The Bagpipe Society

Interview

Yannis Pantazis lives on the island of Santorini where he founded a Greek bagpipe workshop and exhibition at La Ponta. As well as making tsabouna, he plays and teaches the instrument and has given workshops, lectures and concerts in many countries such as Italy, Norway, Estonia, France, Great Britain, USA. Alongside the bagpipes, Yannis plays saxophone, blues harp and flutes.

He was influenced at very young age by the music of his region (Grevena, Greece) and was brought up in in a musical environment as his father was a percussionist. Yannis initially studied saxophone at conservatoire level and played with groups such as ‘Captain Sung and his Electric Tangerine’ and ‘Mylos 1927’ before becoming involved with ethnic music group ‘Namaste’ and exploring the sounds of his homeland. He was particularly attracted to the sound of the tsabouna and in 2005 was taught to make and play the instrument by local shepherds on the island of Naxos. Since then, Yannis has settled in Santorini where he helped revitalise the lost tradition of the bagpipes and takes an active part is staging and participating in local traditional festivals. He believes in blending the sounds from his funk and blues background with the traditional sounds of his country. Yannis was featured in the BBC programme “Pipe Dreams” and as well as appearing as a guest artist with a diverse range artists, he also has released his own cd, ‘Aylos Avlos’.

What bagpipes do you play?

I play the tsabouna primarily. Also the Thracian gaida.

What led you to take up piping?

In the town where I was born there were no traditional bagpipes but the first time I heard the Greek bagpipe ( Gaida) was on a rainy Sunday morning as I watched a film on public television. I was nine years old. The film was about a robber, something like Robin Hood, who helped the poor. When he realized that the police would kill him, he asked a musician to play the bagpipes. This sound redeemed him from fear of imminent death. The sound of the bagpipes reflected deeply into my childhood soul and I carry the sounds with me today. The Thracian gaida was the beginning of my love for the Greek bagpipes.

Which pipers do you most admire?

Every player that respects the music and the instrument.

Folk blues harmonica, Music from Epirus (Greece), Persian classical music.

What three albums are top of your playlist right now?

  • Twilight Kingdom-Lisa Gerrard
  • Byzantine Mysteries- Divna Ljubojevic
  • Symphonies Of The Planets - NASA Voyager Recordings

If you had your life again, what instrument would you play?

Any musical instrument donated by the Muses, to be able to serve them.

Name your favourite music festival.

The Pan-Cycladic folk wind instrument festival.

What three words describe your piping style?

Maybe I’m not qualified to answer this..Words inherently limit the vastness of the meanings.

Bellows or mouth-blown?

Mouth blown.

Cats or dogs?

Cats…once they told me that playing the tsabouna is like “fighting with a bag of cats”.

Do you prefer playing, dancing or both?

Both, although it depends on my emotional state …

Cane or plastic reeds?

Cane On…… I invite anyone who would like to come with me during harvest time ( which is now November- to cut cane on the island of Santorini and nearby Anafi.

What’s your greatest musical achievement?

I learned to distinguish the different tones. Somewhere during my adolescence I lost the audibility that I had developed since childhood. I became tone deaf . To regain that for me was the greatest achievement.

What’s your most embarrassing bagpiping moment?

What else … to be out of tune when it is the time to play solo with other orchestral instruments.

What’s the most annoying question you get asked about the bagpipes?

Is that a real goat??? Uhhh..poor goat…

What advice would you give a novice?

Αn old tsabouna player told me … ʹIf you have ʺmaniaʺ you will learn …

I love bagpipes because

they carry an archetypal voice of creation..

Jon originally trained as a lawyer and worked as such for twelve years before seeing the light, and turning to his first love, music. Studied Early Woodwind Technology 1977-80, subsequently setting up his workshop in Somerset specialising in bagpipes, whistles and flutes. Founder member of Blowzabella in 1978. Introduced his English Border Pipe which forms the foundation of his work in 1986, and in the same year was elected Honorary President of the Bagpipe Society. Founded the trio Moebius (CD: Moebius August) in 1994, and the bagpipe and percussion ensemble Zephyrus in 1998 (CDs: The Halfe Hannikin Variations and The English Suite) and plays in an occasional duo with accordionist Becky Price (CD: Love and a Bottle).

What bagpipes do you play?

Mostly I play the ones I make, ie English Border Pipes, at various pitches, usually G or D. With Zephyrus I play high C pipes, and with Moebius I used to play low C. Recently with Blowzabella we’ve started to play a piece on F pipes, which is going down well. As everyone knows, F is the new G. Apart from that I have a very nice Swedish sackpipa by Mike York, which comes out occasionally. When I started playing pipes, I was besotted with Balkan pipes, especially Macedonian and Bulgarian gaidas. I got up to a certain standard, but eventually decided it was more important to concentrate on English music. I’m also the owner of an old zampogna and various other European pipes, but would hardly claim to ‘play’ them.

What led you to take up piping?

That’s a very long story which I will try to make brief. My musical background was in classical music and a bit of jazz and big-band stuff. When I began to study instrument making, I met people playing traditional/folk music, and came across various kinds of bagpipe. At the same time I read a couple of books, Music, Education, Society by Christopher Small and another I’ve forgotten the name of, which opened my eyes to music outside the Western tradition; as a result I found myself literally unable to listen to any classical music for a period of a year or so. During that time I was drawn to drone music, and Bill O’Toole made me a set of pipes and we started playing together.

Which pipers do you most admire?

Too many to list, but I recently heard a lovely concert from Philippe Prieur, whose playing embodies some of my ideals as stated below, and of course one takes different influences – lyricism, rhythmic precision, improvisational freedom and so on – from different players. But I would like to name three young pipers who have achieved virtuosity in different ways and whose playing shows that European piping is bursting with energy – Remy Villeneuve (Radical Strapontin and the Patrick Bouffard Trio), Julien Cartonnet (Mister Klof, Topette), and Callum Armstrong – all of whom have won prizes at Chateau d’Ars.

Brahms was considered old-fashioned by Wagner and his followers, but I love him for his combination of intellectual rigour and passionate lyricism. Two music teachers who taught me so much and opened my ears to lots of music, Joy and John Kemp, when I was around twelve. And Humphrey Lyttleton; his was the first jazz I heard when I was around sixteen; I’d never heard anything like it and he has remained a favourite; he was more or less self taught, never learnt to read music, always ploughed his own furrow regardless of fashion, and was very funny.

What album is top of your playlist right now?

It’s not new, but I’m still listening with delight to Vent de Galerne, and that other band from the stable of La Chavanée, Fublene – such great playing, beautiful songs and arrangements. Then for scintillating but subtle Auvergne fiddle playing, the duo Les Poufes à Cordes with Clémence Cognet and Noëllie Nioulou.

If you had your life again, what instrument would you play?

Every time I hear an instrument being really well played, I think, I’d like to do that. Julian Bream makes me want to play classical guitar; Richard Galliano ditto with chromatic button accordion; but the violin must be the most expressive instrument, so it would probably have to be that.

Name your favourite music festival.

It doesn’t necessarily have the best music, or the best sessions, or the best dancing, but St Chartier (now Le Son Continu at Chateau d’Ars) was where it all started for me, and it has had an incalculable influence on my life and career.

What three words describe your piping style?

What I aim for is musicality, clarity and melodic richness.

What tune would you have played at your funeral and why?

I don’t think that’s for me to say. The organisers will be the best choosers.

Bellows or mouth-blown?

Both, though not usually at the same time.

Cats or dogs?

Winston Churchill was supposed to have said that dogs look up to you, cats look down on you while pigs treat you as an equal. I don’t think I could live with a pig, though I do like to eat pork sometimes.

Do you prefer playing, dancing or both?

I love doing both, and I’m sure they enhance each other.

Cane or plastic reeds?

Early on I made a decision to master plastic reeds for the border pipes and I have stuck with it. Listeners occasionally ask me which I use, which shows that plastic sounds good enough. There is a difference but it is small if the reeds are well made. If I made cane reeds I would be spending infinitely more time reed-making. For pastoral pipes on the other hand cane reeds are at the moment essential for the quality of tone.

What’s your greatest musical achievement?

I’m proud of the work I’ve done with Moebius and Zephyrus, but if I had to pick a moment, it might be playing with Blowzabella for the main stage bal at St Chartier in 2003.

What’s your most embarrassing bagpiping moment?

In the early days of Blowzabella, the vicar of a Roman Catholic Parish in White Hart Lane saw us busking in Covent Garden, and invited us to play for a parish social dance. We duly turned up and played. Nothing we played could induce a single couple onto the dance floor. Eventually someone asked if we could play a waltz. We obliged, but still no response. Finally the late great Dave Robert’s launched into ‘When Irish Eyes are Smiling’. Instantly the floor was full. We figured that they recognised the tune. But sadly we could not keep that up for long …………

What’s the most annoying question you get asked about the bagpipes?

Question: Is that a bagpipe? Answer: Yes. Response: But it’s not The Bagpipe. Answer: No, but it’s still a bagpipe…. and so on.

What advice would you give a novice?

Listen. Get lessons from a good teacher. Listen to good pipers that you like. Practice every day. Record yourself. Listen.

I love bagpipes because…

The varying tension between the melody and the drone is constantly fascinating, and there is an endless challenge in learning how to generate the maximum expression.

Interviewed by Andy Letcher

Cätlin Mägi is a leading figure in Estonian piping. A champion of the torupil, the Estonian bagpipe, she is a charismatic teacher, performer and recording artist, most recently releasing an album with the Torupilli Jussi Trio.

What bagpipes do you play?

As I am an Estonian I only play Estonian bagpipes. I have thought of getting myself bagpipes from other countries as well, and being young it seems I still have time …

What led you to take up piping?

It would be nice to answer here that “my grandfather was a bagpipe player…”, but the picture isn’t as romantic as that, although my grandfather did play the accordion.

Everything began when, as a teenager, I saw a female bagpipe player on TV in the semi-finals for Estonian Eurovision contest, and everything else happened after that. I started to research what instrument it was and where I could study it. I went to camps and to the university, ordered myself an instrument made by a master and just played and played and researched and played again.

Which pipers do you most admire?

When someone already plays the bagpipes, it is wonderful and when you see the sparkle in their eyes and interest in the thing in their heart, that’s the bagpipe player worth admiring.

My family, thanks to them I simply have this kind of blood in my veins that inevitably takes you to music. My father, uncle, grandfather, aunts - everyone sings or plays an instrument.

While in high school we had a Folk Club where we would hang out and play songs by Nirvana on the guitar, i.e. friends.

Maybe also the fact that there is, on the whole, something called traditional music, and it is possible to learn that. This music suits me and that is why I continued my studies at a university.

If you had your life again, what instrument would you play?

I played the piano at the music school and I also play the flute, pipes and Jew’s harp in addition to the bagpipes. I play quite a number of different instruments already and it is hard to think what I would change if I could relive my life. And since the life is not over yet, I can play very many instruments over and over again.

Name your favourite music festival.

Well, that’s a very difficult question, however, since it is the interview for a bagpipe magazine, I remember Glasgow Piping Life Festival right away. I have been to it twice and for me it’s bagpipers’ paradise. In the morning, as soon as I open my eyes, I can hear how under my windows a beehive starts buzzing, then the drums get rolling and then a melody begins to sound. And there are very many men who walk around with serious looks on their faces and everyone looks very important as if bagpipes and bagpipe music and bagpipe players were the most important thing in the world. I look at them and admire this attitude and seriousness.

What three words describe your piping style?

  • traditional
  • serious
  • flitting

What tune would you have played at your funeral and why?

I haven’t thought about it, however, I would probably be very satisfied if very many bagpipe players play together as a bagpipe orchestra. And let them play whichever tune.

Bellows or mouth-blown?

Mouth-blown…

Cats or dogs?

I have an aquarium at home, so I’d rather go for fish – catfish

Do you prefer playing, dancing or both?

I don’t like dancing although I can and I do not have anything against it really. So, I’d rather play.

Cane or plastic reeds?

Estonian bagpipe reeds are made of (natural) reed. In the old times the master would make them from old saxophone or clarinet reeds but I cannot say at the moment precisely what material it was.

What’s your greatest musical achievement?

A tough question, although I can remember some highlights. One of them was in Moscow at the Estonian Embassy where the Estonian Prime Minister started dancing flatfoot waltz to my bagpipe playing.

I am also very happy that old bagpipe tunes can again be heard on the stage and that young traditional musicians are keen on learning and playing them. That the popularity of bagpipe playing is on the increase and it is specifically the traditional bagpipe tunes that get played again.

What’s your most embarrassing bagpiping moment?

We were at a bagpipe festival with another female bagpiper. One concert was taking place in a mountain village and when we reached there they wouldn’t let us play because women had never played the bagpipes there before and they didn’t want to let us either. The organiser, however, allowed us to play a couple of tunes, yet I felt embarrassed in front of those old masters who were peering at us from underneath their eyebrows.

What’s the most annoying question you get asked about the bagpipes?

Again I cannot tell, as when someone asks something and is interested in the bagpipe then I am already very delighted and always ready to answer … What advice would you give a novice?

There are no tricks or tips as to how to master bagpipe playing. You simply have to play – play - play.

I love bagpipes because…

Bagpipe players are rich and happy!

Interviewed by Andy Letcher

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Cvetelin Andreev has been playing the Rhodopean Kaba Gaida since 2005. Since then the gaida is always in his hands, mind and heart. He now performs at concerts, festivals, weddings and events and has playing with world-famous musicians such as Carlos Nunes and Theodosii Spassov. He began teaching the kaba gaida in 2010 to bothadults and kids. He founded http://www.kabagaida.com - a platform for kaba gaida online. Besides music, Cvetelin has been involved in technology startups since 2003 year acting as founder, partner and occasionally Java Full Stack software developer. Founder of OfficeInTheWoods.com, as well as running a kindergarden. He practices sustainable gardening and lifestyle.

What bagpipes do you play?

I play Bulgarian Kaba Gaida

What led you to take up piping?

I guess the Rhodope mountains. In the summer of 2004 I went trekking. My next memory from these times is that in the winter of 2005 I was holding my first kaba gaida in front of my first gaida teacher, playing in a student’s dormitory.

Which pipers do you most admire?

I’m influenced by the traditional performance and ornamentation style of the kaba gaida players in the village of Gela. I admire the old masters of Kaba Gaida - Lazar Kanevski, Mihail Kalfov. Nikolay Belyashki, one of the few traditional style makers, is another favourite of mine regarding his attitude to the kaba gaida.

Teodosii Spasov, Gilberto family, Thievery Corporation

What three albums are top of your playlist right now?

Recently I’m listening mostly: Mozart, Deva Premal, My daughter’s singing

If you had your life again, what instrument would you play?

I’m 31. I play also a bit guitar, kaval and piano. I think I have enough time to learn couple of new instruments: clarinet/saxophone, tambura, gadulka. Of course the Kaba Gaida is a top instrument.

Name your favourite music festival.

Carnaval Multicultural Recife-Olinda

What three words describe your piping style?

Simple, traditional, sharp

Bellows or mouth-blown?

Mouth-blown

Cats or dogs?

Both

Do you prefer playing, dancing or both?

Both

Cane or plastic reeds?

Elder : -) One piece. Hard to tune and makes deep and soul-touching sound that comes from the nature.

What’s your greatest musical achievement?

When I listen my 4 years old daughter to play on the small gaida, the flute and the piano.

What’s your most embarrassing bagpiping moment?

Here I include mine and those of friends of mine, as they are not to be missed! Playing with a gaida out of tune, drone falling apart, falling from the stage, pouturi (the pants of the kaba gaida player) falling down

What advice would you give a novice?

Find a good teacher

I love bagpipes because…

They bring me calm and joy. They open new opportunities.

Callum Armstrong is an experimental piper who enjoys exploring the possibilities of the pipes. He won the solo prize in 2014 and the ‘Petite Formation’ Prize in 2015 with Cellist George Pasca at the ‘Son Continu’ Festival in France. Callum has recently collaborated with Julian Goodacre to develop a smallpipe chanter with almost 3 octaves, and is currently working developing a technique for the ‘double Scottish smallpipe chanter. Amongst Callum’s current projects are learning and developing reeds for ancient auloi and learning the Musette de cour.

What bagpipes do you play?

Cornish pipes, Scottish Smallpipes both Single and Double by Julian Goodacre, Great Highland Bagpipes by Peter Hender- son, Borderpipes in A and D by Jon Swayne. Currently exploring Musette de Cour by Francis Wood

What led you to take up piping?

When I was about four I went to Edinburgh with my mother and father. We walked up the Royal Mile, and being festi- val time there was a great deal of excite- ment in the air and a great tumult of people. I must have been viewing the world at just above knee height and there were many brightly coloured stalls selling bright coloured cloths and trinkets. And many other things of interest to look at, like a dead mouse and a man on stilts. There was a great deal to take in, but above all of it I could hear a new sound that seemed to waft through the air with ease and could be heard above all other sounds on the street. By the time we got to the top of the hill and I actually saw the piper standing there I was completely in love with the pipes and wanted to play them. It would be another 10 years before my mother could be persuaded to let me start though.

Which pipers do you most admire?

To name a few…Gordon Duncan, Jaques-Martin Hotteterre, Julien Cartonnet

Baroque Music in all its glorious forms, minimalism and jazz.

What three albums are top of your playlist right now?

Il Gardino Armonico’s Vivaldi recordings. John Elliot Gardiner’s recording of Beethoven’s Eroica. Been listening to the Rheingan Sister’s album ‘Already Home’. I dig it!

If you had your life again, what instrument would you play?

Bagpipes, no question!

Name your favourite music festival.

Chateau D’Ars

What three words describe your piping style?

Hell for Leather

Bellows or mouth-blown?

Both

Cats or dogs?

It depends on the wine served. The family dog would sit on my feet when I was practicing. The neighboring cats used to flee as I struck up. In the dog’s older years I believe we had a great mutual respect for each other. I certain- ly used to save him the trouble of clearing the garden of cats. Although by that stage he was completely deaf.

Do you prefer playing, dancing or both?

Going to dances growing up, I used to always want to be in the band to avoid dancing. Dancing used to be a massive phobia of mine until very recently. I now love it. But I will always enjoy playing more.

Cane or plastic reeds?

Both and carbon fibre!

What’s your greatest musical achievement?

Still looking forward to playing every day after 11 years of piping.

What’s your most embarrassing bagpiping moment?

Leading a procession and marching too fast without realizing it, then looking to find everyone else on the distant horizon.

What’s the most annoying question you get asked about the bagpipes?

Scottish? No? Oh it’s Irish!?

What advice would you give a novice?

Focus on the process of and not the end result of learning your instru- ment. Practice, listen, listen to yourself, listen to the instrument, to all types of music. If you want to play something, learn to play something more difficult. Find time to play everyday, even if it is just for 5 minutes! Never be frightened of failing, keep trying and you will succeed.

I love bagpipes because…

The sum of a bagpipe is greater than the parts. It amazes me that on such a supposedly limited instrument so much creativity seems to flourish.

Interviewed by Andy Letcher

Anders Norudde is a multi-instrumentalist and violin maker, most famous for playing in Swedish/Finnish band Hedningarna (’the Heathens”). As well as violin, moraharpa, bowed harp, willowflutes and whistles, he plays Swedish bagpipes, which he took up in 1981. The most recent Hedningarna album, &, was released in 2012.

What bagpipes do you play.

I play the Swedish bagpipes. Until six months ago I just had my old set from the 80s made by Leif Eriksson, though modified by me with a new bag. Now I have a new set by Max Persson with carbon-fibre reeds..

What led you to take up piping.

When I heard the pipes at a fiddler meeting in 1980. That and hearing old kinds of folk music.

Which pipers do you most admire.

I don’t know names, but I love, for example, Hungarian and Bulgarian pipers. Single reeds.

Status quo (between the years 1970-76!), blues, Baroque music.

If you had your life again, what instrument would you play.

The same instruments.

What three words describe your piping style.

What people say: expressive, groovy, false ;-.

What tune would you have played at your funeral and why.

Some nice old tune in a minor key.

Bellows or mouth-blown.

Mouth.

Cats or dogs.

Cats.

Do you prefer playing, dancing or both.

Playing and sometimes dancing.

Cane or plastic reeds.

Cane.

What’s your greatest musical achievement.

Perhaps the years 1992-99, playing with Hedningarna, or the band Blå bergens Borduner (we released a CD in 1993). Or maybe my solo album Kan själv! from 2000. What’s your most embarrassing bagpiping moment.

I don’t remember just now.

What’s the most annoying question you get asked about the bagpipes.

Is it from Scotland.

What advice would you give a novice.

Listen, listen and listen again to bagpipes and the music traditions around them.

I love bagpipes because…

They sound like Status quo (1970-76!), without the drums… ;-.

Listen to Anders at http://tinyurl.com/pgp8jo.

As told to Andy Letcher