Bagpipes

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Is there a more polarizing musical instrument? Some folks consider it the greatest instrument in existence (or close enough); the rest consider it the greatest torture device in existence! Your opinion may or may not depend upon your being of Celtish descent. Personally, I'm in the former camp. But the extreme scarcity of popular songs w/ the pipes suggests that I'm part of a tiny, tiny minority. (I can barely name a half-dozen of 'em: Parliament, AC/DC, Paul McCartney, and...uh...

Anyways, what do you think?

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 08:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Please explain why you consider it the greatest instrument in existence (or close enough).

― Famous Athlete, Tuesday, 16 March 2004 08:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Search: Tara by Absu, possibly alone in the awesomely fast and complicated Slayer-derived black metal/bagpipe crossover?

― M Carty (mj_c), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 08:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Mind you, I don't know if Absu songs count as popular, in the 'known and hummed by millions' sense of the word.

― M Carty (mj_c), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 08:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I think that 'America no more' by the KLF might well have been quite bagpipe-centric too.

― M Carty (mj_c), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 08:56 (twenty-two years ago)

''Is there a more polarizing musical instrument?''

the kazoo?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Bands with bagpipe players

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 08:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Bagpipes are of course by no means confined to "Celtish" nations

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 09:40 (twenty-two years ago)

If the concept of "jazz bagpipes" piques your interest, you should definitely check out "Recreation of the Gods" by Rufus Harley. Originally recorded in the early 70s, it was rereleased (on vinyl only, I believe) a year or two ago.

A great LP even if you think you don't like bagpipes.

― Dr Benway (dr benway), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 10:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I've heard about this guy but unfortunately never heard him - didn't Albert Ayler tootle on the 'pipes occasionally?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 10:17 (twenty-two years ago)

...well, it's not really my FAVOURITE, (sheepish grin), but I do like 'em alot! Partly because of the droning thing - I've always loved modal music, not just in Olde English folksong but also in the traditional Indian and Arabic musics. Partly because the timbre itself is such a piercing, in-your-face sound - bagpipes rank with the didgeridoo as instruments whose natural sound could be mistaken for electronic. And the very mechanism has always fascinated me, the way they can produce an uninterrupted flow of sound, very difficult to achieve on wind instruments without mastering the technique of circular breathing.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 10:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Northumbrian pipes sound even more electronic

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

... tho they use bellows not breath of course (as do uilleann pipes)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 12:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I think their might be a little bagpipe in the beginning of 'in the light' by Led Zeppelin. I was once at a funeral for a woman I had never met, at which a lone bagpiper in kilt etc walked away up a hill playing 'amazing grace.' I wept like a teased cunt.

― lukey (Lukey G), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 12:17 (twenty-two years ago)

The sound of Bagpipes has it's own noun: Skirl - it's so onomatopoeic.

By the way, does anyone know the title of that '70s 'upbeat' UK bagpipe hit (rhythm-wise not dissimilar to The Floral Dance).

― Jez (Jez), Tuesday, 16 March 2004 13:45 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

I just found out yesterday that one of the best exponents of contemporary Scottish folk music, Martyn Bennett, died earlier this year at the age of 33. I'm not sure how this passed me by at the time. Anyway, a quick search of ILM shows that he remains sadly neglected, so I thought I would bump this thread in his honour.

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 5 December 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

[Nothing to add here, sorry...I just wanted to register my surprise at the revival of (I think) my first-ever ILX thread, especially since I screwed up the title (shoulda been "Bagpipes, C or D?").

That's all, carry on.]

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 5 December 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

I was saddened by the death of Martyn Bennett, "Grit" is a fine album. There was a BBC Scotland documentary about him made the other year which was quite good, it was repeated after his death.

― Michael Lambert (Michael Lambert), Monday, 5 December 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

I did see that programme the first time round, but his death completely passed me by. I knew he was ill, but he sort of fell off my radar after Grit came out. It was just when I saw a poster yesterday for a tribute thing that the penny dropped. I live in Scotland and usually read newspapers, I must have been on another planet earlier this year.

I've seen him live a couple of times, he really was very talented.

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 5 December 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

holy fuck, today as i sat in traffic AC/DC's "long way to the top if you wanna rock n' roll" or whatever it's actually called came on the classic rock station, and let me tell you, those bagpipes made my fucking day.

― Emily Bjurnhjam, Tuesday, 11 March 2008 21:57 (eighteen years ago)

Bagpipes are wonderful. I think you can get too much of them, but in general, yeah, they are heavenly.

― Bimble, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 05:53 (eighteen years ago)

By the way, does anyone know the title of that '70s 'upbeat' UK bagpipe hit (rhythm-wise not dissimilar to The Floral Dance).

Three years late, I think the answer to this is "Scotch On The Rocks" by the Black Watch Pipes & Drums.

― aldo, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 09:44 (eighteen years ago)

It was - #8 in the undernourished charts of 1975. They also made the Top 40 with the follow-up, "Call Of The Cuckoo."

But best use of bagpipes in popular music ever: "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" by Sonny Rollins, live at Montreux '74, featuring the late, great Rufus Harley.

― Dingbod Kesterson, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 10:37 (eighteen years ago)

[Hiya, Inaugural Thread, nice to see you again. Can't believe you're almost 4 years old! Looking forward to your next revival in 2010 or thereabouts. Love, your Creator]

Another nice use of the pipes: "Sky Pilot"

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 14:14 (eighteen years ago)

Also: "America No More" by the KLF.

― Dingbod Kesterson, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 14:58 (eighteen years ago)

Missta Dingbod, how come you've so far said nothing bagpipefully pop-positive about Roy Wood?

― t**t, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 15:12 (eighteen years ago)

"Going Down The Road Open Brackets A Scottish Reggae Tune Close Brackets"!

"Are You Ready To Rock"!!

Well spotted!!!

― Dingbod Kesterson, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 15:17 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

i was watching 'the saddest music in the world'
and wondered has anyone ever made a psych/drone/etc record with bagpipes?

― nakhchivan, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 12:05 (sixteen years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshi_Wada

― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 12:07 (sixteen years ago)

thanks, i think i was dimly aware of him
got the first album and it's nice but headache inducing even at low volume
this would seem to be an unavoidable problem with bagpipe drones

― nakhchivan, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 19:24 (sixteen years ago)

If the concept of "jazz bagpipes" piques your interest,

Saw a guy play bagpipes with Von Freeman in Chicago a few years back: never got his name...

― sonofstan, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 19:35 (sixteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id4_2IDVytA&fmt=35

― r|t|c, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 19:50 (sixteen years ago)

anyone got that Merzbow/John Goff collab single, noise vs. bagpipes? Leonardo please.

― sleeve, Tuesday, 16 February 2010 22:51 (sixteen years ago)

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