Wednesday 1 June 2011
Tune of the Day: The Drunken Piper
Traditional Scottish pipe march
This Scottish tune is part of the Highland bagpipe repertoire, but has also made its way into Canadian tradition. This is the tune to which one of the most popular Scottish country dances of all time, the “Reel of the 51st Highland Division”, is commonly danced. The dance was written by Lieutenant J.E.M. ‘Jimmy’ Atkinson of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders while in a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. Atkinson's letter home with instructions for the dance was intercepted by the German security service, the Abwehr, who spent the rest of the war trying to break the code! However, another version of the dance reached Scotland, where it became instantly popular.
The tune is sometimes played in a mix of Dorian and Aeolian mode.