Bagpipes??

[KiltedMariner]

So, my local parade ("Irish Day") is boasting no-less than TWELVE pipe bands...the most in the state! My question: how did bagpipes/pipe bands, decidedly Scottish, become a staple in St. Patrick's Day parades? As my friend says, "St. Patrick's Day: an Irish holiday, made popular by drunk Americans, by listening to music played on Scottish instruments!"

Talk amongst yourselves.

[macwilkin]

So, my local parade ("Irish Day") is boasting no-less than TWELVE pipe bands...the most in the state! My question: how did bagpipes/pipe bands, decidedly Scottish, become a staple in St. Patrick's Day parades? As my friend says, "St. Patrick's Day: an Irish holiday, made popular by drunk Americans, by listening to music played on Scottish instruments!"

Talk amongst yourselves.

I tend to believe it is the association of pipe bands with Police and Fire Departments, whose ranks were filled with Irish immigrants & Irish Americans.

T.

[KiltedMariner]

Good thought. Thank you.

[masonpiper]

I always said, I made a bunch of money playing tunes , some Irish, like "Irish the brave"(one day only) most Scottish and some merican on a set of Great HIGHLAND Pipes, dressed in a British army uniform for a bunch of wanna be Irish, on an Welsh Catholic Saints Feast Day. also I get free beer and whiskey

on topic, I have also been told the reason is the Irish association with Fire and Police Departments, which also explains the prevalence of Pipebands sponsored by said organizations
peace
Scott
LOI Lodge 899

[Nighthawk]

The pipes are not a Scottish instrument. They were invented by the continental Celts. The Irish have been playing them for longer than the Scots. The Great Highland Bagpipes are the only truely Scottish pipes. The Scots just perfected bagpiping.

Check these guys out- http://www.corvuscorax.de/ They use very primitive European pipes.

[Laird O'the Cowcaddens]

You should listen tae this laddie, he knows wit he's sayin. The SCOTS did indeed perfect the art o'the Pipes, but we widnea stoap eny man fae bettr'n hissel. LOL.

[eiry]

I get the underground to cowcaddens everday

[Nighthawk]

You should listen tae this laddie, he knows wit he's sayin. The SCOTS did indeed perfect the art o'the Pipes, but we widnea stoap eny man fae bettr'n hissel. LOL.

I got it from two of my grandparents... One Scot and one Irish.

[Mr. Woolery]

Nighthawk, considering how many different (non-celtic) cultures play or played the pipes, why do you say the Celts invented them?

In actual fact, they may (as some claim) be north-African in origin, or possibly near-Asian. There's room to argue for both, more than there really is for Celts.

I personally think the association of pipers with St. Patrick's Day (no matter where he's from originally, he is still the patron saint of Ireland and the first Bishop of Ireland) has to do with the fact that marching uillean pipers just don't look or sound that great. If you want to have a parade, you need to make it interesting for the audience. Scottish pipes are closer to being an Irish thing (same general part of the world, after all - and a share in the persecuted feel of living next door to England) than most marching bands.

There are also Irish pipe bands playing GHBs or Irish Warpipes (just a GHB with one tenor drone removed) and that might lead to a certain difficulty in telling the cultural aspect of GHBs apart from Irish life. Then, you can also find a lot of associations in popular cultural impressions of Ireland. (Scottish pipes show up in Darby O'Gill and the Little People and also in The Quiet Man, which a lot of folks love to watch around today. I actually own both and love them both.)

Anyway, that's my take on it.

-Patrick

[Nighthawk]

Nighthawk, considering how many different (non-celtic) cultures play or played the pipes, why do you say the Celts invented them?

In actual fact, they may (as some claim) be north-African in origin, or possibly near-Asian. There's room to argue for both, more than there really is for Celts.

I personally think the association of pipers with St. Patrick's Day (no matter where he's from originally, he is still the patron saint of Ireland and the first Bishop of Ireland) has to do with the fact that marching uillean pipers just don't look or sound that great. If you want to have a parade, you need to make it interesting for the audience. Scottish pipes are closer to being an Irish thing (same general part of the world, after all - and a share in the persecuted feel of living next door to England) than most marching bands.

There are also Irish pipe bands playing GHBs or Irish Warpipes (just a GHB with one tenor drone removed) and that might lead to a certain difficulty in telling the cultural aspect of GHBs apart from Irish life. Then, you can also find a lot of associations in popular cultural impressions of Ireland. (Scottish pipes show up in Darby O'Gill and the Little People and also in The Quiet Man, which a lot of folks love to watch around today. I actually own both and love them both.)

Anyway, that's my take on it.

-Patrick

There is serious, strong Indian influence in the Celtic culture. I guess perhaps "invented" is too exclusive a word. The pipes were invented in continental Europe. At least, what we recognize as bagpipe type instruments. The Celts took influence from every society they came across, and were spread all over- not just in Europe (Gaul) but also in the Middle East, Near East, Africa. The Celts built roads before the Romans. I know this flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but according to the sources cited in the book A Brief History of the Druids, there is new evidence to support it. The Celts may not have invented bagpipes- I apologise for the use of that word- but they certainly brought it to continental Europe.