Gagnef Sweden: Sackpipa Meeting
It was not a festival, it was too intimate for that, but it was a meeting of musicians who play the Swedish bagpipes, the sackpipa. I have been interested in the sackpipa for many years when I bought the LP of solo sackpipa in 1991. I had additional information after that when I visited Sweden and actually got to see the instrument after many years of just listening and seeing photos when I visited a maker near to Nykoping called Bors Anders, he is a maker also of ocarinas. The Sackpipa has 1 drone, 1 melody chanter, 1 bag, it is mouth blown. It has a range of 1 octabe - bottom E to top e, the drones sound in A and the tonic on the chanter can be found half way along the chanter. The Scale is E, F#, G#, A, b, c, d, e (most instruments can also play a c# and a d#) these semitones are opened/closed by placing a rubber band over the hole.
But my real immersion to this instrument was the meeting in Gagnef in the county of Dalarna, Sweden. There for a weekend we talked about sackpipa and Swedish music, learned about reeds and construction of the instrument, its evolving status amongst other single beating bagpipes. It is classified as a "simple" instrument due to its single beating reed construction, but it is far from simple! It is quite complicated and getting more advanced as the makers think of new and inventive ways to improve the instrument, its sound and by doing so are creating a new tradition. I was greatly inspired by the event and I have learned a lot about my own playing and instrument by listening to the musicians there. The people were very welcoming; they took the time to speak English and converse with me about their instrument and also about my own Northumbrian Pipes. The players rarely meet to play together and there was a mixture of advanced players and some who were just starting out and all said they had learned from each other. What was special about the meeting was the atmosphere, the closeness of the meeting, the friendliness I felt as an outsider. Certain players played well together, blending harmonies and sweet sounding chanters that I hope, in time, will be recorded and reproduced on a CD. I came away with a lot of ideas about recording and documenting what I had seen. It is changing fast and a lot of techniques and information would have changed by next year, so it is important to document it and preserve it for the future. I hope to make a detailed video of the meeting next year and record the music and performances, dialogue and reed and pipe maintenance as a decade from now I am sure it will have advanced a lot and knowledge will have been lost just as the knowledge has been lost for the 1970s
But my real immersion to this instrument was the meeting in Gagnef in the county of Dalarna, Sweden. There for a weekend we talked about sackpipa and Swedish music, learned about reeds and construction of the instrument, its evolving status amongst other single beating bagpipes. It is classified as a "simple" instrument due to its single beating reed construction, but it is far from simple! It is quite complicated and getting more advanced as the makers think of new and inventive ways to improve the instrument, its sound and by doing so are creating a new tradition. I was greatly inspired by the event and I have learned a lot about my own playing and instrument by listening to the musicians there. The people were very welcoming; they took the time to speak English and converse with me about their instrument and also about my own Northumbrian Pipes. The players rarely meet to play together and there was a mixture of advanced players and some who were just starting out and all said they had learned from each other. What was special about the meeting was the atmosphere, the closeness of the meeting, the friendliness I felt as an outsider. Certain players played well together, blending harmonies and sweet sounding chanters that I hope, in time, will be recorded and reproduced on a CD. I came away with a lot of ideas about recording and documenting what I had seen. It is changing fast and a lot of techniques and information would have changed by next year, so it is important to document it and preserve it for the future. I hope to make a detailed video of the meeting next year and record the music and performances, dialogue and reed and pipe maintenance as a decade from now I am sure it will have advanced a lot and knowledge will have been lost just as the knowledge has been lost for the 1970s
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