Friday, September 05, 2008

Piping in Valpo

Spring is almost officially starting with paper kites (volantines) flying on the hills around Valpo and everybody else preparing to celebrate the chilean independence holidays within a fortnight... At the same time, the few bagpipers in town and surrounding areas are gathering to play music with their bagpipes in the outdoors. Two well organised pipebands are in town, both celebrating spanish folk bagpipe traditions. The Valparaiso asturian pipeband with their long single drone and closed chantered bagpipes (gaita asturiana) and the galician Remembranzas de Galicia pipeband with their traditional open chantered galician gaitas.... These bagpipes might look somewhat alike but they sound different because of their respective distinct reeds (palleta and pajuela) and chanters. So I am also playing galician style in the outdoors with a friend at the Baron docks (photo above). Tomorrow night many of these pipers will gather to celebrate the 4th Irlandés bar birthday party.... so if you hear them just relax they might be piping while celebrating with green beer and other stronger brews.