Three reels printed in 'The Caledonian Repository of Music Adapted for the Bagpipes'

Three reels printed in William Gunn's 'Caledonian Repository of Music Adapted for the Bagpipes' printed and published in Glasgow in 1848.

The first tune, 'The Bagpipe' is now more familiar as the Northumberland song 'Weel may the keel row' of Tyneside, but the Gaelic title, 'A' Bhalgan', may refer to the bellows bagpipe customarily played for dancing in the North of Scotland where William Gunn came from. The tune 'Jenny Nettles' is found in the Skene Manuscript of the early 17th century and was known as a song which tells of the agonies of a girl with her baby born out of wedlock, abandoned by her lover and censored by the church and community.

William Gunn (1795 - 1867) was born in Kildonan, Scotland, and learned the trade of weaving. He began playing in the Highland Society's piping competitions, winning the 5th Prize in Edinburgh in 1824, having moved to Glasgow in about 1823. He set up business as a bagpipe maker about 1834 and, until 1850, he lived and worked at 48 Gallowgate in Glasgow. Latterly (until 1866), he lived and ran his business from 273 George Street. He died on 14 February 1867 aged 72.

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