Interview:
Jamie Aitken, "great war piper" with Macumba
Cactus Café, Austin, Texas
1996 or 1997

I grabbed a piper to interview after the show. Jamie was a really happy guy and seemed to want to burst into laughter at any moment. I wish the interview had been longer!
I couldnt understand some of what he said until I'd run the recording back a couple times...he had a very strong accent. A couple of the names I never got.

You really have a thick accent. Are you from Gla...?
From Glasgow.
Glasgow. And you're...we're here tonight at the Cactus Café with Macumba.
Yes, Macumba from Glasgow, Scotland.
How did you guys get the idea of playing with such diverse...stuff?
It's one of the dummers event of Drissell [????] and he learned stuff from...he started back in Glasgow Art College, he started a drumming group and then it came to a ---- match and he wanted something different, he wanted samba drummers and he wanted something screwy, so he brought bagpipers along, the local pipe band, and it all started from there.
That's pretty strange. How long have you been piping?
For thirteen years.
And you were piping with the local band?
Yes, the local pipe band and that's how it all came about. The drum crew wanted some pipers so we went along and it all started from there.
So you...I had talked to someone who had said most of the bands in Scotland were semi-professional, Are you semi-professional?
Well, semi-professional...just never get home to get professional!
You're touring around the US now...
Yeah, we've been here over in America for Scotfest. We started in Orlando, been in Miami, then up to New York, played in New York, went to Los Angeles then San Fransisco and Austin's our stop before we go back to New York. Austin's the last two concerts we've got before we go back home to Scotland
Are you touring through Europe too, around the world.
No, this is a one-off really, because of Scotfest. This was a chance, an opportunity to come over and come to Austin, Austin sold a thousand CDs in a week. That's why we came over.
You play in the UK, you tour around the UK at all?
We do, we do quite a lot of concerts in the UK. We've been playing with [Jackie Shortley, the one nations driver]
The what?
Jackie Shure [?], he's the champion racing car driver. So we've been playing a lot for him as well.
You ever play for dances, we were dancing out there?
We like folks to dance while we're playing, yeah. It helps us play better if folk are dancing instead of sitting down.
Now how did you get...you have women out there playing the big drums. Is that normal?
No, that's just the drum squad we've got. It's not because they're women they're playing the big drums. They just have the big drums.
Thanks a lot! You guys did a great job.
We enjoyed ourselves. Austin's great. We like Texas!

gennett at gorge dot net

The Columbia Gypsy