From the recording Friochd
7. Cha Till MacRuimein – Traditional (Arranged by Krista Grant, Murray Webster, Nathaniel Waugh and Randy Waugh)
Vocals, Bagpipes (rock section) – Krista Grant; Keyboards – Murray Webster; Guitars – Nathaniel Waugh, Steve Foley; Drums – Mike Wetmore; Bagpipes (opening trad), Bass – Randy Waugh.
This, our version of Cha Till MacRuimein, or Cha Till MacCrimmon (MacCrimmon will not return), is an artistic piece that takes the listener on a journey. It starts in the mid 1700s with the sound of an ancient piper piping on a moor, the tension of battle mounting. Finally, the fierce battle ensues (second part of the song) and unfortunately the beloved MacCrimmon piper succumbs and dies.
By the late 1600s, the MacCrimmon family began earning a reputation for their outstanding bagpiping and piping school on the Isle of Skye and in the Scottish Hebrides. During the Jacobite rising in 1745, the chief of Clan MacLeod and the MacCrimmon’s supported the Hanoverians against the Jacobites. The famous MacCrimmon piper Donald Bàn (Fair-haired Donald), took an active part in the conflicts against the Jacobites, and was in fact captured following a Hanoverian defeat at the Battle of Inverurie. During his capture he wrote his well-known lament Cha Till MacRuimein (MacCrimmon will never return)...it foreshadowed his own fate, one which played out when he was killed in a battle against the Jacobites in the Rout of Moy on February 18, 1746.