Are bagpipes historically associated with Switzerland??? Or is it just a question of bad taste?
I've just had the misfortune of enduring the sound of bagpipes leading a precision of donkeys at a Christmas market in the west of Switzerland. I've previously seen bagpipes played as part of a mock medieval display in Ticino.
I think they are derived from a Roman instrument if memory serves, so there are a few places which still have them as a traditional instrument, again, if memory serves they appear in the celtic/iberian tradition.
Was once in a neighbourhood restaurant in Bern for a family celebration and one of the locals started up, scared the living daylights out of my six month old nephew.
Wikipedia is the source of all knowledge.
They would.
There is a band working on reviving the forgotten tradition of the Swiss bagpipes
among other things.
http://www.tritonus.ch/Schweizer%20S...ackpfeifen.htm
Sadly, the Bagpipes are not everybody ́s "thing".
While the Dudelsack historically DID exist in Switzerland and in neighbouring areas, there is NO tradition. If you hear the instrument here it either is Scots or Irishmen preserving THEIR tradition or Swiss people enjoying what they learnt to know up in Scotland and/or Ireland
Soundwise, the "Basler Pfeifen" (pipes of Basel) are faintly similar in a way.
The instrument however amazingly HAS a tradition in the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia), but I would give the honour of being the "preservers" of that instruments to the Scots and Irishmen.
Wolli, you never fail to amaze me!
(You should go on a trivia game show!)
Perversors of the I instrument? I thought it was just stubbornness.
I would add that Scottland and Ireland became beacons of the Bagpipe because of the standardisation which their instruments offer. In the Maghreb, as well as Turkey,Iran, Greece, Eastern Europe, Normandy, Galicia, the bagpipe has very personal touches and is very often made by the musician himself, a very ancient tradition in real folk music.
My sister (we are Galician) learnt to play it when she was young, and it was torture, I tell ya
Well, nothing turns me on like yodeling and bagpipes!
Sali,
Well apparently you don't know of any Scottish or Irish musician families that live in or around Lozärn.(It's pretty traditional around this Christmas time;and I myself and many others love it.)
Ich wünsche allen frohe Weihnacht,Fröhlichs Wiehnachtsfescht;und Wiehnachtstäg & en guete Rutsch ins neue positive Johr 2013.
Merry bless Christmas to all.
I think you are referring to the military use of the bagpipe here, as in marching bands. The true Irish bagpipe, Uillean, can only be played sitting down and is certainly not standardized. Type "Seamus Ennis" into Youtube to get a taste of the real thing. More accessible is the wonderful playing of the Chieftain's leader Paddy Moloney. And don't forget England's own little bagpipe: the Northumbrian pipes.
Thanks for the clarification FZ. What I am reffering to as "standardization" is the worldwide perception that only the Scots have bagpipes (of military parade fame), and that they are all the same. I am aware of the Uillean pipes and the Northumbrian Pipes and they certainly are not recognized to the degree that they should be. I personally lean more towards the Balkan gaida , Greek tsampouna ,and the Turkish Tulum.
What I find is sad, is that the bagpipes were almost everywhere to be found but were phased out because of the easily maintained , always in tune instruments like ...the accordion.
I was watching Tagesschau yesterday and on a report from Jerusalem there was a marching band playing bagpipes. The bloody things get everywhere.
Gliiichfalls - merci vielmals!
It most likely was a Palestinian marching band or even more so by one of the Royal Jordanian Army, which still up to this day controls the Haram-al-Sharif (OmarMosque= Dome of the Rocks plus elAqsaMosque). You of course can hear bagpipes even more in Amman, where it is used by various units of the Royal Armed Forces there.
Amazingly we were in a very small village in Upper Wallis for their annual concert. After half time, a Piper arrived in full highland regalia including dirk down his sock, and proceeded to play and excellent selection of tunes on the bagpipes for 40 minutes. Afterwards we went to him and said in English "that was fantastic, were did you learn to play"?...... At which he looked totally perplexed and said in broad Wallisertuutsch "I don't speak any English". We switched to the local dialect and he told us he had been fascinated by the instrument since he was a laddie. Could have joined any Scottish pipe band!
About the only thing I remember from when my cousins were in a pipe band is that the knife normally worn down the sock is a sgian dubh .
Merry pedantmas everyone, yes I really should have something better to do at this time on Christmas Day.