BAGPIPE> Boer war tunes
Henry Whyte
In message <352F82...@boat.bt.com>, Bob Smith <smit...@boat.bt.com>
writes
>Hi, I have been very lucky, some pipers from our band " Newtongrange "
>have been asked to assist in the making of afilm in Morocco, its set in
>the Boer war, the producer asked if would play %$"..... Amazing
>Grace....*6&%4, I suggested that it MAY not be appropriate .
>Thankfully he is open to suggestions , as usual there is not a lot of
>piping in the film , most likley just background stuff, but it should be
>as close to being believable as possible . Any suggestions , Highland
>Laddie is most popular so far .
The first tune that leaps to mind is the competition march, "The 91st at
Modder River" (unknown composer), on pp. 126-7 of the Queen's Own
Highlanders' Cabar Feidh collection. The battle of Modder River was on
28 November 1899, and more details are given in the book. The tune is
also on p. 25 of "Master Method for Highland Bagpipe", by PM James
Robertson and PM Donald Shaw Ramsay, 1953 ("new edition"), where it is
misnamed "The 93rd at Modder River".
The 4-part 2/4 march "Paardeberg" (looks like a good band tune, but no
composer is named) is on p. 131 of the Queen's Own Highlanders' Cabar
Feidh collection and on p. 56 of "Master Method for Highland Bagpipe".
Paardeberg, says my history book, is where on 18 February 1900 the Boer
general Piet Arnoldus Cronje (1840-1911) surrendered to the British
forces (the Queen's Own Highlanders say he surrendered on 27 February).
Just three months earlier, on 11 December 1899, Piet Cronje's forces had
repulsed the British, under Lord Methuen, at Magersfontein. "The
Highland Brigade at Magersfontein" is a popular two-parted 3/4 march by
PM John McLellan, DCM, on p. 26 of the "Fifth Cowal Collection", dating
back probably to the 1930s or before, and I believe it is also in the
SPBA's first book, with the title shortened to "Magersfontein".
"The Relief of Ladysmith", a four-parted 2/4 march by Major K.M.
Cameron, RAMC (a bit heavier than the previous tune) is on pp. 10-11 of
W. Ross book 4. Ladysmith was relieved by British forces on 28 February
1900.
The following dates/places are listed in my history reference; there may
be tunes associated with some of them and maybe the names will tickle
someone's memory for titles:
17 October 1899 Boers defeated at Glencoe [can't be the Scottish one!]
30 October 1899 Piet Joubert wins battle of Nicholson's Nek [sic]
against a British force under George White
10 December 1899 British defeat at Stromberg
15 December 1899 Redvers Buller repulsed by Louis Botha at Colenso,
Natal
13 March 1900 Frederick Roberts captures Bloemfontein
17 May 1900 Relief of Mafeking
24 May 1900 Britain annexes the Orange Free State
5 June 1900 Redvers Buller takes Pretoria
4 July 1900 Armies of Roberts and Buller join forces at Vlakfontein
27 August 1900 Louis Botha defeated at Bergendal
31 August 1900 Frederick Roberts occupies Johannesburg
25 October 1900 Transvaal formally annexed by Britain at Pretoria
-- November 1900 Boer guerilla raids on communications and British
outposts grow in intensity in Orange River Colony and
Transvaal
31 May 1902 Peace of Vereeniging ends Boer War, in which British
casualties numbered 5,774 (and 16,000 deaths from
disease) against 4,000 Boers killed in action.
Good hunting!
--
Henry Whyte, Lochee hwh...@translation-plus.co.uk
Ian Lawther
The problem with playing tunes actually associated with the Boer War by
title is that they would be unlikely to be in circulation as events
happened. And if you want to be a pedant you would have to choose tunes
that fitted the dates in the film. For instence at the New Years eve
celebrations for 1900 (for example) the band could play "The 91st at
Modder River" which would be a very new tune, but not "The Relief of
Ladysmith" because that was a couple of month away.
I think the safest is to play standards known to be in circulation at
the time, taken from books like the William Ross (1868) collection.
-- /
Ian Lawther http://www.northernlight.demon.co.uk/ian2.htm O///
Faversham, <|o>
Kent, UK. |\
||
Gary Spinrad
My wife is South African. Can you tell me where I could get my hands on some
of these tunes?
--
Gary Spinrad
Composer/Sound Designer
Sierra Online
Gary.S...@NOSPAM.Sierra.com
lose the NOSPAM. on reply
"There's nary an animal alive that can outrun a greased Scotsman"
--Willy the Groundskeeper--
Ian Lawther wrote in message ...
Turpen, David T.
> >The problem with playing tunes actually associated with the Boer War
> by
> >title is that they would be unlikely to be in circulation as events
> >happened. And if you want to be a pedant you would have to choose
> tunes
> >that fitted the dates in the film. For instence at the New Years eve
> >celebrations for 1900 (for example) the band could play "The 91st at
> >Modder River" which would be a very new tune, but not "The Relief of
> >Ladysmith" because that was a couple of month away.
> >
> >I think the safest is to play standards known to be in circulation at
> >the time, taken from books like the William Ross (1868) collection.
> >
>
as far away in time from the Boer War as today is from WW2. "Sir Colin
Campbell's Farewell to the Crimea" is a retreat march in SG1 and a
pretty tune. "Green Hills of Tyrol" would also come from that era,
along with a bunch of more obscure tunes like "The Alma", "Sevastopol"
and some others that aren't played anymore but are in some of the older
collections of pipe tunes.
There's also Logan's Collection, which covers that time period.
A book of WW1-era pipe tunes included a lot of material from the Zulu
and Boer War eras. So I guess a lot of the "standards" in a given war
came from the previous ones, or the years in between.
Dave
Chris Hamilton
"Johnny With the Bandy Legs", aka "The South African Trek Song" is a nice
4/4 march and I would imagine dates from that era or earlier.
"Abercairney Highlanders" or "Bonnie Ann" were certainly popular
established tunes by that time as well.
Chris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Hamilton -- tone...@erols.com
City of Washington Pipe Band
http://www.serve.com/cowpb/chamilton.html
G.W.J.Olivier
Henry Whyte wrote:
>
> In message <352F82...@boat.bt.com>, Bob Smith <smit...@boat.bt.com>
> writes
> >Hi, I have been very lucky, some pipers from our band " Newtongrange "
> >have been asked to assist in the making of afilm in Morocco, its set in
> >the Boer war,
> The first tune that leaps to mind is the competition march, "The 91st at
> Modder River" (unknown composer),....
My 2p worth:
Surely the tunes written to commerorate the boer war would either have
been written after the conflict or would only have become known after
the event. This being so it would probably be more appropriate to play
tunes which were well known at the time e.g. Barren Rocks etc.
--
George W.J. Olivier
Rum Bosun
Why do you not just go out and purchase the Gordon Highlanders pipe music
collection ,books one and two. They were there. you my just find what you
need.