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Hector MacAndrew () was born at "The Cottages", Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, in 1903. His father, Peter, was a fiddler and a piper. Peter was born in Moulin in Perthshire and in the early 1890s moved up to Fyvie Castle where he was gardener and piper to Lord Leith. This Perthshire connection links the family back to Niel Gow. Hector had two brothers: his older brother was an accomplished piper who was taught by his father and also played cello. His other brother played the bass fiddle (or double bass). In addition to teaching Hector fiddle, his father also taught him the pipes. Pat MacAndrew (his son) said about Hector: "My father actually could play the pipes but he suffered from nose-bleeds. Every time he blew the pipes his nose would bleed." Nevertheless, he was able to transfer what he had learned on the pipes onto the fiddle. Pat noted: "He was acknowledged as probably one of the best players of pipe music on the fiddle," and said that a lot of the top pipers in Scotland came to their home to hear his father play just after the Second World War.
As well as learning Scottish music from his father, Hector was taught violin for three to four years by a Mr Alexander from Edinburgh, and in fact moved down to Linlithgow to be near him.
Amongst Hector's favourite tunes which he played frequently were "Lament for Abercairney" by Niel Gow and Marshall's "Chapel Keithack". Pat felt that his father liked playing North-East material particularly, especially if the Gow tradition from Perthshire is included in the definition of North-East. Indeed, Pat said that his father "really wanted to keep the Gow tradition going". Hector also played some tunes by James Scott Skinner, whom he met briefly, such as "The Miller o' Hirn" and "The Baker", but felt that Skinner's slow airs were in general better than his reels, which sometimes exhibited considerable likenesses to each other. Pat MacAndrew takes a similar view.
Hector had a passion for Scottish music. During wartime when he was going out in a convoy through the Bay of Biscay, he heard the pipe band of one of the Highland Regiments who practised every morning. Hector was deeply moved by this, and longed to return to Scotland. Pat said: "And he confessed, he used to go down below and he was physically sick, he was so upset. And there and then he made up his mind that if got through this lot he was going to do something to keep traditional music alive, which he certainly did."
Information from Dr Katherine Campbell (
A CD titled "Hector MacAndrew - Legend Of The Scots Fiddle" is due for release at the start of March 2009 and will be available to buy at Foot Stompin' |
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