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46 albums · 1965–2019

The bagpipes, from the Highlands and Ireland to Galicia, Asturias and Brittany

· 1 min read · by 1001 Albums

A Great Highland bagpipe lying on a mat, its bag in a green and blue tartan cover, three drones with white mounts and a long black chanter
The black drones and keyed regulators of a set of uilleann pipes with silver ferrules, the wooden bellows behind them and the chanter in frontA piper in a red cap, white shirt and black waistcoat playing a gaita under a stone archway
A Great Highland bagpipe: the bag, the chanter and three drones, a bass and two tenors. Photo: Mushummel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. · A set of uilleann pipes: the chanter, the drones and the keyed regulators, with the bellows that fill the bag. Photo: Vintage-aars, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. · A gaiteiro playing under an archway in Santiago de Compostela, 2021. Photo: Bikerhiker75, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

A bagpipe is a bag of air, filled by the player's breath or by bellows under the arm, that feeds a chanter, the pipe the melody is fingered on, and drones that hold one note beneath it. The bag keeps the air flowing, so the sound does not stop between breaths. The Highland pipes of Scotland are blown by mouth and loud; the uilleann pipes of Ireland and the Northumbrian smallpipes are filled by bellows and quieter.

In Scotland the list has John Burgess, the pipe bands of Shotts and Simon Fraser University, and pipers such as Fred Morrison, Martyn Bennett and Brìghde Chaimbeul; Kathryn Tickell plays the Northumbrian pipes. On the uilleann pipes there are Willie Clancy, Seamus Ennis, Liam O'Flynn and Davy Spillane. Carlos Núñez and Susana Seivane play the gaita of Galicia, Hevia that of Asturias, and Rufus Harley played the Highland pipes in jazz.

The list has 46 records from 1965 to 2019, with a few from Brittany, Bulgaria, Sweden and the Limousin; some are later collections, dated by the years the catalogues give them. Pop and rock records with a bagpipe in one song are left out. About 40 hours of music, 5 days of a few records each.

What it sounds like

Amazing GraceSandy Jones and Scott Gunn, bagpipes, with the pipe bands of the United States Air Force Reserve Band and the United States Air Force Band, 2002

Recording: United States Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

By genre

Folk & Country 49%Rock 5%Electronic 2%Other 44%
  • Folk & Country 49%
  • Rock 5%
  • Electronic 2%
  • Other 44%

The genres named most: bagpipes, celtic, irish folk, scottish folk, galician folk, folk rock.

The colours of the covers

A stripe for each cover, in the colour Tidal picks from it, sorted by hue; the greys at the end.

Where the music comes from

Music from 9 countries: United Kingdom 16, Ireland 11, Spain 10, France 4, Bulgaria 1 and 4 more. The deeper the colour, the more albums: one, two to four, five to nine, ten and more.

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

More lists

Lists of Instruments first, then others; all of them on the blog. The blog.

29 albums · 1976–2024

The kora of Mali, the harp-lute of the jeli

· 1 min read

The kora is the harp-lute of the jeli, the griots of Mali, Guinea, Senegal and the Gambia: 21 strings over a large calabash covered in cowhide, played with the thumbs and forefingers of both hands.

World 89%Blues 3%Classical 3%Other 5%
  • World 89%
  • Blues 3%
  • Classical 3%
  • Other 5%

Read and see the list