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). 

We are currently working hard with the National Piping Centre for setting up IBC 2016. 

But first, IBD 2015 is round the corner with lots happening in the world!

10 March

Glasgow - The National Piping Centre will be live streaming a concert online. Watch out for the video on their website.

London - There will be a bagpipe concert/session in London at 14 Bacon Street venue (Shoreditch), one of the best places around. Pipers who want to get involved and play a tune or two alone, email cassandre.balbar@gmail.com

SOAS Radio - Bagpipes Galore podcast on SOAS Radio will be publishing a special edition with recordings from around the world. Get involved and suggest recordings or send a recording of yourself playing the pipes! Email: internationalbagpipeorg@gmail.com

Chester - Chester pipers are organising an IBD session with many different pipes at the Cross Keys.

Berlin - Swedish piper Olle Gällmo is  playing for a Bal Folk at the Haus der Sinne in Berlin, Germany. The band Sunday Jam will also be playing with Matthias Branschke on the pipes. 

Athens - The Greek pipers will gather for a picnic on Philopappou hill opposite the Acropolis. Their slogan is "in days like these, all we need is each other", so feel free to join them!

Santorini - La Ponta, the tsambouna centre in Santorini is celebrating International Bagpipe Day.

Budapest - Hungarian pipers are joining the festivities by celebrating IBD at their regular club event. 

Iran - Iranian bagpiper Mohsen Sharifan has organised concerts and a bagpipe competition which ends on 10 March. Many photos can be found on their instragram page.

Thunder Bay - Canadian pipe band THE Pipes and Drums of Thunder Bay have a whole day planned with fun piping events, including a radio appearance, a photo competition and an evening performance.

Texas - Texas Tech Uni will be carrying out a bagpipe programme during the day and Carlos Nuñez will be performing in the evening.

Chicago - Patrick Cannady will be playing the uilleann pipes at Johnny O'Hagan's. Why not join him for a tune and a drink?

Detroit - The Purcell Irish Pipers of Detroit will be celebrating in style with uillean pipes.

11 March


Minsk - Belarus is celebrating Spring and pipes on 11 March in Minsk with a big folk dance. 

 20-22 March

Leuven - Belgian pipers have got together and are organising a symposium focused on bagpipe education around Europe. Their event is online here.