Bagpipes are a
woodwind instrument using enclosed
reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The
Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
,
Northern Africa,
Western Asia, around the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
and northern parts of
South Asia
South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
.
The term ''bagpipe'' is equally correct in the singular or the plural, though pipers usually refer to the bagpipes as "the pipes", "a set of pipes" or "a stand of pipes".
Bagpipes are part of the aerophone group because to play the instrument you must blow air into it to produce a sound.
Construction

A set of bagpipes minimally consists of an air supply, a bag, a
chanter, and usually at least one
drone. Many bagpipes have more than one drone (and, sometimes, more than one chanter) in various combinations, held in place in stocks—sockets that fasten the various pipes to the bag.
Air supply
The most common method of supplying air to the bag is through blowing into a blowpipe or blowstick. In some pipes the player must cover the tip of the blowpipe with the tongue while inhaling, in order to prevent unwanted deflation of the bag, but most blowpipes have a non-return valve that eliminates this need. In recent times, there are many instruments that assist in creating a clean air flow to the pipes and assist the collection of condensation.
The use of a
bellows to supply air is an innovation dating from the
16th or
17th century. In these pipes, sometimes called "
cauld wind pipes", air is not heated or moistened by the player's breathing, so bellows-driven bagpipes can use more refined or delicate reeds. Such pipes include the Irish
uilleann pipes; the
border or Lowland pipes,
Scottish smallpipes,
Northumbrian smallpipes and
pastoral pipes in Britain; the
musette de cour, the
musette bechonnet and the
cabrette in France; and the ,
koziol bialy, and
koziol czarny in Poland.
Bag
The bag is an airtight reservoir that holds air and regulates its flow via arm pressure, allowing the player to maintain continuous, even sound. The player keeps the bag inflated by blowing air into it through a blowpipe or by pumping air into it with a bellows. Materials used for bags vary widely, but the most common are the skins of local animals such as goats, dogs, sheep, and cows. More recently, bags made of synthetic materials including
Gore-Tex have become much more common. Some synthetic bags have
zips that allow the player to fit a more effective moisture trap to the inside of the bag. However, synthetic bags still carry a risk of colonisation by fungal spores, and the associated danger of lung infection if they are not kept clean, even if they otherwise require less cleaning than do bags made from natural substances.
Bags cut from larger materials are usually
saddle-stitched with an extra strip folded over the seam and stitched (for skin bags) or glued (for synthetic bags) to reduce leaks. Holes are then cut to accommodate the stocks. In the case of bags made from largely intact animal skins, the stocks are typically tied into the points where the limbs and the head joined the body of the whole animal, a construction technique common in
Central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
. Different regions have different ways of treating the hide. The simplest methods involve just the use of salt, while more complex treatments involve
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
,
flour
Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...
, and the removal of fur. The hide is normally turned inside out so that the fur is on the inside of the bag, as this helps to reduce the effect of moisture buildup within the bag.
Chanter

The chanter is the
melody pipe, played with two hands. All bagpipes have at least one chanter; some pipes have two chanters, particularly those in North Africa, in the Balkans, and in Southwest Asia. A chanter can be bored internally so that the inside walls are parallel (or "cylindrical") for its full length, or it can be bored in a conical shape. Popular woods include
boxwood,
cornel, plum or other fruit wood.
The chanter is usually open-ended, so there is no easy way for the player to stop the pipe from sounding. Thus most bagpipes share a constant
legato sound with no
rests in the music. Primarily because of this inability to stop playing, technical movements are made to break up notes and to create the illusion of articulation and accents. Because of their importance, these embellishments (or "ornaments") are often highly technical systems specific to each bagpipe, and take many years of study to master. A few bagpipes (such as the musette de cour, the
uilleann pipes, the Northumbrian smallpipes, the
piva and the left chanter of the
surdelina) have closed ends or stop the end on the player's leg, so that when the player "closes" (covers all the holes), the chanter becomes silent.
A
practice chanter is a chanter without bag or drones and has a much quieter reed, allowing a player to practice the instrument quietly and with no variables other than playing the chanter.
The term ''chanter'' is derived from the Latin ''cantare'', or "to sing", much like the modern French verb meaning "to sing", ''
chanter''.
A distinctive feature of the gaida's chanter (which it shares with a number of other Eastern European bagpipes) is the "flea-hole" (also known as a ''mumbler'' or ''voicer'', ''marmorka'') which is covered by the index finger of the left hand. The flea-hole is smaller than the rest and usually consists of a small tube that is made out of metal or a chicken or duck feather. Uncovering the flea-hole raises any note played by a half step, and it is used in creating the
musical ornamentation that gives
Balkan music its unique character.
Some types of gaida can have a double bored chanter, such as the Serbian three-voiced gajde. It has eight fingerholes: the top four are covered by the thumb and the first three fingers of the left hand, then the four fingers of the right hand cover the remaining four holes.
Chanter reed
The note from the chanter is produced by a
reed installed at its top. The reed may be a
single (a reed with one vibrating tongue) or
double reed (of two pieces that vibrate against each other). Double reeds are used with both conical- and parallel-bored chanters while single reeds are generally (although not exclusively) limited to parallel-bored chanters. In general, double-reed chanters are found in pipes of Western Europe while single-reed chanters appear in most other regions.
They are made from reed (''
arundo donax'' or
Phragmites),
bamboo, or
elder. A more modern variant for the reed is a combination of a cotton phenolic (Hgw2082) material from which the body of the reed is made and a clarinet reed cut to size in order to fit the body. These types of reeds produce a louder sound and are not so sensitive to humidity and temperature changes.
Drone
Most bagpipes have at least one
drone, a pipe that generally is not fingered but rather produces a constant harmonizing note throughout play (usually the
tonic note of the chanter). Exceptions are generally those pipes that have a double-chanter instead. A drone is most commonly a cylindrically bored tube with a single reed, although drones with double reeds exist. The drone is generally designed in two or more parts with a sliding joint so that the pitch of the drone can be adjusted.
Depending on the type of pipes, the drones may lie over the shoulder, across the arm opposite the bag, or may run parallel to the chanter. Some drones have a tuning screw, which effectively alters the length of the drone by opening a hole, allowing the drone to be tuned to two or more distinct pitches. The tuning screw may also shut off the drone altogether. In most types of pipes with one drone, it is pitched two octaves below the tonic of the chanter. Additional drones often add the octave below and then a drone consonant with the fifth of the chanter.
History
Possible ancient origins
The evidence for bagpipes prior to the 13th century AD is still uncertain, but several textual and visual clues have been suggested. The ''
Oxford History of Music'' posits that a sculpture of bagpipes has been found on a
Hittite slab at
Euyuk in Anatolia, dated to 1000 BC. Another interpretation of this sculpture suggests that it instead depicts a
pan flute played along with a
friction drum.
[Vereno, Michael Peter. 2021. The Voice of the Wind. Lincoln: International Bagpipe Organisation. pp 14–15]
Several authors identify the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
(ἀσκός ''askos'' –
wine-skin, αὐλός ''
aulos'' – reed pipe) with the bagpipe.
In the 2nd century AD,
Suetonius described the Roman emperor
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
as a player of the ''tibia utricularis''.
Dio Chrysostom wrote in the 1st century of a contemporary sovereign (possibly Nero) who could play a pipe (
tibia, Roman reedpipes similar to Greek and Etruscan instruments) with his mouth as well as by tucking a bladder beneath his armpit. Vereno suggests that such instruments, rather than being seen as an independent class, were understood as variants on mouth-blown instruments that used a bag as an alternative blowing aid and that it was not until drones were added in the European Medieval era that bagpipes were seen as a distinct class.
Spread and development in Europe

In the early part of the second millennium, representation of bagpipes began to appear with frequency in Western European art and iconography. The
Cantigas de Santa Maria, written in
Galician-Portuguese and compiled in
Castile in the mid-13th century, depicts several types of bagpipes. Several illustrations of bagpipes also appear in the ''Chronique dite de Baudoin d’Avesnes'', a 13th-century manuscript of northern French origin. Although evidence of bagpipes in the British Isles prior to the 14th century is contested, they are explicitly mentioned in ''
The Canterbury Tales'' (written around 1380):
Bagpipes were also frequent subjects for carvers of wooden choir stalls in the late 15th and early 16th century throughout Europe, sometimes with animal musicians.
Actual specimens of bagpipes from before the 18th century are extremely rare; however, a substantial number of paintings, carvings, engravings, and manuscript illuminations survive. These artefacts are clear evidence that bagpipes varied widely throughout Europe, and even within individual regions. Many examples of early folk bagpipes in continental Europe can be found in the paintings of Brueghel, Teniers, Jordaens, and Durer.
The earliest known artefact identified as a part of a bagpipe is a chanter found in 1985 at
Rostock, Germany, that has been dated to the late 14th century or the first quarter of the 15th century.

The first clear reference to the use of the Scottish
Highland bagpipes is from a French history that mentions their use at the
Battle of Pinkie in 1547.
George Buchanan (1506–82) claimed that bagpipes had replaced the trumpet on the battlefield. This period saw the creation of the ''ceòl mór'' (great music) of the bagpipe, which reflected its martial origins, with battle tunes, marches, gatherings, salutes and laments. The Highlands of the early 17th century saw the development of piping families including the
MacCrimmonds, MacArthurs,
MacGregors, and the Mackays of
Gairloch.
[J. Porter, "Introduction" in J. Porter, ed., ''Defining Strains: The Musical Life of Scots in the Seventeenth Century'' (Peter Lang, 2007), , p. 35.]
The earliest Irish mention of the bagpipe is in 1206, approximately thirty years after the Anglo-Norman invasion; another mention attributes their use to Irish troops in Henry VIII's
siege of Boulogne. Illustrations in the 1581 book ''
The Image of Irelande'' by
John Derricke clearly depict a bagpiper. Derricke's illustrations are considered to be reasonably faithful depictions of the attire and equipment of the English and Irish population of the 16th century.
The "Battell" sequence from ''
My Ladye Nevells Booke'' (1591) by
William Byrd, which probably alludes to the Irish wars of 1578, contains a piece entitled ''The bagpipe: & the drone''. In 1760, the first serious study of the Scottish Highland bagpipe and its music was attempted in Joseph MacDonald's ''Compleat Theory''. A manuscript from the 1730s by a
William Dixon of
Northumberland contains music that fits the
border pipes, a nine-note bellows-blown bagpipe with a chanter similar to that of the modern
Great Highland bagpipe. However, the music in Dixon's manuscript varied greatly from modern Highland bagpipe tunes, consisting mostly of extended variation sets of common dance tunes. Some of the tunes in the Dixon manuscript correspond to those found in the early 19th century manuscript sources of
Northumbrian smallpipe tunes, notably the rare book of 50 tunes, many with variations, by
John Peacock.

As Western classical music developed, both in terms of musical sophistication and instrumental technology, bagpipes in many regions fell out of favour because of their limited range and function. This triggered a long, slow decline that continued, in most cases, into the 20th century.
Extensive and documented collections of traditional bagpipes may be found at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the
International Bagpipe Museum in
Gijón, Spain, the
Pitt Rivers Museum in
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, England and the
Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum in Northumberland, and the
Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix,
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
.
The is held every two years in
Strakonice,
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
.
Recent history
During the 19th and 20th centuries, as a result of the participation of
Scottish regiments in
British colonial expansion, the bagpipes became well known worldwide. This surge in the bagpipes' popularity was boosted by large numbers of
British Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...
pipers which served in
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. This coincided with a decline in the popularity of many traditional forms of bagpipe throughout Europe, which began to be displaced by instruments from the classical tradition and later by gramophone and radio.
As pipers were easily identifiable, combat losses were high, estimated at one thousand in World War I. A front line role was prohibited following high losses in the
Second Battle of El Alamein in 1943, though a few later instances occurred.
In the United Kingdom and
Commonwealth Nations such as
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, the
Great Highland bagpipe is commonly used in the military and is often played during formal ceremonies. Foreign militaries patterned after the British army have also adopted the Highland bagpipe, including those of
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
,
Sudan,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
,
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
,
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
, and
Oman. Many police and fire services in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
have also adopted the tradition of fielding pipe bands.

In recent years, often driven by revivals of native folk music and dance, many types of bagpipes have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity and, in many cases, instruments that had fallen into obscurity have become extremely popular. In
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
, the Great Highland bagpipe and concept of the
pipe band were appropriated to create a Breton interpretation known as the
bagad. The pipe-band idiom has also been adopted and applied to the
Galician gaita as well. Bagpipes have often been used in various films depicting moments from Scottish and Irish history; the film ''
Braveheart
''Braveheart'' is a 1995 American epic film, epic historical drama, historical war drama film directed and produced by Mel Gibson, who portrays Scottish warrior William Wallace in the First War of Scottish Independence against Edward I of Engl ...
'' and the theatrical show ''
Riverdance'' have served to make the uilleann pipes more commonly known.
Bagpipes are sometimes played at formal events at Commonwealth universities, particularly in Canada. Because of Scottish influences on the sport of
curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...
, bagpipes are also the official instrument of the
World Curling Federation and are commonly played during a ceremonial procession of teams before major curling championships.
Bagpipe making was once a craft that produced instruments in many distinctive, local and traditional styles. Today, the world's largest producer of the instrument is
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, where the industry was worth $6.8 million in 2010. In the late 20th century, various models of
electronic bagpipes were invented. The first custom-built
MIDI bagpipes were developed by the Asturian piper known as
Hevia (José Ángel Hevia Velasco).
Astronaut
Kjell N. Lindgren is thought to be the first person to play the bagpipes in
outer space, having played "
Amazing Grace" in tribute to late research scientist Victor Hurst aboard the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...
in November 2015.
Traditionally, one of the purposes of the bagpipe was to provide music for dancing. This has declined with the growth of dance bands, recordings, and the decline of traditional dance. In turn, this has led to many types of pipes developing a performance-led tradition, and indeed much modern music based on the dance music tradition played on bagpipes is suitable for use as dance music.
Modern usage
Types of bagpipes
Numerous types of bagpipes today are widely spread across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa as well as through much of the former
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
. The name bagpipe has almost become synonymous with its best-known form, the
Great Highland bagpipe, overshadowing the great number and variety of traditional forms of bagpipe. Despite the decline of these other types of pipes over the last few centuries, in recent years many of these pipes have seen a resurgence or revival as musicians have sought them out; for example, the
Irish piping tradition, which by the mid 20th century had declined to a handful of master players is today alive, well, and flourishing, a situation similar to that of the
Asturian gaita, the
Galician gaita, the Portuguese
gaita transmontana, the
Aragonese
gaita de boto,
Northumbrian smallpipes, the
Breton biniou, the
Balkan gaida, the
Romanian cimpoi, the Black Sea
tulum, the
Scottish smallpipes and
pastoral pipes, as well as other varieties. Bulgaria has the
Kaba gaida, a large bagpipe of the
Rhodope mountains with a hexagonal and rounded drone, often described as a deep-sounding gaida and the Dzhura gaida with a straight conical drone and of a higher
pitch. The
Macedonian gaida is structurally between a kaba and dzhura gaida and described as a medium pitched gaida.
In
Southeastern Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...
and
Eastern Europe bagpipes known as ''gaida'' include: the , , (), () () or (), ('), , also and .
In Tunisia, it is known by the name "
mezwed". It is used in the Tunisian pop music genre, also called
mezwed, that is named after the instrument.
Gallery
File:Mmexport1647183006419.jpg, Piper in Petrash, Jordan
File:BulgarianKabaGaidaPlayer.jpg, Bulgarian Kaba gaida player
File:Bag piper, Padre, Currie Hall, Royal Military College of Canada, fall 2011.jpg, The Scottish Great Highland bagpipe played at a Canadian military function.
File:Baghet suonatore.jpg, A musician with a Northern Italian Baghèt wearing traditional dress
File:A modern model of Baghèt.png, Modern Baghèt (made 2000 by Valter Biella) in G
File:Zampogna.jpg, Central and southern Italian zampogna
File:Tulumcu.jpg, Laz man from Turkey playing a tulum
File:Cillian Vallely on Uilleann Pipes.jpg, Cillian Vallely playing Irish Uilleann pipes
File:Tickell 2004.jpg, Kathryn Tickell playing Northumbrian smallpipes
File:Gaida.jpg, Man from Skopje, North Macedonia playing the Gaida
File:Seivane1.jpg, Galician gaita
File:Sruti upanga.jpg, Sruti upanga, a Southern Indian bagpipe
File:Duda Bagpipe 001.jpg, Hungarian duda
File:Serbian bagpiper.jpg, Serbian piper
File:DudyWielkopolskie.jpg, Polish pipers
File:Bagad.JPG, Bagad of Lann Bihoué from the French Navy
File:Ollegallmo.jpg, Swedish säckpipa
File:Pastoral pipes removable foot joint.JPG, Pastoral pipes with removable footjoint and bellows
File:Street-piper.jpg, Street piper from Sofia, Bulgaria
File:Torupillimängija.jpg, Estonian torupill player
File:Lithuanian bagpipes.png, Lithuanian piper
File:Modern huemmelchen.jpg, Modern German huemmelchen
File:Baltarusių dūdmaišis Lietuvos nacionaliniame muziejuje (LNM).jpg, Belarusian bagpipes in Lithuanian museum
File:Bagad Brest.jpg, A bagad in Brest, France
File:Al son de la gaita.jpg, Gaita asturiana
File:Pibecwd.jpg, Welsh bagpipes (double-reed type)
File:Gaiteroscantabria.jpg, Cantabrian pipe band
File:Bagpipe player damascus.jpg, Syrian piper in Damascus, Syria
File:Tsambouna.jpg, Various forms of the Tsampouna, found in the Greek islands
File:Селянін грае на дудзе.jpg, Belarusian piper.
File:A żaqq (bagpipe), made from calf pelt, cane, and animal horn.jpg, Maltese Żaqq.
File:Bagpipe player Dam.jpg, Piper playing by the Royal Palace of Amsterdam
File:Cimpoi.png, Romanian cimpoi player
File:Ľubomír Párička gra na dudach.webm, Ľubomír Párička playing bagpipes, Slovakia
File:Associação Gaita-de-Fole.jpg, Portuguese pipers
File:نی انبان ساخته شده در آبپخش.jpg, Bagpipes made in Ab Pakhsh, Iran
File:شکل قرار گرغتن نی های نی انبان ساخته شده در آبپخش.jpg, Chanter of bagpipes from Ab Pakhsh
File:Sac de gemecs.png, Sac de gemecs, from Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
File:Xeremies de Mallorca.jpg, Xeremies, from Mallorca
File:Greek Gaida Player.jpg, Greek shepherd playing gaida
File:BASA-2072K-1-361-19-Gaida, Bulgaria.JPG, Bulgarian gaida player, a pre-1945 photo. Central State Archive, Sofia
File:A reconstruction of an "askaulos", Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology.jpg, A modern reconstruction of an "askaulos" (bagpipe) in Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, Greece
Usage in non-traditional music

Since the 1960s, bagpipes have also made appearances in other forms of music, including rock, metal, jazz, hip-hop, punk, and classical music, for example with
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
's "
Mull of Kintyre",
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...
's "
It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)",
and
Peter Maxwell Davies's composition ''
An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise''.
Publications
Periodicals
''Periodicals covering specific types of bagpipes are addressed in the article for that bagpipe''
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
* .
Books
* .
* , 147 pp. with plates.
* .
* .
* .
See also
*
List of bagpipes
*
List of bagpipers
*
List of pipe makers
*
List of pipe bands
*
Glossary of bagpipe terms
*
Practice chanter
*
Glen (music company)
References
Bibliography
*
*
*Lommel, Arle. "The Hungarian Duda and Contra-Chanter Bagpipes of the Carpathian Basin." ''The Galpin Society Journal'' (2008): 305–321.
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Bagpipe iconography – Paintings and images of the pipes.*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091112123617/http://www.researchchannel.org/prog/displayevent.aspx?rID=3365&fID=345 A demonstration of rare instruments including bagpipes(archived 12 November 2009)
''The Concise History of the Bagpipe'' by Frank J. TimoneyThe Bagpipe Society dedicated to promoting the study, playing, and making of bagpipes and pipes from around the world
Bagpipes from polish collections (''Polish folk musical instruments'')Bagpipes (local polish name "Koza") played by Jan Karpiel-Bułecka(English subtitles)
Official site of Baghet (bagpipe from North Italy) players.(archived 9 July 2017)
Celtic Music : Scottish Military Bagpipes.The presence of the gaida in Greece
{{authority control
Articles containing video clips