Where were bagpipes invented?
I do not think bagpipes, same as many other musical instruments, were ever invented all at once by anybody. It must have been a gradual evolution of basic musical instruments into the complex bagpipe of today. I should think UK or more specifically Scotland is where this evolution took place resulting in today’s bagpipe.
Bagpipes were actually quite wide spread in their use way back in the Middle Ages. Now they seem restricted to the Celtic nations of Scotland and Ireland. I think also a form of bagpipes is still used in Britanny and Beligium. Here’s something on ye olde bagpipes in Netherlands and Flanders : – gajdy.web-log.nl In some countries, e.g. Holland and Belgium, the bagpipe tradition got lost …. Listen now to an old Dudaplayer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IwOS84O7… … http://gajdy.web-log.nl/ YouTube – continental Pipe Band Championships 2007: Belgian Blend, Gr3 Having won the Grade 4 contest in the morning, Belgian Blend Pipe Band try their … Join YouTube for a free account, or log in if you are already a member. … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4qpL2EVm… YouTube – Irish Bagpipes W
The first occurance of a bag-pipe is in Athenian comedy of Aristophanes; where the Thebans were mocked as using an instrument with dog skin & bones. But translations of the bible refer to bagpipes (have no way of knowing if its a good translation). A coin of Nero I think has a bagpipe or similar instrument on it, but I am not sure about that. Its been a while since I studied Julio-claudian coinage. There are statues of Roman pipers that have been found in Britian; but hard to say an exact date of the introduction of it.
