The Glengarry Pioneer Museum welcomes guest speaker Alan Jones on July 6. Jones is a traditional Celtic musician, bagpipe historian and collector, who will bring along a selection of instruments to discuss and play.
In addition to hearing history of Celtic instruments and listening to Jones play various types of pipes and flutes, Jones will review some long-revered bagpipes within the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s collection. The museum holds safely within its storage a set of bagpipes that were reportedly played at the Battle of Waterloo, making them more than 200 years old.
Jones has built a reputation for his professional presentations and performances on various bagpipes and other instruments, and although his principal milieu is in the domain of traditional Celtic music. He has played the pipes for films, TV and with a number of well-known artists, as well as with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra.
In 2002, Jones was awarded the John de Chastelain Award by the Québec Thistle Council for contributions to piping. In 2014 he was invited to arrange a display of bagpipes at the Montréal St. Andrew’s Society Ball, and in 2018 was awarded the Liam Daly Heritage Award by the United Irish Societies of Montréal for contributions to Irish culture. He is an Honorary Life Member of The Northumbrian Pipers’ Society (UK) and an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He has been an invited consultant on a specialized world music bagpipe album issued by Nimbus Records, an invited artist on numerous recordings, and has recorded four CDs featuring his piping on a number of different bagpipes. Jones has also organized bagpipe exhibitions in Canada, three museum exhibitions in Scotland, and exhibitions in Wales and Brittany, France. Jones is currently working on a Master’s degree thesis to catalog a world class collection of bagpipes.
Come to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum on Saturday, July 6 at 2:00 pm and enjoy the history and the performance. There is no admission price but donations are appreciated. For more information, go to www.glengarrypioneermuseum.ca or call the museum at 613-527-5230. The museum is located in the village of Dunvegan at the crossroads of County Road 24 and 30 and is open every day, except Mondays.
