As noted on The Regiment’s website, the Pipes and Drums are at the heart of our regimental life. The Pipes and Drums maintain the daily cadence of our traditions. They are the guardians of The Regiment’s soul, marking the passage of time through duty calls, mess dinners and the “Lament” played to honour fallen comrades. The music of the Pipes and Drums defines The Regiment’s identity, whether they are leading The Regiment on the march, providing entertainment at a mess dinner or providing the solemn atmosphere required for ceremonial occasions, including our annual Service of Remembrance parade.
In our next few issues of Dileas Despatches we intend to strengthen our collective awareness as Highlanders of the rich heritage of pipe music and tradition from which we all benefit and to which we can all contribute through our own knowledge and appreciation of the pipe music to which we are all exposed through parades, special occasions, reunions and mess functions.
We thought we could start with two tunes: first, our Regimental March, Highland Laddie, and second, a superb 4/4 march composed by one of our very own.
Highland Laddie (also referred to as “Hielan’ Laddie”) is actually a traditional popular Scottish folk tune. At some point after 1796, when Robert Burns wrote his famous poem Highland Laddie, the lyrics of the poem were set to the traditional folk tune, and the tune became known by the name of the poem, “Highland Laddie”. The lyrics of the poem celebrate the courage and loyalty of a Highland soldier while also expressing support for the “lawful King”; this last reference may be reflective of the fact that, at the time Burns wrote his Highland Laddie poem, only 50 years had passed since the 1745 rebellion of the Highland Scots against the English Crown; Burns may have been expressing support for the Jacobite cause which had sought to instal Charles Stuart (the grandson of King James II of England) as the rightful King of Scotland and England in preference to King George II. A detailed outline of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion to overthrow the English Crown is, no doubt, well beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that the lyrics to Highland Laddie are well-endowed with the spirit of aggression, loyalty, commitment and principled perseverance which is so valuable in a fighting Highland unit.
Although Highland Regiments of the British Army chose various tunes as their regimental marches during the 18th and 19th centuries, by 1881 virtually all of those units had adopted Highland Laddie as their regimental marches. Following British Army tradition, when the 48th Highlanders of Canada were established in 1891, British Army procedure was followed and Highland Laddie was selected as the new regiment’s march. In particular, the selection of Highland Laddie as the regimental march aligned nicely with the status of Highland Laddie as the regimental march of the Gordon Highlanders, with whom The Regiment formed an official formal alliance in 1904.
In any event, here is a link to an audio recording of Highland Laddie. Strict regimental tradition mandates that, except when on the march, all Highlanders stand to attention whenever Highland Laddie is played.
https://youtu.be/OMa20F5kh5M
A second tune, this one with a much closer and direct connection to The Regiment, is “The 48th Highlanders of Canada Pipes and Drums”. This tune is also a 4/4 march (meaning that there are four beats in each bar of the music, with one beat per quarter note) and appears to have been composed in 1981 by Angus J. MacDowell (1937-2018), who joined the Pipes and Drums in 1981 as a volunteer drummer and piper after a lengthy career as both a piper and a drummer with each of the City of Montreal Pipe Band and the CFB Rockcliffe Pipe Band. It appears likely that the tune was first written to commemorate the Pipes and Drums’ participation in the 1981 Military Musical Pageant at Wembley Stadium in London. Although Angus MacDowell’s time with The Regiment was short (after a brief sojourn with the 48th Highlanders, he returned to his hometown of Montreal in 1983), he has left behind a wonderful four-part tune which the Pipes and Drums play regularly. Here is a link to an audio recording (played on a practice chanter rather than on the pipes themselves) so that you will recognize the tune when you hear it:
https://pipetunes.ca/tunes/48th-highlanders-of-canada-pipes-and-drums/
Of special interest to Highlanders is the fact that Angus MacDowell’s father, Colonel Thane W. MacDowell, was awarded the Victoria Cross while serving with the 38th (Ottawa) Canadian Infantry Battalion (now perpetuated by the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa) during the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917.