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About the Maker
Duncan Gillis is a professional
musician and instrument-maker living in Ottawa, Canada,
with his wife Ananda and son Bodhi. His musical career
began at the age of seven with lessons on the practice
chanter from his father, Allan Gillis of Judique, Cape
Breton, Nova Scotia. With his Cape Breton background,
Duncan was exposed very early on to a living tradition
of dance-music which has continued to guide his musical
interests. His piping tutelage continued with the late
Charlie Bell of the Air Command Pipes and Drums (Royal
Canadian Air Force) and later, as a competing member
of the Glengarry Pipe Band, with Roger Martin and Pipe
Major J.T. MacKenzie. After working and playing in the
re-enacted regiment of the 78th Fraser Highlanders on
St. Helen’s Island, Montreal, Duncan played briefly
with the all-to-brief Dunvegan Pipe Band under Pipe
Major Scott MacAulay and Pipe Sergeant Colin MacLellan.
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At some point in the late eighties, his interests in the
wider scope of Celtic music took him from the pipe band
setting to playing tin whistle, flute and other instruments
in what are known as sessions and in various multi-instrumental
bands. It is essentially through this experience that
the idea of an instrument which possessed all of the subtle
expressive possibilities of a fiddle or flute but which
retained the fingering system of the Highland bagpipe,
was born – the Highland Hornpipe. Duncan’s
previous experience in making other folk woodwinds and
his acquaintance with skilled instrument builders like
Nathan Curry, Colin Carrigan and John |
Bishop equipped
him with the ability (or, some would say, insanity) to
begin experimenting with single reeds and tubes of all
types and sizes. Eventually, after many months of trial
and error, the Highland Hornpipe came into existence in
the fall of 2003.
Duncan’s musical career so far has seen him play
at Highland games, folk-festivals, The House of Commons
and Parliament Hill, the Governor General’s residence
at Rideau Hall, the Grand Hall of the Canadian Museum
of Civilization, and at a national welcome for Nelson
Mandela. Duncan has shared the stage with Gaelic singers
such as Catherine-Anne MacPhee and Patricia Murray, pipers
such as Rob Crabtree, folk singers like Andy Irvine and
Garnet Rogers and has performed and recorded with fiddle
players such as Alexis MacIsaac and Pierre Schryer, and
with singer-songwriters like Ian Tamblyn. Presently, Duncan,
on Highland Hornpipe and his other instruments, is involved
in a new group called Ecosse, with Bobby Watt (formerly
of Cromdale) and James Stephens (The Finest Kind, Ian
Robb and Jig, The Pierre Schryer Band, Six Mile Bridge).
He also plays regularly at The Cape Breton Ceilidhs and
Dances, which happen every two months at the Montgomery
Legion Hall, 330 Kent St., Ottawa. More information on
these events and on booking Duncan and friends can be
found at www.wanderingminstrels.com. |
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