The International Bagpipe Organisation presents the
FIFTH INTERNATIONAL BAGPIPE CONFERENCE
13-15 March 2020
Harvard University, Boston, USA

CALL FOR PAPERS
Bagpipes and Diaspora
Abstract submission deadline: 15 September 2019
Abstract acceptance notification: 15 October 2019
Abstract length: 250 words
Contact: internationalbagpipeorg@gmail.com
Website: www.internationalbagpipeorganisation.com

The International Bagpipe Organisation warmly invites you to participate in the Fifth International Bagpipe Conference (IBC) to mark International Bagpipe Day 2020 (10 March), a celebration of the world’s diverse bagpipes and bagpiping traditions. The conference will spread over three days, starting on Friday evening with an opening concert and ending on Sunday afternoon. The conference will be held over a range of venues in Boston, USA. The Friday evening concert and the Saturday conference will be held at Harvard University. Social events on Saturday evening and Sunday all day will be held in Boston.

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 2020, we will take the conference to the United States where we will explore bagpipes in diasporic communities. Indeed, in line with the anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower and the founding of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, we will be looking at how pipers from around the world have spread their customs and music all around the world, helping sustain communities or forging new identities far away from home. Presenters from the U.S. and from the rest of the world are welcome to present on themes directly linked to bagpipes.

Papers touching on topics linked to migration, identity, community and diaspora, both within the U.S. and in the rest of the world are specifically welcome. Papers touching on other themes such as organology, playing techniques, ornamentation, history, iconography, instrument making, recordings, archiving, collecting, composing will also be considered.

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 15 September 2019 to internationalbagpipeorg@gmail.com. 

Due to a large amount of applications the previous years, abstracts from people who are applying for the first time or who did not present in 2018 will be prioritised. This is to encourage a wider scope 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 15 October 2019.

Programme Committee
Dr Panayotis League (Florida State University)
Roger Landes (Texas Tech University)
Dr Cassandre Balosso-Bardin (University of Lincoln, UK)

Conference schedule:
Friday 13 March 2020 - evening
Paine Hall, Harvard University
Bagpipes of the World Concert
 
Saturday 14 March 2020 - day
Paine Hall, Harvard University
International Bagpipe Conference
 
Saturday 14 March 2020 – evening
The Bebop
Bring your own bagpipe – curated session
 
Sunday 15 March 2020
TBA

IBC Local organising committee
Roger Landes
Panayotis League
 
IBO Committee
Cassandre Balosso-Bardin
Roger Landes
David Faulkner
 
For more information or details about past conferences, including abstracts of past papers, please browse our website.
 

After a wonderful three days in Mallorca, here are a few press clippings and a documentary by Canal 4 to remember the event by.

The International Bagpipe Organisation
presents the / presenta la
Fourth International Bagpipe Conference
Cuarta Conferencia Internacional de Cornamusas
Quarta Conferència Internacional de Cornamuses
9-11 March/Marzo/Març 2018
Arxiu del Regne de Mallorca,
Palma, Mallorca

CALL FOR PAPERS (English)
PLAZO DE ENTREGA DE TRABAJOS (Castellano)
TERMINI DE PRESENTACIÓ DE TREBALLS (Catalán)

Abstract submission deadline: 15 Oct 2017
Abstract acceptance notification: 15 Nov 2017
Contact: internationalbagpipeorg@gmail.com
Website: www.internationalbagpipeorganisation.com

For more information/Para más información/Per més informació
www.internationalbagpipeorganisation.com

You took part in the current edition of the International Bagpipe Conference. How do you feel about it?
First, a huge Thank you to the organisers of the conference. They did the impossible to get us on board.  We took part in the opening concert and presented at the conference itself.
For the opening concert we played a gaida suite specially composed for the event. It was twenty five minutes long and represented most of the diversity in the Rhodopean folklore. It started with an unmeasured song, continued with fast tunes for dancing in 2/4 rhythm and irregular rhythms - 9/8 (2+2+2+3), 7/8 (3+2+2), 5/8 (2+3) and ended with a fast rachenitsa dance in 7/8 (2+2+3).
The presentation we made for the conference included topics of interest for makers, musicians and ethnomusicologists. It covered the specific ways of making the kaba gaida and we demonstrated how we make the reeds from elder tree. Kaba gaida music is rich in ornaments and reproducing them is quite interesting for musicians. We managed to notate the basic ornaments and represented our 4 level training system. For the ethnomusicologists, we talked about the diversity of performance styles and regions as well as history of the bagpipe and important events. We covered some trending projects related to our music including ours - KabaGaida.Com for online training, workshops and educational concerts.
At the IBC's open mic evening, we invited a special guest to play with us. A Scottish piper from Edinburgh, who lived in Bulgaria for couple of years and knows many Rhodopean songs and dances, joined us while singing and dancing. We were very glad to know that our culture is notable in Scotland from before the conference.
We were also very happy that were interviewed on BBC Scotland news as part of a feature on the conference and its concert (pictured below).

What happens when you go back to Bulgaria?
​We will continue to work on our continuing project KabaGaida.Com to help people learn the kaba gaida and feel it’s magic, music and traditions. We are now starting to record more training videos and notate new songs that people can use for free.
We are happy to announce that we were invited to two of the largest US festivals for world and folk music this fall - Chicago World Music Festival and Richmond Folk Festival. Our tour passes through New York, Boston, Baltimore and Washington. Between our performances we will organize music workshops for children within the Bulgarian communities and hopefully present our instruments at different university music departments.

We wish them the best of luck!

The International Bagpipe Organisation presents the

Third International Bagpipe Conference
26-28 February 2016
Hosted by the National Piping Centre, Glasgow
Organised in collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Glasgow University with the support of the Bagpipe Society, the Lowland and Border Piping Society, the Piobriaech Society and the William Grant & Sons foundation.

Tickets available

Call for Papers
Abstract submission deadline: 15 November 2015
Programme Committee: Cassandre Balosso-Bardin, Dr. Joshua Dixon, Dr. Andy Letcher, Dr. Susana Moreno.
Contact: internationalbagpipeorg@gmail.com
Website: www.internationalbagpipeorganisation.com
Conference address: National Piping Centre, 30-34 McPhater Street, Glasgow G4 0HW

The International Bagpipe Organisation warmly invites you to participate in the Third International Bagpipe Conference to mark International Bagpipe Day 2016 (10 March), a celebration of the world’s bagpipes and bagpiping traditions. Following the success of the previous conferences, the upcoming event will spread over three days, starting on Friday evening with an opening concert and ending at Sunday noon. The National Piping Centre in Glasgow will host the event, organised with the support of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the University of Glasgow, the Bagpipe Society, the Lowland and Border Piping Society, the Piobriaech Society and the William Grant & Sons foundation.

The conferences are 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 three days are open to the general public and bagpipe enthusiasts are more than welcome to attend. 

Friday 26 February 2016

The conference will be launched by an opening concert hosted by the National Piping Centre. We are excited to announce the participation of the Belgian Bourdon Collectief with two baroque musettes, the brilliant Scott Wood Trio and a Bulgarian kaba gaida feature.

Saturday 27 – Sunday 28 February 2016

The conference will take place on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 February 2016. Bagpipe specialists from all over Europe will exchange knowledge about their instruments, music and culture. A social evening with a ceilidh (British folk dance) and an organised open mic will be held on Saturday evening.

We will consider papers that have a direct link to bagpipes, touching on themes including:

• Taxonomy/Organology

• Playing techniques/Ornamentation

• Cultural or social anthropology

• Historical findings/iconography/recent history

• Bagpipe making

• Recordings/Archiving/Collecting

Any other theme directly related to the bagpipes will be considered.

Interested participants are to submit a paper title, an abstract of no more than 300 words complete with an institutional affiliation or profession and contact details by 30 October 2015 to internationalbagpipeorg@gmail.com.

Due to a large amount of applications the previous years, abstracts from people who are applying for the first time or who presented in 2012 will be prioritised. This is to encourage a wider scope of presenters. We do however encourage as many people as possible to attend the conference, regardless of whether they are presenting or not.

Successful applicants will be notified by 30 November 2015.

Limited travel grants are available to help support international travel costs for speakers. Please indicate if you are interested in your accompanying email.

Before I met Jean-Cristophe Maillard, I had heard a lot about him. It seemed that for a while we led parallel lives albeit few decades apart: he went to the same high school as me (Lycée Francois Premier) where his father used to teach music; he studied music and musicology at the Sorbonne, like I did; and his master's dissertation was supervised by Pr. Edith Weber who also happens to be my uncle's godmother. I am lucky enough to have a manuscript of it at home.

I had heard his name many times and was eager to meet one of the world's only experts in the musette baroque. When I finally did meet him in Antwerpen in 2010, he was more than I expected: not only a wonderful musician but a warm and generous person always up for a laugh. He told me how he used to get told off at home for his antics at the Sorbonne after Pr. Weber would phone his parents up to tell them what he'd been up to. 

Over the next 5 years, we met a few times at music and ethnomusicology events. In 2014 I was extremely honoured to have him as a presenter at the second International Bagpipe Conference where he talked to us with incredible enthusiasm about the 'Sublimation and personification of the bagpipe in French baroque opera : aspects of the musette in the lyric repertoire between Lully and Rameau'.


His kindness went further and a year ago he wrote a wonderful piece about the conference in the French music journal Pastel, spreading the word in France. I am very grateful to him for this very positive article and it was very important to me to know that I had his full support in this international bagpipe venture.


Jean-Cristophe Maillard was a wonderful man, a talented musician and a great expert. He died due to complications after surgery in the night of the 12 July. He will be sorely missed by the bagpipe community. Our thoughts go to his friends and family.


The funeral will be held on 17 July at 9:45am at the Eglise sainte Thérèse (12 rue Belle Paule, 31500 Toulouse).