Bagpipes around the world

France

Musette de cour: A French open ended smallpipe, believed by some to be an ancestor of the Northumbrian smallpipes, used for classical compositions in ‘folk’ style in the 18th century French court. The shuttle design for the drones was recently revived and added to a mouth-blown Scottish smallpipe.

Germany

Dudelsack: German bagpipe with two drones and one chanter. Also called Schaferpfeife (shepherd pipe) or Sackpfeife. The drones are sometimes fitted into one stock and do not lie on the player’s shoulder but are tied to the front of the bag.

Ireland

Uilleann pipes: Bellows-blown bagpipe with keyed or un-keyed chanter and keyed drones (regulators). The most common type of bagpipes in Irish traditional music.

United Kingdom

Great Highland Bagpipe: The bagpipe is first attested in Scotland around AD1400, having first appeared in European artwork in Spain in the 1200s. The earliest references to Scottish bagpipes are in a military context, and it is in that context that the Great Highland Bagpipe became established in the British military and achieved the widespread prominence it enjoys today.

Sweden

Sackpipa: Also the Swedish word for “bagpipe” in general, this instrument was on the brink of extinction in the first half of the 20th century. It has a cylindrical bore and a single reed, as well as a single drone at the same pitch as the bottom note of the chanter.

Iran

Ney-Anban: A type of bagpipe which is popular in southern Iran, especially around Bushehr. The term ney-anban literally means ‘bag-pipe’, but more specifically can refer to a type of droneless double-chantered bagpipe played in southern Iran. In Bushehr, the ney-anban is used to accompany sarva, the singing of free-metre couplets

Libya

Zukra: A Libyan bagpipe with a double-chanter terminating in two cow-horns. The instrument is played as a bagpipe in the south and west of Libya, but played without a bag in the east.