Edinburgh piper talks of 'hysteria' following Scotland's win after video of him playing goes viral

An Edinburgh piper who has gone viral since playing Flower of Scotland from his balcony after Scotland’s Euro 2020 win against Serbia has spoken of the ‘hysteria' that unfolded on the night.
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Louis Peteranna spoke to Edinburgh Evening News about how Thursday night’s celebrations unfolded at his flat in Lothian Road which resulted in him standing topless on his balcony playing the bagpipes to the entire street.

A video of the 19-year-old playing Flower of Scotland, captioned ‘guessing Scotland won’, has gone viral on social media.

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Louis, still sounding ecstatic from the evening’s events said: “The hysteria felt that night was honestly just amazing.

Louis playing the pipes on his balcony in Lothian RoadLouis playing the pipes on his balcony in Lothian Road
Louis playing the pipes on his balcony in Lothian Road

"To stand in the capital of Scotland on this historic night and be leading the celebrations for Scotland’s national team in this city with my pipes just felt incredible.

"Me and my flatmates are still buzzing from it and it honestly was such an honour to be playing to all those people singing in Lothian Road on one of the country’s biggest nights in history.”

Louis, a student at Heriot-Watt, said the night started relatively calm sitting in his flat with his housemates watching the match.

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During the game’s extra time, with Scotland's win far from being certain, the piper said he started playing the bagpipes to give his friends and neighbours a morale boost.

“I heard people singing from their windows when we went into extra time, so I started to play the pipes then in my living room as a way of trying to build morale, a bit like what happens in stadiums when fans start building momentum for moral support,” he said.

The musician added: “I remember then saying to the guys ‘if we win this game then it’s straight out onto the balcony and pipes out.’

“A soon as the penalty was out it was tops off and the pipes got going.”

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Louis, who has been playing the pipes for seven years, said by the time he was out on the balcony after Scotland’s epic win there were already people on the street shouting and asking him to play Flower of Scotland.

He then played Caledonia, Amazing Grace, Scotland the Brave and Old Lang Syne for the football fans.

“I ended up playing for about an hour," he added.

"People kept shouting one more tune, one more tune.”

The piper said Lothian bus drivers and passing police joined in the celebrations by beeping their horns.

“No one was breaking any social distancing rules,” he added.

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"What was amazing was people were standing apart in the street, or just singing from their windows, but it just felt so alive.

"I am just so moved that my pipe playing was the centre of Scotland’s capital city celebrations on this historic night.”

Louis said he has entertained many an audience with his pipe playing at funerals, birthdays, weddings and even during a football match in Slovenia about three years ago.

But playing the night of Scotland’s win against Serbia which secured the team a place in next year’s Euros has been the highlight of his pipe playing.

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"I have been playing since I was 12-years-old and nothing has beaten this.”

"I was such an emotional moment.”

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