When most people think about the bagpipe, they automatically think about the Great Highland Bagpipe of Scotland, but the bagpipe is a multi-cultural instrument. The bagpipe has been around for centuries in many lands. In his book,”Bagpipes, A National Collection of a National Instrument”, Hugh Cheape wrote that “In the medieval period the bagpipe was played in almost every country and region of Europe.” The history of the bagpipe goes even further back than that, to ancient Greece and Rome. These reeded pipes did not have a “bag”; the mouth was used as a reservoir for air instead. The Great Highland Bagpipe is the instrument that I began my piping training with. That set of pipes began my journey into learning about and owning several different kinds of pipes from around the world.
On March 5th I will be hosting a workshop at the North Texas Irish Festival called “A Bagpipe Tour of Europe” I will be bringing along some of the bagpipes from my collection, giving a brief history of each and playing some tunes. I will be presenting the following pipes from my collection:
- Gajda – Macedonia
- Gaida – Bulgaria
- Mezoued – Tunisia
- Ney-anbān – Iran
- Galician Gaita – Galicia
- The Great Highland Bagpipe – Scotland
- Scottish Small Pipes – Scotland
- Binioù Kozh – Brittany