Highland Cathedral

I have surely already mentioned that, in respect of the avocational addiction which is writing fiction, research can be as much of a joy as the actual words-on-paper storytelling. 

I may also have revealed that my current manuscript tells a tale set in the spring of 2016, on the eve of Scottish independence... a highly speculative proposition! and issue touched upon marginally is the question of a national anthem for the new nation. Until yesterday I had not thought beyond the haunting Flower of Scotland...

But we can still rise now

And be the nation again...

I was not familiar with the other proposal, Highland Cathedral, but then found the video embedded above. I watched it and found the performance moving and musically superb. And quickly realized that this was not filmed at the Edinburgh Tattoo. The clip details told me that the video was made in the German city of Bremen in 2008 with, among others, the South Australia Police Band, the German Army Band, the Upper Austria Army Band, the Portugese Navy Band, the Royal Swedish Army Drum Corps, the truly exotic Miss Joaquim Pipe Band from Singapore, the South African Navy Band, the US Army Europe Band and the Belarus Army Band.

An eclectic assembly indeed, playing what might be selected as the anthem for for an upstart Scotland! Then came the biggest surprise of all... Highland Cathedral was composed in 1982 by the German pair, Ulrich Roever and Michael Korb and the quite astonishing story behind the tune is provided here.