Santiago Metropolitan Pipe Band continued to raise the bar with the G7!

First Solo Drumming Competition

Photo: Jeannine Facht

The G7 offered workshops with each pipe band corps, an invaluable exposure and hands-on learning opportunity at the individual level and for the pipe band corps.  This instructional approach was in fact first adopted in Santiago de Chile, at the G3 ten years prior.  The 2017 Gathering also included the first Adjudication workshop, attended by band leaders to have a deeper insight of the pipe band competition genre; and also a step in the direction towards eventually having local adjudicators.

The Adjudicators (and workshop instructors) were:

• • Piping: Craig Munro (St.Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band, Wallace Bagpipes and Red Hot Chilli Pipers)

  • Drumming: Tyler Fry (TyFry, Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band and Red Hot Chilli Pipers)

  • Dancing: Susan Nase (Susan Nase and Shot of Scotch)

The Concert and Cocktails evening included a concert where the P/Ms and D/Ss of each band player a few sets together, followed by and impromptu concert by the adjudicators that brought down the house!

Adjudicator's Concert (L-R: Craig Munro, Susan Nase, Tyler Fry)

Photo: Jeannine Facht

This was the first Gathering after SPBASA approved a registration clause allowing pipe bands to compete with non-South-American guests within their ranks.  The intent of this new rule is to accelerate the bands’ exposure to overseas players, as compared to workshops every two years at a Gathering.  SAPA made the most of this by inviting Duncan Millar (snare drummer from the six-time World Champion, Simon Fraser University Pipe Band), who worked with SAPA’s drum corps for months prior to the G7.

SAPA's Drum Corps - Photo: Jeannine Facht

This Gathering hosted the Continent’s 4th pipe band competition, where bands competed in the Quick March Medley, Medley and Dance Corps categories.  Congratulations SAPA for winning the SPBASA Cup and the Dance Corps Competition both for a second consecutive time!  See also the Results page.  Bands also annexed to the competitions a general-audience free-style show, which is what our bands play mostly in their home towns.  Brazilian Piper (a social-project band from the State of Rio de Janeiro) stole the show with intricate drill, samba music and dances!

G7 pipe bands - Photo: Jeannine Facht

The G7 was unofficially closed with a Ceilidh/dinner at the Doce Trece pub/brewer in Providencia (a suburb of Santiago), and officially closed on Sunday Nov-26 after the Massed Bands Parade in the Las Condes district, and playing at the Parque Araucano with the Chilean Air Force Symphonic Orchestra and the Asturian Gaitas Ximielgu band.  Great thanks to the Santiago Metropolitan Pipe Band for such a great Gathering!

We are all looking forward to the 8th South American Pipe Band Gathering, to be hosted in the city of Bariloche (host pipe band: Bariloche Highlanders), with the incredibly scenic backdrop of the Andes, lakes and forests!

Bariloche - Photo: Jose Cande