Melancholy bagpipe music?
November 8, 2005 9:15 PM Subscribe
Melancholy bagpipe music? Come on, there's got to be such a thing. Auld Lang Syne is rather sad on the old pipes. What else?
Response by poster: So any bagpipe recommendations. Bagpipe collections, bagpipe artists.. Anything.
posted by xmutex at 9:26 PM on November 8, 2005
posted by xmutex at 9:26 PM on November 8, 2005
Oh Danny boy... the pipes, the pipes are caaaaalling....
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:27 PM on November 8, 2005
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:27 PM on November 8, 2005
hands down.....amazing grace. makes me tear up every time.
posted by ShawnString at 9:30 PM on November 8, 2005
posted by ShawnString at 9:30 PM on November 8, 2005
Response by poster: Yeah but how can I find Amazing Grace as performed on the pipes?
posted by xmutex at 9:31 PM on November 8, 2005
posted by xmutex at 9:31 PM on November 8, 2005
When they paly the bagpipes at the end of the Wrath of Khan.
I have never felt so melancholy while listening to the bagpipes.
I honestly never thought the bagpipes capable.
posted by notcostello at 9:42 PM on November 8, 2005
I have never felt so melancholy while listening to the bagpipes.
I honestly never thought the bagpipes capable.
posted by notcostello at 9:42 PM on November 8, 2005
Been too long since I played or listened to any pipe music so can't give you any band names but Piobaireachd can be quite meloncholic and a lot of sites (like this one and this one) have mp3's that can be listened to. Hope this helps in the search.
posted by squeak at 10:02 PM on November 8, 2005
posted by squeak at 10:02 PM on November 8, 2005
Melancholy bagpipe music? There's plenty. Depends on your style... if you're looking for stereotypical stuff, "Hymn To The Sea" is always a solid (if inauthentic) choice, along with other tunes from the Titanic and Braveheart soundtracks, as played here, for example: http://www.ics.villanova.edu/mp3.htm or perhaps a CD like Atmospheres: Scottish Celtic Bagpipes. (Available on say, Amazon for a decent price.)
posted by StrikeTheViol at 10:15 PM on November 8, 2005
posted by StrikeTheViol at 10:15 PM on November 8, 2005
Yeah, any version of "Danny Boy" or "Amazing Grace" on the pipes is sure to get the ol' tear ducts working overtime.
For more contemporary stuff, there's a very evocative, melancholy use of the Irish (uillean) pipes on "Tomorrow" by U2 on the October album. The song's about Bono's mom's funeral (when he was a kid), I believe.
posted by scody at 10:46 PM on November 8, 2005
For more contemporary stuff, there's a very evocative, melancholy use of the Irish (uillean) pipes on "Tomorrow" by U2 on the October album. The song's about Bono's mom's funeral (when he was a kid), I believe.
posted by scody at 10:46 PM on November 8, 2005
"Going Home" is the piece I've always heard played at funerals.
posted by Sangre Azul at 11:52 PM on November 8, 2005
posted by Sangre Azul at 11:52 PM on November 8, 2005
hands down.....amazing grace. makes me tear up every time.
posted by ShawnString at 9:30 PM PST on November 8 [!]
You think you are affected?
/Grace
posted by Cranberry at 12:02 AM on November 9, 2005
posted by ShawnString at 9:30 PM PST on November 8 [!]
You think you are affected?
/Grace
posted by Cranberry at 12:02 AM on November 9, 2005
Don't forget the bagpipe exists in several other cultures' music, from Galicia to Sweden. Samples.
Scottish bagpipes, at least as heard in the US -- I suspect most people only encounter pipers in parades -- are heavily martial, reflecting its use in military bands. Of course this also means there are plenty of songs about homesickness or lost loves.
Some non-obvious ones I've liked:
"The Mist-Covered Mountains"
"Loch Lomond"
"My Ain Folk"
"My Heart's in the Highlands"
"The Skye Boat Song"
I've always found the version on ST:TWoK to be ... insipid. But I figured 80% of the fans may have never heard "Amazing Grace" on the pipes, even if they knew it as a song.
When I was in Toronto, from the CN Tower we watched a bagpiper walk into the park and begin to busk. When we got down to ground level, we saw it was a she! Not bad either.
posted by dhartung at 12:37 AM on November 9, 2005
Scottish bagpipes, at least as heard in the US -- I suspect most people only encounter pipers in parades -- are heavily martial, reflecting its use in military bands. Of course this also means there are plenty of songs about homesickness or lost loves.
Some non-obvious ones I've liked:
"The Mist-Covered Mountains"
"Loch Lomond"
"My Ain Folk"
"My Heart's in the Highlands"
"The Skye Boat Song"
I've always found the version on ST:TWoK to be ... insipid. But I figured 80% of the fans may have never heard "Amazing Grace" on the pipes, even if they knew it as a song.
When I was in Toronto, from the CN Tower we watched a bagpiper walk into the park and begin to busk. When we got down to ground level, we saw it was a she! Not bad either.
posted by dhartung at 12:37 AM on November 9, 2005
Scottish Soldier, same tune as The Green Hills of Tyrol.
posted by the cuban at 4:31 AM on November 9, 2005
posted by the cuban at 4:31 AM on November 9, 2005
Bulgarian bagpipes, known as "gaida" or gajda often begin sets with long, semi-improvised slow peices called "table songs" that are exquisitely beautiful.
There are lots of different types of pipes. Some of us, myself included, are pretty enthiusiastic about the non-Celtic types...
The Irish Uilleann pipes can also be sensitive when playing airs and songs. French bagpipe music is also great. (Mp3 page... old recordings not all bagpipe)
Don't expect much sensitivity from the Hungarian or Slovak duda, the Turkish Tulum, or the Romanian Cimpoi.
And now, I am off to pick up my Moldavian Cimpoi from the local repairshop - I had a new Croatian style oil-cured bag put on to replace the old sheepskin bag!
posted by zaelic at 4:37 AM on November 9, 2005
There are lots of different types of pipes. Some of us, myself included, are pretty enthiusiastic about the non-Celtic types...
The Irish Uilleann pipes can also be sensitive when playing airs and songs. French bagpipe music is also great. (Mp3 page... old recordings not all bagpipe)
Don't expect much sensitivity from the Hungarian or Slovak duda, the Turkish Tulum, or the Romanian Cimpoi.
And now, I am off to pick up my Moldavian Cimpoi from the local repairshop - I had a new Croatian style oil-cured bag put on to replace the old sheepskin bag!
posted by zaelic at 4:37 AM on November 9, 2005
Head out to the Highland Games in Enumclaw at the end of August, and you can hear bagpipes all day long, including full-on marching massed bagpipe bands from all over North America, marching right at you.
posted by matildaben at 6:09 AM on November 9, 2005
posted by matildaben at 6:09 AM on November 9, 2005
Zaelic, I do a lot of Balkan dancing. Thanks for the links.
If you can find it, there's a great Paul McCartney song, "Mull of Kintyre" that was popular in the UK in the late 70s with nice bagpipes. Let me know if you find an mp3. I liked that song.
posted by theora55 at 7:19 AM on November 9, 2005
If you can find it, there's a great Paul McCartney song, "Mull of Kintyre" that was popular in the UK in the late 70s with nice bagpipes. Let me know if you find an mp3. I liked that song.
posted by theora55 at 7:19 AM on November 9, 2005
You'll find plenty of exactly that kind of massed-pipe-bands melancholy at this year's Festival of Remembrance in London, as well as the ceremony at the Cenotaph the following morning. Unfortunately, the Festival of Remembrance isn't broadcast on radio, so you might want to email the BBC for information on what music is played. If you ask extra-nicely you may be able to negotiate a tape or CD copy, possibly in return for some payment.
posted by paperpete at 9:51 AM on November 9, 2005
posted by paperpete at 9:51 AM on November 9, 2005
Response by poster: Thanks for all of the awesome recommendations everyone.
posted by xmutex at 11:19 AM on November 9, 2005
posted by xmutex at 11:19 AM on November 9, 2005
As an aside, one of my favorite movie scenes is the part in "Invasion of the Bodysnatchers" - the one with Donald Sutherland - where Don and the girl are looking down at a shipping terminal and watching the aliens load pods into a ship to go to Europe and spread the infection. The loudspeakers on the dock are blaring Amazing Grace played by a pipe band. Tragic and hilarious at the same time.
posted by sneebler at 2:42 PM on November 9, 2005
posted by sneebler at 2:42 PM on November 9, 2005
Try this two-part article on the piobaireachd, the classical (pre eighteenth-century) form of scots bagpipe music.
Excerpt: Modern Gaelic speakers would refer to it as ‘Ceol Mor,’ the big or great music, to distinguish it from ‘Ceol Beag,’ the little music, which comprises the marches, strathspeys, reels, airs, jigs and hornpipes that we hear so often. (That was developed later, after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.) Many, but by no means all, of the ancient piobaireachds are laments, and the slow and plaintive character of this music lends itself particularly well to tragic effects...
posted by Sonny Jim at 4:19 PM on November 9, 2005
Excerpt: Modern Gaelic speakers would refer to it as ‘Ceol Mor,’ the big or great music, to distinguish it from ‘Ceol Beag,’ the little music, which comprises the marches, strathspeys, reels, airs, jigs and hornpipes that we hear so often. (That was developed later, after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.) Many, but by no means all, of the ancient piobaireachds are laments, and the slow and plaintive character of this music lends itself particularly well to tragic effects...
posted by Sonny Jim at 4:19 PM on November 9, 2005
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posted by interrobang at 9:24 PM on November 8, 2005