Highland at the Hall
Ally the Piper brings bagpipes to Centennial Hall
FRIDAY, JUL. 31
Traditional bagpipe music has long been a part of Scottish tradition and the Great Highland bagpipe is the most popular of the pipes, and has been used for centuries throughout Europe, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. In America, this type of bagpipe is traditionally used at cultural events, Highland games, or at funerals.
Forget your preconceived notions on the limits of bagpipes when it comes to a performance from Ally the Piper. She is a well-versed piper who has acquired a large fanbase online – blending tradition with hard rock music. She has amassed millions of followers and thousands of views on her social media accounts. Ally (Allyson Crowley-Duncan) tells us that she began playing classic rock songs almost immediately after learning the instrument. "As a gigging bagpiper I played a lot of pubs and parties, and after playing my traditional reels and jigs, I would love to end a performance with something a little more unexpected, like 'Crazy Train.'" Within a couple years Ally had put together a rock band with some of her friends from high school.
After high school, Ally moved from New York state to Pennsylvania to attend Edinboro University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music. "I learned a lot of independence as an artist. I was distanced from my competitive background for the first time in my life and finally had a chance to take a deeper look at my relationship with the pipes and figure out what role I wanted them to play in my future. I didn't know then that I would be a full-time performer, I thought I would pursue the education field, but I did graduate knowing that I wanted to bring the bagpipes into new spaces and be a voice in breaking apart some of the stigma that tends to follow the pipes," she shares.
After graduation, she continued to play, but it wasn't until the pandemic that her career as a piper shifted from in-person to online. "I hadn't played my pipes in a few months, and was feeling pretty isolated and depressed. So, I made the choice to hold myself accountable to something. I posted my first video on TikTok, primarily because I didn't know anyone on the app and thought I could maintain some semblance of anonymity. That failed the first day when my video got 150K views. But, the accountability worked – I haven't put the pipes down since I posted that first video five and half years ago."
She is best known for her renditions of "Crazy Train," "Free Bird," "I'm Shipping Up To Boston," and "She's a Pirate" (from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie). Attendees to her upcoming show at Centennial Hall (with local guests the Mulligans) can expect to hear those classics alongside some traditional pipe tunes, as well as original material. Ally says that her favorite thing about live shows is the generational aspect – sometimes with a family spanning three generations sitting in the front row, excited to celebrate their heritage, and directly next to them is a heavy metal enthusiast head-banging along. Ally also stated that she is looking forward to being so close to her alma mater and hopes to see some familiar faces in the audience.
Doors open at 6 p.m. // Centennial Hall, 145 W. 11th St. // $33.65+ // For tickets and info: tickets.eriereader.com
