Swedish or Nordic bagpipe forum

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:11 am

There is a new english forum for Scandinavian piping

Norden Sackpipa Association of the Americas (NSAA)

/MarcusR

edit: updated the link

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:33 am

Marcus' signature wrote:1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d

... Whoa there! Perhaps that's been my problemm all along!

Cool site, btw.

CHasR · Post by **CHasR** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 4:44 pm

I'm just curious, MarcusR;
How many sackpipa players would you guesstimate there are in the US + Canada?

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:37 pm

CHasR wrote:I'm just curious, MarcusR;
How many sackpipa players would you guesstimate there are in the US + Canada?

Browsing through the forum, there seem to be a few of 'em. Nice site... I especially like the bag demo fro 'Bo'.

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 3:23 am

CHasR wrote:I'm just curious, MarcusR;
How many sackpipa players would you guesstimate there are in the US + Canada?

Hi Chas!
I think Olle Gällmo or Jan W (aka Liraman here on C&F) can give you a more specific approximation but my guess is, that there are more säckpipa players in the US and Canada than there is in Sweden

During the last years some very skilled pipe makers have started to make "säckpipor" (pluralis) in the US and Canada. Here in Sweden we only have three or maybe four makers. The Swedish Nyckelharpa has had a very strong tradition in the US for a long time (ANA) and it seems like the swedish säckpipa also has a bit of revival right now

Cheers!

If you are interested in these pipes "Liraman" or "Olle Gällmo" are the ones to ask for more information.

Here is a good link for Swedish piping

/MarcusR

CHasR · Post by **CHasR** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:35 am

wow!

Thanks MarcusR

Ive been to that link, its very informative.

Glad to hear the instrument is so popular!

Altho Im not thinking of playing sackpipa,

I am interested to know if Scandanavian-Americans in the 'Northlands' are picking up on the instrument and welcoming it as a part of Nordic tradition

(primarily because I'm working on that same angle with Italian-Americans & zampogna in the cities here);

Are we hearing 'Sackpipor' at Folk-fests?, Private parties?, Lutheran Hi-Holy days? Weddings? Funerals?

Does one find a steep level of unfamiliarity between the 'target demographic' and the sackpipa? Or is it more of an instantly accessed cultural memory?

are they singing along yet, yaknowaddimean????

Baglady · Post by **Baglady** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 8:29 am

Here in da middle of Nort America there has been an interest in Nordic music. Dick Hensold dabbled a bit into it but mostly with an over-tone flute. The Nordic tradition here is mostly Missouri Synod Lutherans who discouraged the playing of music and dancing for fun. But there is a bit of a revival. I went to a Nordic evening devotional last year and my Nordic heritage friends were surprised to see a Hardanger fiddler INSIDE the church. That had been forbidden for many, many years.

I myself play a kind of Nordic-Celtic hybrid pipe but I play mostly Irish music because it is so available. And I don’t quite get some of the rhythmic idiosyncrasies of Nordic music. They are fun to hear but not so easy to play. There is a Nordic session about an hour south of here but I haven’t tried that out yet.

Olle Gällmo · Post by **Olle Gällmo** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:14 pm

How many sackpipa players would you guesstimate there are in the US + Canada?

I know of at least 28 Swedish bagpipe owners in USA and Canada, many of which also have building experience, and many more who was in the process of buying or building one when I last heard from them. California and Washington (the state) have the greatest number of Swedish pipers, I think.

The NSAA forum is actually a lot more active than the corresponding Swedish forum (at piping.se).

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:05 pm

A polska on Swedish pipes with Olle Gällmo (above) and Stefan Ekedahl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozy9wsniov8

Very nice playing Olle, I enjoyed it very much

/M

Olle Gällmo · Post by **Olle Gällmo** » Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:17 pm

Thanks! It's a pity Flash messes up the synchronization of sound and picture, though.

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:40 am

Someone PM:ed me to let me know that the link was outdated, now fixed

If anyone wants to learn more about Swedish piping and Scandinavian folk music, thats the place to go.

/MarcusR

liraman · Post by **liraman** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:55 am

[quote="MarcusR"]
If anyone wants to learn more about Swedish piping and Scandinavian folk music, thats the place to go.

/MarcusR[/quote]

And now there's a podcast on the subject as well:
As my pilot podcast Nordic drones now has met with the benign approval of the iTunes censorship board (!) I now proudly present it's introduction in the wider realms of the Chiff & Fipple.
The first pilot is dominated by the Swedish bagpipe meeting in Karlstad in january.
It is indeed a trial pilot, to check the technicalities of rss feeds and such. So please bear this in mind if you listen in. All suggestions are most welcome.
How to?:
Get iTunes, go to iTune store and search for Nordic drones. Click the subscribe button (it's free!) and the podcast will be downloaded to your iTunes client program. If you have an iPod you can transfer it for easy listening.

This is a so called enhanced podcast, a hybrid between an audio and a video podcast. There are stills of people I interview (among them our great moderator!) parading in parallel with the audio. Some stills also have links to relevant web pages.

For those who don't want to use iTunes, the Nordic Drones podcasts have a web site of their own:
http://www.tongang.se/Nordic_drones/

You might have to install Quicktime to watch the website podcast though.
Enjoy
The Liraman