a scottish tradition lives on
by Mike Overall, photo by Lindsey Little

Each time the Northeast Arkansas Caledonian Pipes and Drums ensemble performs at a parade, festival, convention, celebration, competition or private venue, it is continuing a Scottish tradition that stretches back some six centuries.

The accomplished pipe and drum band, whose members include several musicians from Jonesboro and the surrounding area, are well aware that Caledonian is another word for Scotland or Scottish said Pipe Major David Corbett, a former Arkansas State University student from the Marion area.

“The history of Scotland comes alive when the bagpipes and drums resound,” said Corbett, whose successor, Danny Vaughn of Hoxie, assumed the post last month. The musicians’ melodies are reflected through the prism of history, calling forth traditions, legends and folklore whose inceptions are shrouded in the mists of Western European history.

Keith Pringle of Jonesboro, an engaging and amicable man who grew up on the border of Scotland and England, is an unabashed supporter of the ensemble and the role it plays as a living history organization. Whether he is playing bass drum or piping, his enthusiasm for the music is evident in his timely foot-patting and his broad smile at the conclusion of a particularly rousing rendition of a traditional melody.

“Not only do we love what we play, we are tuned in to the history of this music and what it has meant to millions of people down through the centuries,” Pringle said following a rousing performance at Cregeen’s in Downtown Jonesboro.

The ensemble recently held its largest annual fundraiser, Robert Burns Night (Burns Nicht), in mid-January at the First Presbyterian Church on Southwest Drive. A packed house enjoyed the centuries-old tribute to Robert Burns, a Romantic poet and lyricist who is generally regarded as the national poet of Scotland.

Pipers and drummers entertained the audience with a program of traditional music and victuals, including Haggis, a kind of savory pudding that first appeared in recipe form in 1430.

“The suppers are normally held on or near the poet’s birthday, January the 25th,” said Corbett. “Although the suppers are most common in Scotland and Northern Ireland, they are held wherever there are societies devoted to Burns’ poetry – Scottish Societies, expatriate Scots or a group of people who are enamored of ‘the greatest Scot of all time,’ eclipsing even the legendary William Wallace.”

The first recorded Burns Night Supper was held by his friends and admirers in Ayrshire, Scotland at the end of the 18th century on the anniversary of Burns’s death in 1796. Today, the famous poet’s legacy is celebrated throughout much of the world, from New Zealand to Western Europe to the United States, where Scottish traditions, emboldened by waves of immigration, have flourished for several centuries.

According to Pringle and Corbett, Mike Doyle, the director of KASU-FM, the broadcasting service of ASU, has played a crucial role in the staging of several Burns Night Suppers in Jonesboro.

The ensemble maintains a busy performance schedule. In Jonesboro alone, the group has played at the annual Christmas parade, civic-club and church gatherings, Jonesboro High School, the ROTC Military Ball at ASU, local rugby contests, numerous ceremonies, weddings and funerals.

The pipers and drummers, who dress in traditional regalia for performances, have also played in Hoxie, Walnut Ridge, Paragould and Hot Springs here in Arkansas, in Jackson and Memphis in Tennessee, and for Eastern U.S. Pipe Band Association contests and conventions throughout the country.

Pringle and Corbett described the group as a performance-oriented, community-based band that does its best to teach competent musicianship within its particular idiom.

Scottish Highland Pipes, one of many varieties of bagpipes, isn’t ear-splitting when played properly. When Pringle plays, 600 years of musical tradition emanate from the bagpipes, which legend says were banned as weapons of war following the battle of Culloden in 1746.

Organized in 2006, the Northeast Arkansas Caledonian Pipes and Drums musicians include Pringle, Jacob Penley, Laura Wieczorek, Murray Pringle and several other performers from Jonesboro. Bono resident Derek Reed, whose piping helped him earn an impressive scholarship to Lyon College, has performed with the group, along with an array of players from communities in Northeast Arkansas.

Regardless of their age, the musicians’ mantra is tradition: authentic, respected and beholden to centuries of history and its attendant vagaries.