There's also the theory that said crusaders found the Saracen bagpipes
upset their horses so brought them back as a way of bagpipe-proofing
horses - urban bagpiping myth or not?
The same theory likes the introduction of the nakers to Europe
occurring for the same reason - it is said that this end of the world
didn't have drums prior to that.
Sort of Middle Eastern spoilers for the European weapon of mass
destruction :-)
Happy New Year, too!
Richard.
Barry Say wrote:
Well spotted Francis. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.
Adding to Alistair Anderson's conjectures on the development of the bagpipes,
the most convincing story I have heard is that when the Crusaders travelled to
what has been described as 'The Holy Land', they discovered people playing
'pipes' from air in 'bags'. They took this idea home and tried putting the
native instruments of their region into bags to see what happened. This would
neatly account for the widespread distribution of bagpipes in Europe and the
variety of forms.
Any thoughts?
Barry
PS Happy New Year
----------------------
On 1 Jan 2010 at 9:50, Francis Wood wrote:
A very nice item yesterday on BBC Radio 4 from Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum.
Congratulations to everyone who spoke or played; it was really good!
The programme ('Questions, Questions', 13.30) is available for the next 6 days
at:
[1]http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/schedules/fm/2009/12/31
Francis
To get on or off this list see list information at
[2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/programmes/schedules/fm/2009/12/31
2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
