THE WHISTLEBINKIES

Scotland’s Traditional Music Ensemble

• Peter Anderson Scottish side drum/bodhran
• Iain Crawford double bass
• Anna Dagg fiddle / viola
• Stuart Eydmann fiddle / concertina / vocals
• Mark Hayward fiddle
• Rhona MacKay clarsach / vocals
• Eddie McGuire flute
• Rab Wallace lowland pipes / Scottish smallpipes

Peter Anderson

Scottish side drum / bodhran

Having learned his musical art within the pipe band world, Peter Anderson is a leading performer of the Scottish Drumming tradition in which the side drum closely follows the melody and ornamentation of the bagpipes. He brings this tradition along with the sound of the bodhran to The Whistlebinkies. He is a respected soloist and leader of the drum corps of the Wallacestone and District Pipe Band, the oldest civilian pipe band in the world.

Iain Crawford

bass

Fifer Iain Crawford has been Principal Bass of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra since 1994. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from New York’s Juilliard School where he studied as a scholarship student of David Walter. Iain teaches double-bass at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and has given masterclasses all over the world; this spring he will visit conservatoires in Brazil and Argentina. Increasingly active in the traditional music scene, Iain recently gave the first ever concert from the Recital Room at the orchestra’s new home, Glasgow’s restored City Halls. He plays on a double-bass made in Aberdeen in the nineteenth century.

Anna Dagg

fiddle / viola

Anna Dagg was classically trained at Trinity College of Music, London. She then returned to Edinburgh where she taught violin and viola, and played in many orchestral and chamber music ensembles. She recently moved to the Peak District. Having always had an interest in traditional music, her own personal style developed after attending inspirational fiddle courses on the Isle of Skye. She joined the Whistlebinkies in 1993. Anna plays a 1988 Paul Collins violin, which was made for her, and a Czechoslovakian viola.

Stuart Eydmann

fiddle / concertina / vocals

In additional to his more traditional fiddle style, Stuart Eydmann also brings to the group the sound of the concertina. A recipient of the prestigious Glenfiddich Living Scotland Award for his work on the history of Scottish music, he holds a Doctorate in Ethnomusicology gained through his extensive research into traditional music. Stuart has many publications to his name on the role of the accordion and concertina in Scottish history and abroad and has performed and produced many recordings in addition to his recordings with The Whistlebinkies.

Mark Hayward

fiddle

Mark Hayward is a well known member of the Orchestra of Scottish Ballet and a free-lance musician. Mark specialises in the ‘classical’ style of fiddle music which can be traced back to the early 18th century when traditional dance music was the staple diet of all sections of Scottish society.

Rhona MacKay

clarsach / vocals

Steeped in the Gaelic tradition of harp and clarsach playing and the classical harp tradition through her study with the great harpist Sanchia Pielou, Rhona Mackay has returned the play with the group, having performed and recorded with them in the early 1980s. Her wide experience ranges from appearances with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to performing with Anne Lorne Gillies and David Essex.

Eddie McGuire

flute

In addition to his skills on the flute (both modern and traditional), Eddie McGuire is also one of Scotland’s foremost composers. His music is commissioned and performed by leading artists and orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Ballet and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has written for traditional instruments including works for bagpipes and orchestra and has had major premieres at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow and the Festival Interceltique, Lorient in France. He has many recordings of his own music along with those as a member of The Whistlebinkies. In 2004 he received a Scottish Arts Council Creative Scotland Award culminating in the collaboration between The Whistlebinkies and Scottish-based Chinese traditional music group Harmony.

For more information on the music of Edward McGuire

Robert Wallace

Lowland Pipes / Scottish Smallpipes

Robert Wallace is one of Scotland's leading professional solo pipers. A regular prizewinner at the highest level, Robert is also leading performer on the great Highland Bagpipes as well as a pioneering exponent of the smaller, bellows-blown Lowland and Scottish chamber pipes. He has made several solo records and compiled the successful Glasgow Collection of Bagpipe Music. He became Principal of the Glasgow College of Piping in 1999 and is Editor of its magazine Piping Times.