The audience watching the Otago heats of the Smokefree Rockquest 2012 got a taste of Scotland when Balclutha band HC, comprising pupils fom South Otago High School, played its rock song Endless Nights - which features a bagpipe solo.
After the performance, which prompted a rousing round of applause from the audience of several hundred at the Kings and Queens Performing Arts Centre, bagpiper Libby Munro (17) said joining the rock band with her bagpipes was "great fun".
The other members of HC had approached her after they saw her performing in a talent quest and she now played on two of the band's songs.
Coming from a family which played in pipe bands and loved Highland dancing, she had played the bagpipes since she was 8.
None of her family had been in a rock'n roll band and the experience was "cool", although she found it a "bit hard" learning all the notes, she said.
HC was one of more than 20 bands from secondary schools from around the province which competed in the Otago heats for the Smokefree Rockquest on Saturday.
The top 12 bands will compete in the regional final at Kings and Queens Performing Arts Centre on Friday night.
The top two bands from each regional final will submit videos, from which the national finalists are selected.
Smokefree Rockquest is an annual national music competition for intermediate and secondary school pupils.
This year more than 800 bands have entered the competition.
Groups to cut their musical teeth on the contest include many of New Zealand's most recognised music names, including Anika Moa, Brooke Fraser, Midnight Youth, Evermore and the Phoenix Foundation.
Event organiser Glenn Common said the music from the Otago bands was consistently strong through the age groups, and varied greatly, from soloists to alt jazz to indie folk.
"I think it's going to be a very, very strong and interesting final."
The bands in the final are Logan Anderson and Isabelle, both from Kaikorai Valley College; Albion Place and Nick Henderson, both from John McGlashan College; Perpetual Button, from Kavanagh College; Skinny and the Doo-Rays, from Bayfield High School; Lucky Jeremy from Bayfield and John McGlashan College; Seaton, from Taieri College; Outright and Thoughtful and the Mighty Heart, both from Otago Boys' High School; HC, from South Otago High School; and The Dictators from Blue Mountain College.
