Oui, en chair et en os - IN THE FLESH!!!
Cette fois-ci nous étions des spectateurs.
Ce spectacle était un festin pour nos yeux et nos oreilles. Mais, pour une fois ja vais écrire mon texte dans ma langue maternelle parce que j'ai donné l'adresse de ce site au groupe et je voudrais qu'ils puissent lire cet article.
Absolutely flabbergasted - yes we were! Eliel and Miccaïah, two of the pillars of the Gleannancre Pipe Band, moved to Saudi Arabia, never expecting to hear anybody playing bagpipes but themselves. So you can imagine our collective hysteria when we heard the Red Hot Chilli Pipers were touring the English-speaking schools of Jeddah and giving a concert in the Sierra compound. The trip was organised by the highly organised and very patriotic Jeddah Caledonian Society. We had to be there, never mind the cost.
So imagine a boiling hot Thursday night (which is the equivalent of your Saturday night), in a country where live music, alcohol and fun in general are forbidden. Imagine a whole array of tennis courts with their nets removed, with a stage and tables for the audience to sit at, with a buffet behind them. Imagine hundreds of expats, many of them Scottish, or English, Irish or Welsh, desperate for a good night out. It couldn't have been better than it was. It was unforgettable, and yet surreal.
I thought to myself, as I danced my sandals off in front of the stage (too hot for socks), that this was one of those lifetime experiences to be treasured and never lost, so sweet and smacking of utter folie it really was. The boys were awesome, to use a word international teenagers use here in Jeddah. What's more, we got to chat to them. Stuart, the mouthpiece, told me he used to be a teacher, which explained his excellent rapport with the children in schools (I was there). Steve, the guitarist, told me that the Somme was very close to his heart. Hopefully it's close enough for him to want to bring the RHCP to the battlefields on a pipers' pilgrimage.
After reluctantly leaving the atmosphere of the post concert party, we got home to our villa in our compound and switched on the History Channel, even though it was late. Quite fittingly, the documentary that we stumbled upon was a tribute to the Royal Scots who fought at La Boisselle on July 1st 1916, and the documentary then traced the subsequent history of Scottish regiments and their pipers. A veritable portent indeed!
A final word: thanks to Yelena our devoted photographer.
Paula Flanagan, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
