THE BAGPIPES

Pipes are very famous instruments.Several types of pipes can be found all over the world: in France, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Spain, etc.But we are going to talk about a particular one: The Bagpipes. The bagpipe is typical of a very concrete region, Galicia, in the northwest of Spain.There are different sorts of bagpipes, but they all share common characteristics.Galician bagpipes consist of :one “chanter” with “eight holes” in front and “three more holes” at the back in order to make music.The “chanter reed” or “palleta” joins the “chanter” and the “chanter stock”The “palleta” is elaborated with cane blades tied with a thread to a small tube out of metal.The bagpipe also has one or several drones: a bass drone, an inside tenor drone and an outside tenor drone. The “bass drone” is always present in bagpipes and it is, approximately, sixty or eighty centimetres long.Finally, the bagpipe has a “blowpipe” with a “mouthpiece” through which the air comes into the “hide bag”.

TYPES OF GALICIAN BAGPIPES

Now, we are going to see the different types of Galician bagpipes.

Simple Bagpipe

It only has a chanter and a drone. It appeared in the 11th century so it’s the oldest one. You can find it all throughout Galicia, in a few regions of Portugal and in some regions of Spain.

Barquín Bagpipe

During the 20th century this sort of bagpipe could be found all along the south of Galicia. It’s the only mechanical type of bagpipes.

It has two “drones” and a mechanical “hide bag” where we can see three main elements: a metallic hook in the shape of C, an articulated hinge and a metallic chain.

The air comes into the “bag” thanks to a mechanical piece or bag called “barquín”.

Bagpipe with Outside Tenor Drone

This bagpipe has two main elements: a) a bass droneb) a chanter called “ronquillo” of about 20 centimetres long.

Four voices Bagpipe

This is one of the most complex type of bagpipes because it consists of: a chanter, a drone and two characteristic inside drones, in the shape of Y and about thirty-five centimetres, in the middle of the bag. It can only be found in the provinces of A Coruña and Lugo.