The Unipiper, Portland’s favourite bagpipe playing unicyclist, apparently had a moment in the sun last month on American TV. The piper featured on the massively popular America’s Got Talent, auditioning in front of judges including shock jock DJ Howard Stern, model Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel (I’m not sure who that is.) No idea how he did, although if this picture is any reflection he at the very least looked awesome, dressed as Uncle Sam this time.
Obviously he left the Darth Vader mask at home but hopefully he’ll get the chance to perform the Star Wars theme on national TV again, possibly by the time The Force Awakens is released! I can’t find the video online but I imagine it’s awesome, hopefully this guy keeps getting exposure, maybe one day we’ll be able to book him as a piper for our wedding. Maybe a Scottish wedding piper will steal his gimmick! Who knows!?
You can like the Unipiper on Facebook here. If you haven’t watched his videos already then you’re missing out and we recommend them wholeheartedly!
So it was a couple of weeks ago now but one of the things I absolutely love every year in Glasgow is the Mela festival. 40,000 people (according to their website) headed to Kelvingrove park for a festival that has a combination of different cultures and some really interesting performers. One of my favourite things about the day is that you’ll sometimes see performances combining two or three different types of music you wouldn’t usually see, for instance this video from 2009 featuring the bagpipes:
The Mela has a great variety of food, a nice wee part of the park to go hide in and have a beer and a stage featuring a lot of interesting performers you wouldn’t usually get the chance to see. It’s always a decent day out.
On the subject of Scottish wedding pipers I didn’t see any bagpipers this year but that’s not to say they weren’t there. Will have to keep an eye out next year.
If you were at the Mela and got any decent photos or videos why not post them or a link to them in the comments below! Also check this out!
Here’s another collection of songs you are probably familiar with that you wouldn’t expect to see covered on bagpipes and certainly wouldn’t expect to see on a blog about Scottish wedding pipers!
The Flintstones theme song
Do they still show the Flintstones on TV? I have vivid memories of watching it as a kid along with about fifty other Hanna-Barbera shows that used to cheaply fill up kids television.
I’m also old enough to have begged my dad to take me to see the 1994 movie complete with Agent Dale Cooper as the villian and the terrible B-52s cover of the theme. It doesn’t take much but the video below is certainly a more enjoyable cover than that one ever was:
(And for comparisons sake here’s the B-52s version. I’m very sorry.)
If I can make some requests I’d like to hear some more kids TV show themes covered, in particular Thundercats, The Pink Panther and Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. MAKE IT HAPPEN INTERNET!
Game of Thrones theme
I’d like to do some research and see if any Scottish pipers actually show up in the show. Living in Glasgow I’ve seen half the cast out drinking over the years, I’ve seen the actor that plays Sandor Clegane on a few occasions, he’s intimidating looking man!
Game of Thrones is a good show to do a bagpipe video for, the theme fits and the success of the show means that you can rack up the youtube hit count. This is a pretty cool video in my opinion so be sure to check it out!
Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
We’ll finish with one I never thought I would see, a cover of a song that depending on your vintage you may know from Leonard Cohen (the writer of the song,) Jeff Buckley or Alexandra Burke. Or from 5 years of terrible X-Factor auditions.
Hopefully Leonard got a nice retirement check out of it all.
Personally I’m a big fan of the original Cohen version without all the historic of the X-Factor cover but your mileage may vary. I think the band covering it are from Russia but I’m not 100% sure but, well, it’s something different right?
Have you seen any cool cover versions done on bagpipes? Let me know in the comments below! Also check out the Elite Bands pipe major here: http://elitebands.co.uk/scottish-piper
Wedding Piper Scotland 