The Galician gaita (, , ) is the traditional instrument of Galicia and northern Portugal. The word is used across northern Spain as a generic term for "

bagpipe 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, No ...

", although in the south of Spain and Portugal it denotes a variety of horn, flute or oboe like instruments according to region.

Etymology

There are many suggestions as to the origin of the name . It has been compared to the names of eastern European bagpipes, such as the Bulgarian ''

kaba gaida The kaba gaida ('large gaida'Timothy Rice, "Evaluating Artistry on the Bulgarian Bagpipe", in ''Ethnomusicological Encounters with Music and Musicians'', 2011 , p. 112) or rodopska gaida (Rhodope gaida), is the bagpipe of the central Rhodope mou ...

'' and the Slovak (

plurale tantum A ; ) is a noun that appears only in the plural form and does not have a singular variant for referring to a single object. In a less strict usage of the term, it can also refer to nouns whose singular form is rarely used. In English, are oft ...

). The linguist

Joan Coromines Joan Coromines i Vigneaux (; also frequently spelled ''Joan Corominas''; Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, by Joan Corominas icand José Antonio Pascual, Editorial Gredos, 1989, Madrid, . Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain ...

has suggested that the word most likely derived from a Gothic word or , meaning "goat"; as the bag of a gaita is made from a whole, case-skinned goat hide. Gothic was spoken in Hispania from the fifth century to the eighth century when the country was ruled by the

Visigoth The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

s. The Visigoths originated in north-eastern Europe.

The instrument

The Galician gaita has a

conical In geometry, a cone is a three-dimensional figure that tapers smoothly from a flat base (typically a circle) to a point not contained in the base, called the ''apex'' or '' vertex''. A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, ...

chanter The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or ...

and a bass

drone Drone or The Drones may refer to: Science and technology Vehicle * Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot ** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone *** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle ** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone ** Unma ...

() with a second

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

. It may have one or two additional drones playing the tonic and dominant notes. Three keys are traditional: D (, lit. "cricket bagpipe"), C (), and B♭ (). Galician

pipe band A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term pipes and drums, used by military pipe bands is also common. The most common form of pipe band consists of a section of pipers playing the Great Highland bagpipe, ...

s playing these instruments have become popular in recent years. The playing of close harmony (thirds and sixths) with two gaitas of the same key is a typical Galician gaita style. The bagpipe or gaita is known to have been popular in the Middle Ages, as early as the 9th century, but suffered a decline in popularity from the 16th century until a 19th-century revival. It saw another decline in the middle of the 20th century when the Francoist dictatorship tried to use it for propaganda purposes. Then, beginning in about the 1970s, a

roots revival A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly composed songs with socially and politically aware lyr ...

heralded another rebirth. The folk revival may have peaked in the late 1990s, with the release of acclaimed albums by Galician Carlos Núñez (). The gaita began to gain popularity with the massive immigration of Galicians to the United States and Latin America. The foundations of Galician Centers ( / ) in key cities and capitals, from New York City to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Traditional use include both solo performances or with a snare-drum known as (a wooden natural-skinned drum with gut snares), and the , a

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

Description

The player inflates the bag using his mouth through a tube fitted with a non-return valve. Air is driven into the chanter () with the left arm controlling the pressure inside the bag. The chanter has a double reed similar to a

shawm The shawm () is a Bore (wind instruments)#Conical bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 13th or possibly 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissanc ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

, and a conical bore with seven finger-holes on the front. The bass drone ( or ) is situated on the player's left shoulder and is pitched two octaves below the key note of the chanter; it has a single reed. Some bagpipes have up to two more drones, including the or , which sticks out from the bag and plays an octave above the , or the smaller . These two extra drones are located next to the right arm of the player. The finger-holes include three for the left hand and four for the right, as well as one at the back for the left thumb. The chanter's tonic is played with the top six holes and the thumb hole covered by fingers. Starting at the bottom and (in the Galician fingering pattern) progressively opening holes creates the

diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair ...

scale. Using techniques like cross-fingering and half-holing, the

chromatic scale The chromatic scale (or twelve-tone scale) is a set of twelve pitches (more completely, pitch classes) used in tonal music, with notes separated by the interval of a semitone. Chromatic instruments, such as the piano, are made to produce the ...

can be created. With extra pressure on the bag, the reed can be played in a second octave, thus giving range of an octave and a half from tonic to top note. It is also possible to close the tone hole with the little finger of the right hand, thus creating a semitone below the tonic.

Songs

Tunes using the gaita are usually songs, with the voice either accompanying the instrumentation or taking turns with it. The most common type is the , a sprightly 6/8 rhythm. Other 6/8 Galician tunes use different steps; they include the , , , and . , usually-instrumental tune, most often in 2/4, though sometimes 3/4, and is characterized by a series of descending turning phrases. It is used to begin a day's celebrations, and is played at sunrise. The is a joyful 3/4 jota-type song, often played at (community gatherings at a local shrine).

Famous gaita players

Galicia

* Avelino Cachafeiro * Carlos Núñez * Anxo Lorenzo * Cristina Pato * Susana Seivane

References

External links

GaitaForum.com
a discussion forum for gaitas
"Jota da Mahia" performed by Javier Celada (Heiligkreuzkirche Berlin, 2004)

Gaita Maker
history of the instrument in Americas and Brazil, Gaita Maker {{Authority control Spanish musical instruments Galician musical instruments Gaita Bagpipes Portuguese musical instruments Galician symbols