Brief Message....the Great Highland Bagpipe
1975
Article
I first encountered the films of the Scottish filmmaker Margaret Tait in 1971 at the Ricky Demarco Gallery in Edinburgh; together with Ian Breakwell I was showing film work as part of the Edinburgh Festival. The Gallery were screening a program of her films which, in a word, entranced, one of which had a voice singing in phrasing that complemented in an unsettling way, the images. Later, I learnt the composition was a particualr adaptation of a pibroch piece for bagpipes. Ricky gave me her address which, as it was in the far north of the country, prevented an immediate visit. In 1975 I was to meet Margeret and visit her in Orkney with my good friend and fellow filmmaker, Annabel Nicolson.