The International Bagpipe Organisation warmly invites you to participate in the Eighth International Bagpipe Conference (IBC) to mark International Bagpipe Day 2026 (10 March), a celebration of the world’s diverse bagpipes and bagpiping traditions. This year’s conference is organised in collaboration with the University of Leuven, the City of Leuven, and the Musical Instrument Museum, Brussels.

In 2026, the conference moves to Belgium. We are delighted to host our first conference in this country, renowned for its longstanding bagpipe history and culture.
 
The conference will spread over three days, starting on Friday evening with a social event (details still to be confirmed). The conference will take place at the University of Leuven on Saturday, with a more socialising that evening. On Sunday, we will move to Brussels, a 20-minute train ride away. The conference will conclude with a series of panels at and a guided tour of the Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels on Sunday, all to the sound of Belgium’s bagpipe communities who will perform throughout the day in the foyer of the Museum.

​If you would like to submit an abstract, please read the full call for papers HERE.

We are excited to announce the dates and location for our next conference: The Academy of Music, Dance, and Fine Arts in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Home to a rich bagpipe culture (who has not fallen in love with the deep sounds of 100 Kaba Gaidas) and a beautiful historical town, we are lucky to be organising this conference in partnership with the Bulgarian National ​Bagpipe Association. We hope many of you will join us there in March.

See the Call for Papers if you would like to be a presenter! We welcome talks by musicians, musical instrument makers and scholars.

It's that time of the year again! Pipers from different cultures all across the world are celebrating in their own way. Some of the flagship events this year include:
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• A bagpipe concert by the Caprock English Bagpipe Consort at Texas Tech Uni in the US.

• Newcastle's Piping Festival (10-12 March): a full festival with workshops and a wonderful line up of international pipers. The Newcastle Piping Festival never disappoints! 

• Pipers at the Met (10 and 11 March): two international bagpipe concerts for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Date Night events, run by the Musical Instrument Department.

Some celebratory pieces have also been published:

• An article on bagpipes hidden in the Met's collection.
• An article on the first five bagpipes to make it to the Met in 1889.

Tickets for the Sixth International Bagpipe Conference and the Newcastle Piping Festival are now available! We have a weekend packed with musical events for you, organised in collaboration with the Northumbrian Piping Society and Newcastle University.

If you have any further questions, please contact us here: [email protected]

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR EU/INTERNATIONAL TRAVELLERS: All passengers travelling to the UK now need a passport. EU identity cards are now no longer accepted.

SCHEDULE
Friday 11 March
Noon: Northumbrian bagpipe lunchtime concert (NPF event - donation)

From 7pm: 'Bring Your Own Bagpipes' Evening Session in a local pub (location tbc)
Saturday 12 March
9-5:30pm: Conference at King's Hall, Newcastle University (see detail of papers below). Lunch and tea breaks included in the price
5:30-6:30pm: Conference wine reception (included in conference price)

7pm: Newcastle Piping Festival International Bagpipe Concert, King's Hall, Newcastle University (incuded in conference price)

9pm onwards: 'Bring Your Own Bagpipes'Session in a local pub
Sunday 13 March
9am-12pm: Conference at King's Hall, Newcastle University, including screening of "The Journey of Askavlos - a documentary film about greek bagpipes" by Yorgos Arvanitis (tea break included in conference price)

1-5pm: Trip to Morpeth to visit the UK's largest bagpipe collection (and one of Europe's largest collections). Add on cost which covers coach transport to the museum.

From 7pm: 'Bring Your Own Bagpipes' Final Session in a local pub


LIST OF PAPERS (in randomised order and subject to change)

• "The revival and the evolution of the gaida in Mainland Greece. A case study from the Northern Evros region". Athanasios Ouzounis
• "The Galician bagpipe in Cuba during the period between the 19th and 20th centuries". Estíbaliz Santamaría Cadaval, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
• "French and Italian bagpipes, from sordellina to Parisian bal-musette: a long tradition of exchange and musical construction between France and Italy". Eric Montbel and Marco Tomassi
• "Are french bagpipes identity-based? The example of two Occitan bagpipes: the boha (Bagpipe of the Gascony moors) and the bodega or craba (Bagpipe of the Black Mountain of Languedoc)". Joan-Miquèu Espinasse
  
• "« Svadba bez gajda ne mozhe ! »  A wedding without bagpipe it’s impossible!" Marie-Barbara Le Gonidec, CNRS
• "Latvian bagpipes – DŪDAS or SOMAS STABULES" Juris Lipsnis, head of the folk-group Suitu dūdenieki (Suiti Bagpipers)
• "'Having a stave' in 1833: An early first hand account of the Northumbrian Smallpipes". Rob Say
• "Diamond in the Rough -The pipemaking of Tom Clough and Fred Picknell." Andy May
• "The Atkinson family: a paradigm of social mobility in Northumberland from C17- C20". Julia Say, NPS
• "The National Security Law and the future of Scottish bagpiping in Hong Kong". Andrew Yu, Edinburgh University
• "Restoration of an 18th century ivory musette". Bart von Troyen
• "Restitution of a 12th century bagpipe in Gascony". Yan Cozian, Bagpipe teacher and maker
• "Recovering the playing techniques of 18th century Border pipers to bring them into 21st century Border piping". Matt Seattle
• "‘An Phíb Mhór’ – the bagpipe as an instrument of protest". Ciarán MacMurchaidh, Dublin City University
• "Towards a pattern language for the maintenance and revival of traditional piping. Stephen Quilley and Anna Beresford, University of Waterloo, Ontario
• "Piping, drumming and a global pandemic: understanding the immediate and long-term impacts of Covid-19". Andy Clark
• "Music for French Kings". Amanda Babington

 heldThe International Bagpipe Organisation warmly invites you to participate in the Sixth International Bagpipe Conference (IBC) to mark International Bagpipe Day 2022 (10 March 2022), a celebration of the world’s diverse bagpipes and bagpiping traditions. This event celebrates the 10th anniversary of the International Bagpipe Conference.
 
For 2022, the IBO has joined up with the Northumbrian Pipers' Society (NPS) and Newcastle University to host a 3-day event, combining the conference with the 3rd Newcastle Piping Festival.

The combined events will start on Friday afternoon with a lunchtime concert, and end on Sunday afternoon making use of the outstanding facilities at Newcastle University. Full details of the weekend will be announced on the website in the autumn.
 
The conference will be held at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K and will be based in the department of music in the Armstrong Building. Events and concerts will take place in the wonderful space of the King’s Hall.

The conference is a productive and welcoming platform for all people interested in the study of bagpipes: musicologists, ethnomusicologists, music experts, instrument makers, folk musicians, dancers, and music lovers. This event is an exciting interdisciplinary opportunity to debate various questions relating to the study of bagpipes both today, and historically.

All are welcome, whether you choose to present or simply listen and enjoy the atmosphere. 

The IBCs are friendly events, open to all, promoting bagpipes from all around the world.

In 2022, the conference returns to the UK (after going to the United States in 2020, but rescheduled to a virtual conference in June of 2020). 

CALL FOR PAPERS

Presenters from around the world are welcome to present on themes directly linked to bagpipes.

Papers touching on other themes such as organology, playing techniques, ornamentation, history, iconography, instrument making, recordings, archiving, collecting, and composing are welcome.

Interested participants are to submit a paper title, an abstract of no more than 250 words, complete with an institutional affiliation or profession and contact details by Friday 1 October 2021 to: [email protected] .
 
Please find previous abstracts in the conference archives on our website: www.internationalbagpipeorganisation.com   

Due to the large number of applications in previous years, abstracts from those applying for the first time, or who did not present in 2020, will be prioritised. This is to encourage a greater diversity of presenters. We do, however, encourage everyone to attend the conference, regardless of whether you are presenting or not.

Successful applicants will be notified by 31 October 2021.

Programme Committee:
Dr Roger Landes (Texas Tech University, USA)
Dr Cassandre Balosso-Bardin (University of Lincoln, UK)
Dr Simon McKerrell (Newcastle University, UK)
Dr Liz Santamaría Cadaval (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain)

For more information or details about past conferences, including abstracts of past papers, please browse our website.

Organising committee
Cassandre Balosso-Bardin (IBO)
Simon McKerrell (Newcastle University)
Andrew Davison (NPS)
Andy May (NPS)
Iain Gelston (NPS)
 
IBO Committee
Cassandre Balosso-Bardin
Roger Landes
Arle Lommel
 
Provisional Weekend schedule
Friday 11 March 2022 – afternoon
Afternoon concert
 
Friday 11 March 2022 – evening
Curated pub session (bring your bagpipe)

Saturday 12 March 2022 – day
International Bagpipe Conference
 
Saturday 12 March 2022 – evening
Bagpipes of the World Concert
Curated session  (bring your own bagpipe)
 
Sunday 13 March 2022
Conference workshops by NPS
Parting session at the Pub

Join us for the online launch of Michael Vereno's fantastic book, The Voice of the Wind, on International Bagpipe Day 2021!

This linguistic history of bagpipes is a unique volume, retracing the numerous different words for this wonderful instrument. Published by the International Bagpipe Organisation, we will be presenting the book, and Michael will be available to answer any questions you may have.

Day: 10 March 2021
Time: 8-9pm UK time
Tickets: Free event, but registration required. Please register by clicking on the link below.

If the mood is right, the event may continue informally beyond 9pm. Drinks welcome!

More about the book:
Scholars have long provided bagpipes with a creation myth that stretches back to the ancient Near East, where they supposedly appear in the biblical Book of Daniel. It then has the Greeks playing them and Roman legions carrying them to the ends of the Empire. But Michael Peter Vereno’s The Voice of the Wind calls this story into question. Using linguistic analysis, Vereno shows that the oldest ‘evidence’ is often dubious at best and demonstrates that supposed ancient stories of bagpipe origins— and sometimes even their names—were later scholarly creations to give them a respectable, ancient pedigree. His erudite examination calls into question many conclusions and settled ‘facts’ to reveal a more enlightening story of bagpipe origins. It redefines its field and represents a significant contribution to historical organology. Readers with an interest in modern bagpipes, the history of instruments, and the interpretation of ancient and more recent textual sources will all find something to engage them and complicate their beliefs.

Reviews:
“A book any historically oriented bagpiper and connoisseur of early European instrumental music should know. It is a significant contribution to organology, in a field full of myths, written by a sober-minded linguist and enthusiastic drone musician.”
​– Ulrich Morgenstern, Professor, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna

“A long-awaited and essential addition to the bookshelves of linguists, organologists, and bagpipe enthusiasts alike. Michael Vereno has applied thorough, rigorous research and unearthed the roots of the bagpipe through linguistics. A lively, engaging read.”
– Jane Moulder, Editor, Chanter, journal of the Bagpipe Society

Following the cancellation of our International Bagpipe Conference at Harvard University, we are now holding the event online.

The International Bagpipe Organisation warmly invites you to participate in the Fifth International Bagpipe Conference (IBC) to celebrate the world’s diverse bagpipes and bagpiping traditions.

The conference will take place online, via Zoom on 6 June 2020. 
You will be sent a link once you obtain a ticket.

ATTENTION: The event will take place across timezones:
8:30am to 4:30pm USA EST time
1:30pm to 9:30pm UK BST time

We have planned breaks throughout the day for tea/coffee and your lunch or dinner.

The conference is a productive and welcoming platform for all people interested in the study of bagpipes: musicologists, ethnomusicologists, music experts, instrument makers, folk musicians, dancers and music lovers. This event is an exciting interdisciplinary opportunity to debate various questions relating to the study of bagpipes both today and historically. All are welcome to come and enjoy the atmosphere. The IBCs are friendly events, open to all, promoting bagpipes from all around the world.

Our online conference will explore bagpipes in diasporic communities. We will be looking at how pipers from various traditions have spread their customs and music all around the world, helping sustain communities or forging new identities far away from home.

There will be many opportunities to network as well as participate in interactive activities throughout the day. 

TICKETS
We have created a varied ticket price, more akin to a donation. 
Options vary from £10 to £20. Please choose one option (1, 2 or 3).
All proceeds will go towards the organisation costs of the 2020 conference.
Any remaining funds will be put towards our 2022 conference, which will take place in the UK.

Should you wish to give more, we have made a donation link available as well. Any further donations will be much appreciated and all proceeds will go towards the organisation costs of the IBO.
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The conference will include the following speakers and topics (order subject to change):
A fully detailed schedule will be uploaded on this page by 1 June 2020.
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Jason Busniewski: Bagpipes, “Martial Races”, and Empire in the Central Himalayas
Michael Vereno: On the Road : On the diaspora fate of bagpipers in and around Austria in the 20th century
Nadia Vázquez-Martínez: Dissemination and cultivation of the traditional music from Galicia in New York
Scott Spencer: The NYPD Emerald Society Bagpipe Band and the Line-Of-Duty Funeral
Arle Lommel: Towards a Feature-Oriented Account of Bagpipe Evolution and Taxonomy
Nada Gitto Surdulina: A little bagpipe of Balkan origins, built in the USA and returned to Italy. Musical performance, Organology and analysis of repertory
Zexuan Qiao: Employing new technologies in the reproduction of historical bagpipes
José Emilio Colón Ríos: Cuban pipers: the spread of uillean piping in Cuba
David Marker: The Social Life of Rocco Costello’s Zampogna.
Vincent Janoski: Decoding Forgotten Melodies: from the Piobaireachd Tradition Musical interpretation of forgotten tunes from the Campbell Canntaireachd.
Brian McCandless: Rediscovering Northern British Bellows-Blown Bagpipes in North America
Barry Shears: Immigrant Bagpipes of Nova Scotia
Erin Walker: Under the Kilt: The Pipe Band as a Tool of Cultural Transmission

If you have any further queries, please contact us at [email protected].