Word: piobaireachds
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...days last week in the first postwar piping competition of Scotland's Piobaireachd* (pronounced peebrook) Society, 35 brightly kilted professional bagpipers skirled and wailed like caterwauling cats on the warpath. To protect the pipes from the hazards of the Inverness climate, the contest, usually an outdoor affair, was held in a small, grey stone hall. The hall's acoustics put the pipes out of tune, and their braying was flatter than ever...
...pipers solemnly paced and danced about the stage as they piped marches and piobaireachds, a kind of wailing dirge which sounds like the cries of caged animals. Said Archibald Campbell: "We purists are passionately devoted to the piobaireachd." When the last piper had piped, one of the judges complained of a cramp and was heard to mutter: "Och, it's a terrible long business, terrible long." Another admitted to "a little pressure around the temples." The judges sadly agreed that the war years had not improved the quality of the pipers...
...Piobaireachd was anglicized to pibroch in the 18th Century but Gaelic purists still cling to the ancient spelling...
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