Raphoe to Red Square True North

RUSSIAN MUSIC PLAYS

I really like it, the fact that it's all sparkly, and all.

Liggered in meal, aren't you?

Liggered in meal. Liggered means you're covered!

You're covered in stuff.

This one's Wednesday Addams from the Addams family.

I got her last Halloween.

This is my cat.

Big fan of cats.

BAGPIPES PLAY

There's 120 players going to Russia - pipers, drummers, bass.

The biggest part of them are coming from Ireland - Dublin, Belfast,

Raphoe and Castlederg,

then we're meeting ones from England and Germany,

and none of us are going to meet each other

until we're there in Russia.

There's about 14 in our band going to join the 120,

so that's most of our band's going over to Russia from Raphoe.

SINGING IN RUSSIAN

Raphoe's a very small town.

Everyone kind of knows everybody,

and it's also very easy to get to Derry, Strabane, Letterkenny,

it's a very accessible place.

There's a lot of culture here. It's a plantation town,

an old Ulster-Scots area.

We've got a castle, we've the stone circle. We're a Protestant family.

That's the way we were brought up,

and Raphoe is a very

cross-community town.

And I'm kind of glad of the mix,

so that you're not just, you know, seeing things one way,

"This is the way."

Me and Robyn get on well. We can, like, annoy each other at times.

But in the end, like, we're sisters.

There's not much we can do about that,

so we have to like it or lump it.

I can't imagine my life, actually, without her.

It's a seasonal thing,

but I work as a part-time model for the wedding dress company,

and we get fitted into the new stock.

There's two seasons, it runs from January until March, every Sunday,

and then from September through to October.

I'm very showboaty. I like to be out there.

While we live in Raphoe, quite close to the border,

Victoria lives in Castlederg, which is on the other side.

But, like, to us, it's not, like, "Oh, she lives in the North,"

or, "She lives over the border."

She lives 25 minutes away by car.

I like to think Castlederg is the back end of nowhere.

You're two hours from everywhere,

no matter if you're going to Dublin or Belfast.

Castlederg was the most bombed town in Northern Ireland, I think,

during the Troubles, and...

You know, there has been a lot of violence here.

But it's a peaceful wee town, more or less.

SHEEP BLEAT

We're just outside Castlederg, between Castlederg and the border.

So I come past the sheep every time I'm going to Raphoe.

A country girl at heart. I don't think I could ever live in the city.

I enjoy the outdoors too much and...

..spending time with these eejits.

-Oh!

-SHE LAUGHS

That's my granny's writing. Cos she'd always tell me, like,

"Keep your head down, work hard, say nothing to no-one,

"don't let on you're doing well, say nothing."

I'm not a confident person,

I'm actually very shy and very introverted.

The only statements I would make would be with my dress, my make-up,

what I look like, but I wouldn't be

a very over-the-top person in general.

The first time I met Robyn, she had green hair, and she was dressed

in black, from head to toe.

So, your head automatically goes, "All right, OK,

"she must be into heavy metal music," which I think she is,

and, "She must be very artistic," which she is.

Victoria, she's quite different from me and Robyn,

because we would gladly sit in front of a mirror for hours and do our

hair and make-up, whereas she'd rather just slap her hair up and get

-on her way.

-My time is too valuable to be running about, putting on

ten layers of foundation.

Chloe's hard to judge, because you'd think, looking at her, she wouldn't

have any time for somebody like me.

But she's down-to-earth, and good craic.

Since we are all so different, I think it's a well-rounded,

a well-rounded friendship, I think.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Always been a big football fan.

When I was in primary school, I was always sort of the tomboy.

I'm sure that would shock you very much, but...

it was always break-time and lunchtime, I always went out with

the boys and played football with them, whereas the girls went

and played kissy catch, or some stupid thing like that.

I joined pipe bands when I was five. Started Drum Major.

I done that until I was about 16 or so.

This was sort of the go-to place to practise.

Usually Dad would've came up with me,

to make sure that I was doing things right and staying in a straight line

and I got several placings around Northern Ireland

and Scotland.

Could have met someone up at the shop,

usually it would have been Mum or Dad, they'd have met them and

they said, "Oh, how'd the cutty do at the contest on Saturday?"

Cutty is one of many Ulster-Scots words.

Usually paired along with cub,

cutty is the Ulster-Scots word for girl.

And cub is the Ulster-Scots word for boy.

Along with many, many words that I quite regularly use.

Cannae - can't. Dunnae - don't.

-I mean, every fifth word that I use is usually "aye" or "naw".

-SHE LAUGHS

So it's quite, it's quite difficult to be posh at times,

if you're in for a job interview or something like that.

It's part of your culture, part of your tradition.

That's the way you speak,

and if people don't like it, they can lump it, so...

COUNTRY GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS

When I first joined the band, I was one of the only girl bass drummers.

You'd hear them going past, "Oh, that's a girl bass drummer!"

You're getting rid of the stereotype that it's big tough men

has to carry the big scary drum.

RADIO: Wagon Wheel performed by Nathan Carter

I had the drumsticks in my hand, and the drum pad,

and was just messing around, and Wagon Wheel came on,

and I just started drumming to it.

I just videoed it, and within half an hour had it on Facebook,

and I think it got over 500 likes.

I've been listening to country music now for a long time.

It's something that I've grew up with.

I'm really looking forward to Moscow, to be involved in something

so big, such a prestigious tattoo.

It'll be my first military tattoo,

so I'm really looking forward to the experience

and seeing what it's like.

I went and studied journalism,

so I've been writing about country music and pipe bands,

and I'm hoping to do a review of Moscow,

and then send it in to all the papers,

because I want people to realise that pipe bands isn't just standing

in a wet field on a Saturday.

At the end of the day, judging is only one person,

or a couple of people's opinions.

You know, you shouldn't let your ability be measured by that.

And, therefore, I think you should be involved in things like tattoos

and concerts, and enjoy the musicality of it.

There's about 14 players travelling to Moscow from Raphoe.

To play in a military tattoo in Moscow,

walking out in front of all those people,

it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We're just up at the Ulster-Scots summer school,

and we're in doing some arts and crafts.

We get 120 kids every year.

It's been running for 11 years now,

and I've been a leader for nine years,

cos I started going to the camp, and I worked my way up the ranks.

So there's an Ulster-Scots connection with planes, to Harry Ferguson.

Little painted, little wooden aeroplanes.

We're making little pipers and drummers, like these,

so that's what everyone's working on now.

BAGPIPES AND DRUMS PLAY

Today is the first time I've been at Raphoe summer camp.

We were doing a wee workshop with all aspects of pipe bands.

So I was doing Drum Major.

So it's nice to see Ulster-Scots being taught to all these

young people, and, you know, getting involved in it.

Why don't we get another colour, just...? Here, what about this one?

We'll be teaching them the alphabet here, the Ullans alphabet.

The Ulster-Scots.

Just showing them, this is what this language is. This is what it means.

-It isn't rubbish.

-I suppose the point I would make is,

if you look up an Oxford English dictionary, them words aren't in it,

so it can't be English.

It does get ridiculed a bit, the language, and...

it is quite unfair, but, like, for our surroundings and our, like,

town and our area, this would be the normal.

We're teaching them not to be ashamed of what the culture is.

And I don't think that any of us would be,

would be ashamed of it, to be honest.

COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYS

This is definitely a very familiar road.

I'd be on this road if I was travelling from Castlederg to

Raphoe, which I do, sometimes twice a week, sometimes more.

It is a different country, whether people like it or not,

it doesn't matter, it is a different country.

Some day it might be the same country,

although it might never be the same country.

You know, who can tell?

There's a lot of talk about a border, you know, border

patrol and stuff here, a lot of talk about Brexit.

Listen, a hard border won't affect my friendship with anybody.

It's nothing to do with me. I'm not bothered, like.

Unless Donald Trump builds a wall over there,

and I have to climb it to get to band practice, then so be it.

We'll, we'll deal with that.

DRUMMING

So we're up at one of our band practices on a Thursday night, up at

the local Orange Hall, and we're planning a birthday surprise

for Victoria. It was her 21st yesterday.

-BAGPIPES PLAY

-We've sent her upstairs there now,

just to have a go over with the drummers, as a ruse.

PIPING AND DRUMMING

BAGPIPES PLAY "HAPPY BIRTHDAY"

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Happy birthday, dear Victoria

# Happy birthday to you. #

CHEERING

We are part of an Orange Hall, with an Orange Lodge.

Most people, when you say, "Oh, I'm in a band with the Orange Lodge,"

people associate it with, like, a flute band, or even an accordion

band, but there's us pipe bands that go out, too,

and we go out and do the 12ths.

The parades on the 12ths are only a small part of what we get to do,

like, with the pipe band, we get to travel, we get to compete.

You shouldn't stereotype anyone, because then you're wrong,

and you're just showing a lot of prejudice.

I mean, just because you rehearse in an Orange Hall doesn't mean

you're a bigot. As I keep trying to stress to people,

pipe bands, it's a musical band.

You're there to make music. You're not there to...

..to make other people feel bad or, you know, to try and...

you know, make a political point or anything like that.

So, it's nice to go out to Moscow and meet with other people from

different countries, religions. I think that's important.

So, we're just up at my grandad's bog, at Brockagh, in Donegal.

She's a long way from wedding dress model now.

She's knee-deep in the bog and muck.

My own children used to come up with me,

and then...now the grandchildren come.

Couldn't do it without them.

We're what you call Irish Protestants.

You'd be the same.

I'd be Irish. I think if I said anything else,

Grandad would kind of slap me if I said I wasn't Irish.

LAUGHTER

It would be something that comes up a lot when I'm down in Dublin.

People are confused. Like, where am I from?

I'm from the north of Ireland, but am I Northern Irish?

Someone asked me, "I have a question for you, but I don't want you to get offended."

And I was like, "Oh, God, what are you going to ask me?" They're like,

"Do you have Opal Fruit sweets?"

-And I was like, "What on earth are you on about?!"

-LAUGHTER

The North's always been a really big part of our lives.

It's literally just miles down the road,

and we would go to Derry as often as we would go to Letterkenny.

The nearest town to us is Strabane.

It's in Tyrone.

And our competitions are all in the North, so we'd always be going

to the band competitions.

The band won it in 2013, in grade four B.

There's a big banner up in our Orange Hall.

They've all the trophies and everything that we've won.

But since we moved up the grades now, it's tough, trying to get

the trophies when there's other bands that's already been in it,

winning every year.

We're sort of part-time pipe-banders here.

You know, we sound the way we sound,

and, you know, we're trying to get better.

That's our aim, to be better than last week,

and that's all you can really do.

I think, up until recently,

the pipe band world was mostly male-dominated,

and it's nice to see there's more females in it now.

You always keep seeing, like, the older generation going, "Oh, the bass drummer's a girl?"

Or they'll try to carry the bass drum for you out around the place.

I'm like, "No, I'm grand." Like, "I can do it."

Playing competitions, it's fairly important, cos it keeps you

interested during the rest of the year, rather than doing

one or two concerts or tattoos.

Like, some grade one players wouldn't do any tattoos or would

somewhat turn their nose up at it.

But like, I don't see why you can't do a competition this week, and then

go to Russia next week and play a tattoo.

So, we didn't win anything today.

We didn't come in the top. We're waiting on the results sheet now,

to see where, just where we placed in our grade.

We've had enough now of playing competition stuff.

We're ready to get into tattoo stuff now.

We've all gathered up today for a practice for Moscow.

It's pretty much just people from around this area.

There's some travelling from further up the country as well.

I think there's around 70 pipers going from this island, so...

You know, it's impossible to get everybody together and practise

together, so we're trying our best

to try to get as many people as we can together in one place.

-That's good now.

-Andy McGregor's taking these classes.

I think everyone appreciates that Andy is able to have a wee bit of

craic with everybody and, you know, he's like a big kid himself.

I definitely do like his style of teaching.

Everybody tends to join a band.

Most of the bands compete, and if

you're not good enough to compete,

you don't get a chance to play.

I teach people that want to learn, want to enjoy to play piping.

It's just piping for piping's sake,

rather than to win a trophy on a Saturday.

If they want to go to a grade two or a grade one band,

we'll give them all the support and help that we can to achieve that

dream. If they want to go to the World Pipe Band Championships and

win the World's, and if that's their ambition, then that's brilliant.

That's great. But if they want to go to Moscow and play in the Red Square

and Kremlin, you know, and be somewhere where very few people have

been to, I mean, that's also great.

You're not going to get a prize for doing it, but you're going to get an opportunity of a lifetime.

-Is that not right?

-No, G gracenote first.

Is that not what I did, no?

No, you did an F bass note first.

Go again, then.

I think I would rather be no ability and enjoying myself than be really

high ability and, you know, just dread lifting my bagpipes every day.

What you've got here, when you enjoy being part of that racket that

you're making in Red Square... I mean, that's an exciting prospect.

Less than a week now, we're going...

-Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday... Five days.

-Five days.

There's such a thing as being over-rehearsed.

It's just getting to the point where you just want to get out there and experience it.

So there's 72 from all over Ireland,

going, congregated here at Belfast City.

Well, most of us. There's 27 missing. There's 27 on the bus.

-RADIO NEWS PRESENTER:

-Eglinton and Drumahoe were among the areas

worst hit by some of the heaviest rain seen here in years.

The main Victoria Road between Derry and Strabane remains closed

due to the flooding and...

There was a storm last night, up on the north coast.

The roads were all flooded, and they couldn't get through.

The rest of the flights are all booked up today,

so it's not looking good if they do miss this flight.

Jesus, that's heavy!

-All right.

-Right, lads!

-Good luck!

Bad news.

Anybody who hasn't checked in now isn't going to make this flight.

Since we left home, we've been stuck in floods.

Every road we go was closed.

Finally got here, and we're really, really late,

so we've missed our flight,

and it's looking like we've missed our connecting flight to Moscow.

EVOCATIVE RUSSIAN MUSIC PLAYS

Oh! Hello.

We've been on the go from about three o'clock this morning,

but the Raphoe guys have been on the go longer than us,

and they're not even here.

It's really disheartening. Like, I just want to go.

And now we're being told it might be Friday before we can go,

and that means missing all the rehearsals and all, so...

everyone's just gutted.

We've been asked for six of the young players

to perform here now, and then onto the coach and to the hotel.

Welcome to Moscow.

You're going to experience one of the best tattoos ever.

I know that we are at least 27 people missing.

These 27 people will be

flying out in different flights

over the next few days.

Eight of us were lucky enough to get a flight over, which means we're not

going to get any sleep, but we are going to get a full day of practice.

But we still have 22 people stuck in Belfast.

They are going to join us eventually, but they're going to

miss a full day of practice.

We've made it!

Just look at that, that's fantastic!

To be playing bagpipes in somewhere like this...

Right, hold on, hold on, hold on. Erin McGee's here.

Move that way, darling. Erin McGee and Joe Gallagher.

We've only got the two-hour timeframe to do our rehearsal.

This is the first time we've actually formed up as a band together.

We need to get everybody into their correct positions.

Victoria Catterson! Victoria Catterson?

DRUMS AND PIPES PLAY

There was a double tap at the end of that part - that means halt.

There were still people marching away.

Halt and stand still, concentrate on your playing.

Right, let's go!

It's the tenth anniversary of the Tower Festival,

so it's a big year,

so we're going to be attempting to march into a giant number ten.

Everybody will start on the rolls...

Alan McBride's here as Senior Drum Major,

so he's in charge of formation and

things like that. He's from Kilkeel.

They're too far out, compared to these ones here.

They need to come in a wee bit that way, and these ones need to come in a wee bit, to make it closer.

The ten's too spaced out.

It's my hobby that's got me here.

It's amazing that this bag full of air and a few drillings has got me

to this beautiful place, to participate in an event like this.

It's...it's amazing.

Well, I think it's nice being able to go and explore a bit

and see...see the city.

There was all these mosaics on the roof,

they were 24 hours in a Soviet day.

It was so cool seeing how much time and effort they spent in, like,

decorating these train stations back in Soviet times.

Yeah, I'm always really interested in history, and Russian history was

the one that I would have been interested in the most, and I did it

for my Leaving Cert, I did a whole project on it.

I'm loving all this.

Inception, you know the film, dream within a dream within a dream.

Lenin with Lenin with Lenin.

No? Leninception?

-Len-inception.

-Ah!

-Oh, there we go.

I'm amazed by the sites.

I mean, they're fond of their statues.

They don't want to forget their history, you know,

and they want people to know about it.

BAND PLAYS CEREMONIAL MUSIC

I was asked if I would like to be involved in a ceremony

at the walls of the Kremlin,

so there was about 20 of us came and laid a wreath

at the tomb of The Unknown soldier.

BAND PLAYS RUSSIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM

It was an honour to be part of it.

Like many towns, Castlederg has

a war memorial, and I mean, I've done stuff for that before at home,

so it was nice to be involved at this here.

Rubbing shoulders with the generals of the military,

saluting the Army going past, we're paying respect to the fallen.

How could it not be an honour, you know?

And to get a chance to do that when there's not many people doing it.

I mean, the amount of people that's involved in this festival, and I was

one of the people that got to be part of that,

so that was pretty special.

On our first show tonight, I really hope that we go out there and prove

ourselves as being just as good as any of these military bands.

They march, day in, day out, all year round.

We wouldn't march in formation as much.

There's a certain amount of expectation.

You're standing there with a bag of air, making a racket, and people

have paid to come and watch you stand there, making a racket.

My bass drum, it has a black and white photo of the Raphoe Castle

on it, so I'm going out into the Red Square with this drum that

represents where I'm from. It is a proud feeling.

BAND PLAYS UPTOWN FUNK

Pipes and drums! Quick! March!

BAGPIPES AND DRUMS PLAY

You get a big rush of adrenaline as you come off the stage.

You're just, like, hopping up and down, like, "I want to go on again!"

When you think about it,

we left the most western part of Europe, wee Donegal,

to come to the most eastern side of Europe in Russia.

Making music with that amount of people as well,

in a strange country

and people watching you...

To put something like this into words is genuinely really difficult.

We only had two hours in that arena to practise, and it was really

impressive that, like, we pulled that out after a two-hour practice.

I always imagine, if you're sitting at your deathbed, you'd be thinking,

you know, "Where did I travel?" and I'll be thinking,

"Well, I travelled here with my bagpipes,"

and that's an achievement in its own, I think.

SINGING IN RUSSIAN