City turns into 'piping capital'

Piping Live performer Kathryn Tickell

Pipers from across the world have gathered for a music festival in one of Scotland's biggest cities.

Glasgow is hosting Piping Live! The Glasgow International Piping Festival from Monday until Sunday.

In 2005, 25,000 people watched more than 5,000 pipers, bringing the city about £800,000 in revenue.

With the World Pipe Band Championships also taking place in Glasgow, Gordon Kennedy of Scottish Enterprise said the city was now "the capital of piping".

"With the growing interest in piping as an art form from around the world, the potential economic benefits of a festival this size and quality for the city are substantial," he added.

Pipers from Spain, Bulgaria, France, the United States and Ireland will feature on the bill.

There are few things more instantly recognisable as Scottish than the sound of the pipes Margaret Curran Parliamentary Business Minister

The event will feature a string of concerts in venues throughout the city.

Festival director Roddy MacLeod said organisers were aiming to "put a global spotlight on Glasgow as being at the centre of piping excellence".

The event was launched by Margaret Curran, the Minister for Parliamentary Business, in George Square on Monday morning.

She said: "The International Piping Festival has proved a real success story since its inception in 2004 and helped establish Glasgow as a centre for piping excellence.

"Traditional music is central to our national identity and there are few things more instantly recognisable as Scottish than the sound of the pipes."