Second International Bagpipe Conference

8 March 2014
Senate House London

For the second time, the International Bagpipe Conference was a great success.
Organised on 8 March 2014 in collaboration with the Institute of Musical Research
and SOAS, it gathered experts and enthusiasts from all over the world to
exchange knowledge and expertise on the bagpipes. International Bagpipe Day
was launched in 2012 by Cassandre Balosso-Bardin (SOAS) and Andy Letcher
(Bagpipe Society) with the first international bagpipe conference, widely featured
on national radio and television. This years edition was launched on 7 March by a
sold-out SOAS series concert featuring the Croatian piper Goran Farkas, the allfemale Galician band Habelas Hainas and the famous Andy May with his quartet
from Northumbria.
The conference, held in Senate house on 8 March, was equally successful.
Speakers from Belarus, Greece, France, the United Sates, Scotland, Israel and
England presented many different aspects of bagpipe research, including bagpipe
revivals in the Baltic Region, composition methods for bagpipe music and
ethnomusicological discussions about the use of bagpipes in insular contexts. The
audience was open to experts, enthusiasts and non-specialists, many of which
had travelled from abroad to attend. Breaks left space for networking and lively
discussions but also for browsing the various stalls and presentations on display
including an exclusive bagpipe stamp collection from around the world, a
prototype of an electronic bagpipe and instrument makers stalls where one could
play and share tips. The day ended with a social French folk dance with virtuoso
central France bagpipe player Julien Cartonnet and melodeon player Lo Garnier.
International Bagpipe day has become, in the space of three years, a global
phenomenon as events are being organized all around the world to celebrate this
instrument on 10 March such as Iran, the UK, Sweden and even the USA with a
round table at Harvard University on 11 March 2014 focusing on Greek, Irish and
medieval bagpipes. The next conference is scheduled to happen from 26-28
February at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.

(Programme on next page)

SECOND INTERNATIONAL BAGPIPE CONFERENCE

8 March 2014
Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU
Organised by the International Bagpipe Organisation
Hosted by the Institute of Musical Research and the School of Oriental and African
Studies

SCHEDULE
09:15
REGISTRATION
09:30
Opening talk
09:45 Bagpipes of Belarus: history, revival,
perspectives
10:15 Tsambona tradition and revival in Greece
10:45
11:15
11:45

12:15

12:45
14:00

14:30
15:00

15:30
16:00

16:30
17:00

17:30
18:00

Eugen BARYSHNIKAU

George-Pericles
SCHINAS
Soc un xeremier the status of the
Cassandre BALOSSOxeremier in Mallorca
BARDIN
BREAK tea and coffee
Bagpiping and Gender Equity in the United
Martha MOORE DAVIS
States: The University of Iowa Scottish
Highlanders, 1936-2008
Make Mine Gothic and Heavy: Trends in
Will CONNOR
Bagpipe Construction within the NeoMedievalist Gothic and Metal Community
LUNCH BREAK
sandwich lunch provided
Sublimation and personification of the
bagpipe in French baroque opera : aspects
Jean-Cristophe
of the musette in the lyric repertoire
MAILLARD
between Lully and Rameau.
Bela Bartk's secret plan

Ron ATAR

The bagpipe as an instrument, stripped of

Rohan KRIWACZEK
cultural baggage a composers
perspective
BREAK tea and coffee
Les Chabrettes Limousines, the mirrorEric MONTBEL
bagpipes from Limousin (XVIIth-XXth
centuries): History, semiotic, musical
anthropology
The Romantic legacy of the bagpipe in
Vivien Estelle WILLIAMS
Scotland: a cultural history
Bundle and go: contradictions in the
Hugh CHEAPE
record of piping in Scotland
Closing address
DINNER

19 :30
to
00 :00

Not provided
EVENING DANCE
Julien Cartonnet (Cornemuse du Centre France)
and Lo Garnier (melodeon)
open to the general public

All day: Bagpipe Stamp Collection from the 1920s to today Tadeusz Rytwinski,
Steve Wilson and Alison Carpenter