Alasdair Roberts & Donald WG Lindsay

About this event

Scottish musicians Alasdair Roberts and Donald WG Lindsay have been friends for thirty years, since their teenage days. In these three decades, their careers in music have taken them down differing yet similarly unorthodox paths, and they’ve continued to make a lot of music together, usually informally. They’ve only rarely appeared together in concert, but in autumn 2024 they will remedy this state of affairs with their first duo tour.

Donald WG Lindsay is best known as the creator of the ‘Lindsay System’ three-octave keyless chanter for the Scottish smallpipes, as played by him on the critically acclaimed album History of Sleep recorded in collaboration with Glasgow experimental legend Richard Youngs. Donald is a former convenor of the Lowland and Border Pipers Society, with which he has a long association. Although a traditional singer since his teens, Donald has rarely ventured onto the stage as a vocalist, although he has recorded sporadically. In late 2020 he received airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music from Iggy Pop, who described his music as “…beautifully played… the whole record is really good.”

Alasdair Roberts is primarily known as a singer, guitarist, writer of songs and interpreter of traditional songs from Scotland and beyond. Since the nineties he has released several albums, mostly on the Drag City label, variously acclaimed both by aficionados of traditional song and experimental music. He has toured extensively in Scotland and worldwide. A keen collaborator, Alasdair has worked with many fellow musicians and practitioners from other disciplines including theatre, film, poetry and puppetry. He is a member of the folk quartet The Furrow Collective and the cult underground group Current 93.

For their duo tour, Donald and Alasdair will present a programme featuring a rich variety of pipe tunes with guitar accompaniment, as well as a broad selection of songs both traditional and original. The pipe tunes bring together a diverse range of influences, from Scots fiddle tunes (Donald’s elder brother’s fiddling being an early influence), by way of Hungarian and Romanian pipe music, to classic and contemporary Highland piping and Lowland, Border and Northumbrian tunes. The songs range from variants (some rare, some more well-known) of traditional ballads or ‘muckle sangs’, to songs from the Scots lyrical tradition from the early modern period onwards, to contemporary songs written by both Alasdair and Donald.

In the company of Donald WG Lindsay and Alasdair Roberts, listeners can expect a thrilling evening in which rare and splendid gems of Scottish musical history and tradition will be brought to life in the hands of two unconventional masters, who invite you to join them in celebrating thirty years of music and, just as importantly, of friendship!

Listen to Donald WG Lindsay and Alasdair Roberts: soundcloud.com

Donald WG Lindsay

‘A 21st century visionary’ – Piper and composer Matthew Welch

‘Donald has earned our admiration and respect for what he is achieving for piping’ – Piper, museum curator, author and professor Hugh Cheape

‘Lindsay coaxes such soaring sweetness from his pipes that any images of a gruff Scotsman shrieking the dead to wakefulness will no doubt be banished’ – Matt LaBarbera, Tone Glow

‘…although he can shriek the dead to wakefulness too, when the occasion demands it’ – Alasdair Roberts

Alasdair Roberts

‘Inherited tradition is very safe in Alasdair Roberts’ expert hands’ – Pitchfork

‘Roberts is at the height of his powers, occupying a place of his own. His career is increasingly a delight to experience. By making entirely original music that is recognisably rooted in traditions while sounding like nothing else, he is achieving something special’ – The Quietus

‘Mystery would seem to be something that Roberts seeks out; he enjoys unravelling the threads of myth, symbol, parable and song as much as he does winding them back up again or tangling them up in knots’ – Songlines