The muchosa is a type of bagpipe dating back to the late 13th century in Hainaut, Belgium and northern France, where it is known as the pipasso. [1] [2]
The muchosa has a chanter with a conical bore and double reed, pitched to B-flat. [1] It has two single-reed drones. [1] The treble drone is placed in a common stock with the chanter, and the bass drone is placed further back in its own stock, a feature common to other the musette style of bagpipe in central and northern France. [1]
Additionally to individual players, collectives of muchosa players such as La Confrèrie des Muchards de Saint-Druon, Amuséon, and Chés Pipasso Grinche Binde aim to promote this traditional instrument and make it sound again in various popular festive settings. The Pipasso International Festival (born in 2007 in Liomer) takes place on the last week-end of September every year at the Esplanade and Socio-Cultural Center du Chiffon Rouge in Flixecourt (Picardy, France). [4]
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Scottish Great Highland bagpipes are the best known examples in the Anglophone world, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Anatolia, the Caucasus, Northern Africa, Western Asia, around the Persian Gulf and northern parts of South Asia.
The uilleann pipes are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms píobaí uilleann, from their method of inflation. There is no historical record of the name or use of the term uilleann pipes before the 20th century. It was an invention of Grattan Flood and the name stuck. People mistook the term 'union' to refer to the 1800 Act of Union; this is incorrect as Breandán Breathnach points out that a poem published in 1796 uses the term 'union'.
The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or the Uilleann pipes, it also may have a number of keys, to increase the instrument's range and/or the number of keys it can play in. Like the rest of the bagpipe, they are often decorated with a variety of substances, including metal (silver/nickel/gold/brass), bone, ivory, or plastic mountings.
The music of France reflects a diverse array of styles. In the field of classical music, France has produced several prominent romantic composers, while folk and popular music have seen the rise of the chanson and cabaret style. The earliest known sound recording device in the world, the phonautograph, was patented in France by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville in 1857. France is also the 5th largest market by value in the world, and its music industry has produced many internationally renowned artists, especially in the nouvelle chanson and electronic music.
As Europe experienced a wave of roots revivals in the 1950s and 1960s, France found its regional culture reviving traditional music. Brittany, Limousin, Gascony, Corsica and Auvergne were among the regions that experienced a notable resurgence in the popularity of folk music. Traditional styles of music had survived most in remote areas, such as the island of Corsica and mountainous Auvergne, as well as the more nationalist lands of the Basques and Bretons.
The Bladder pipe is a medieval simplified bagpipe, consisting of an insufflation tube, a bladder (bag) and a chanter; sounded by a double reed, which is fitted into a reed seat at the top of the chanter. The reed, inside the inflated bladder, is sounded continuously, and cannot be tongued. Some bladder pipes were made with a single drone pipe, and reproductions are similar to a loud, continuous crumhorn. The chanter has an outside tenon, at the top, near the reed, which fits into a socket or stock, which is then tied into the bladder.
French bagpipes cover a wide range and variety of styles of bagpipes and piping, from the Celtic piping and Music of Brittany to the Northern Occitan's cabrette.
The musette de cour or baroque musette is a musical instrument of the bagpipe family. Visually, the musette is characterised by the short, cylindrical shuttle-drone and the two chalumeaux. Both the chanters and the drones have a cylindrical bore and use a double reed, giving a quiet tone similar to the oboe. The instrument is blown by a bellows.
Welsh bagpipes The names in Welsh refer specifically to a bagpipe. A related instrument is one type of bagpipe chanter, which when played without the bag and drone is called a pibgorn (English:hornpipe). The generic term pibau (pipes) which covers all woodwind instruments is also used. They have been played, documented, represented and described in Wales since the fourteenth century. A piper in Welsh is called a pibydd or a pibgodwr.
The torupill is a traditional bagpipe from Estonia.
This article defines a number of terms that are exclusive, or whose meaning is exclusive, to piping and pipers.
The gaita de boto is a type of bagpipe native to the Aragon region of northern Spain.
The veuze is a Breton bagpipe found traditionally in southeastern Brittany and in the northern part of the Vendée, particularly around Nantes, the Guérande peninsula, and Basse-Vilaine. The veuze has been mentioned in writing dating to the 16th century, and is thought to be the oldest of the Breton bagpipes. The veuze is thought to be the antecedent of the biniou.
Doedelzak is the name for bagpipes in the Netherlands and the Flemish (Dutch) speaking northern part of Belgium. This is the region where painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder lived and worked. Formerly pijpzak and moezelzak were common. The latter two names, generic at one time, survive in the piposa from Picardy and muchosa in the actual Belgian province of Hainaut. According to certain sources, muse once was the earliest generic name for this family of instruments in a large part of Europe and survives itself in the actual French generic name of cornemuse for all bagpipes.
The cornemuse du Centre France is a type of bagpipes native to Central France. They have two drones, one an octave below the tonic of the chanter, and the other two octaves below the tonic of the chanter. They can be found in the Bourbonnais, Berry, Nivernais, and Morvan regions of France and in different tonalities.
The musette bressane is a type of bagpipe native to the historic French province of Bresse, in eastern France.
The chabrette or chabrette limousine is a type of bagpipe native to the Limousin region of central France.
The pipasso is a type of bagpipe found in northern France and Belgium. It is commonly called the "Picardy bagpipe". In the Belgian province of Hainaut, it is also known as the muchosa.
Shuttle pipes are a type of bagpipes which derive their name from the drones used to produce the harmony. Rather than the long tube-like drones of most bagpipes, shuttle pipes use a shuttle drone, a cylindrical chamber enclosing a series of folded drone tubes, each terminating in a slot covered by a sliding "shuttle" which can be adjusted to lengthen or shorten the distance traveled by air moving through the tube, thus flattening or sharpening the pitch of the note produced.