Our Story

Who We Are

Gordon Rowan was born on the Island of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. He began playing the pipes aged 5 under the tutorship of Alasdair Sinclair and left the island aged 16 to pursue a career in the military. As the Pipe Major of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Regiment Pipe Band during the years 1991-1996, he has had the opportunity to travel across six continents playing and teaching the bagpipes during his career.

Gordon was promoted to the rank of Major and became the Director of the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming in 2016, a job which saw him command the massed pipes and drums each year at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. During the final years of his tenure, Gordon was awarded an MBE in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours List and had the honour of leading the pipes and drums at both the Queen’s funeral and King’s coronation in London.

Kyle Rowan, Gordon’s youngest son, was born in 2001 and began learning to play the pipes aged 4. Kyle has enjoyed piping success with the Isle of Islay Pipe Band throughout his playing career and is now a resident piper at the Spirit of Scotland Show in Edinburgh. Kyle has spent much of his life competing in solo accordion competitions, being awarded Junior Scottish Accordion Champion four years in a row and making it to the semi-finals of the prestigious Scottish Young Traditional Musician of the year when aged only 16.