Photo: Lisa Adams
(under construction -more to come)
(under construction -more to come)
Dougal and Ormonde are pictured above at Victoria Quay on Fremantle Harbour - which is an appropriate place to begin seeing as how this was where they first arrived in Western Australia after migrating with their families in the 1960s. They both started playing as children - and as you can see from the picture above, that's been quite a long time.
Dougal Adams was born in Glasgow and emigrated to Western Australia in the mid 1960s. He began to learn the Highland pipes at the age of 12 and soon got the bug for traditional dance music. In his late teens he became interested in Irish traditional music and began playing the tin whistle. A trip to Ireland in the early 1980s exposed him to some great music and led to a fascination with the flute. A flute was purchased and he has been trying hard to tame the instrument ever since. In recent years his interest in Scottish piping has been rekindled with the addition of Scottish smallpipes and border pipes to his musical stable. Over the years Dougal has performed locally and interstate with various groups including “Crooked Road”, ”Gan Ainm”, “The Big Fling” and “David Hyam’s Miles to Go Band” as well as guesting with others including “Devils on Horseback”. He has also taught flute and presented workshops for Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann in Perth and performed in the Irish and Scottish concerts at the Australasian Fleadh held in Perth in 2003. Dougal has been involved in a number of recording projects including albums for Devils on Horseback,Lynn Hazelton,Kelly Newton Wordsworth,Ros and Steve Barnes and more recently David Hyams’ Miles to Go band. A career highlight has been a long musical association with the irreplacible Ormonde Waters which has resulted in many hours of shared tunes and culminated in the recording of “The Good Ear”.