Sunday, April 06, 2008

Valparaiso Galician folk pipeband

"Remembranzas Galegas" a banda do Centro Galego de Valparaíso - Viña do Mar (of course is Galician) is one of the two traditional folk pipebands found in Valparaiso. The other one is the Valparaiso asturian pipeband and dancing group of the Centro asturiano de Valparaiso. Both bands are also schools keeping alive the spanish bagpipe folk traditions, its music and dances as they are played by them in Valparaiso. In this galician band, their bagpipe music (muiñeiras, marches, alvoradas, jotas, etc.) is usually played along with some percussion instruments such as a tenor drum, pandeiros (tambourines), a bass bombo, and an unique galician invention, the charrasqueiro. In Chile there are not real gaita (bagpipe) makers so most galician bagpipes here are handmade in Galicia (Spain), whereas all the band percussions are made by some members of the band in their workshops in Valpo. At informal gatherings after rehearsals or for special dates such as St James Day there is another musical strain that this band celebrates mixing the bagpipe sound, percussion, and festive singing along with mandolins, lauds, and other plectrum instruments in what it would be called a tuna or estudiantina musical celebration.