that black Argyll + black Glengarry + black Ghillies + white hose look was getting its firm grip on the world's bands.

My perspective is a mere decade longer, around 1976, before that look appeared. Bands then, who up until recently had been wearing Full Dress or Evening Dress in competition, were experimenting with various more-comfortable options.

For us, like many 70's bands, it was the offwhite handknit Aran hose, brown corduroy vests, and Balmoral bonnets. Ghillies weren't yet a thing, a 1970's photo of our band shows only one person wearing them, the rest in ordinary shoes.

A popular look at the time was wearing Prince Charlies with long ties, various types of sporrans, and the aforementioned hose.

I too went to the Irish side, taking up uilleann pipes in the late 1970s and ever since having one foot in the Irish pub session scene and one foot in the Highland pipe band competition scene. Of course Irish uilleann pipers wouldn't dream of wearing a kilt.

Anyhow here's a recent escape the Black Argyll performance, for Veterans' Day on Friday