Overview

The bagpipe is one of the cultural icons of Scottish highlanders, but in the 20th century traditional Scottish Gaelic piping has all but disappeared. Few recordings were ever made of traditional pipe music and there are almost no Gaelic-speaking pipers of the old school left. Recording an important aspect of Gaelic culture before it dispapeares, John Gibson chronicles the decline of traditional Highland Gaelic bagpiping - and Gaelic culture as a whole - and provides examples of traditional bagpipe music that have survived in the New World. Pulling together what is known of 18th-century West Highland piping and pipers and relating this to the effects of changing social conditions on traditional Scottish Gaelic piping since the suppression of the last Jacobite rebellion, Gibson presents a new interpretation of the decline of Gaelic piping and a new view of Gaelic society prior to the Highland diaspora. Refuting widely accepted opinions that after Culloden pipes and pipers were effectively banned in Scotland by the Disarming Act (1746), Gibson reveals that traditional dance bagpiping continued at least to the mid-19th century. He argues that the dramatic depopulation of the Highlands in the 19th century was one of the main reasons for the decline of piping. Following the path of Scottish emigrants, Gibson traces the history of bagpiping in the New World and uncovers examples of late 18th-century traditional bagpiping and dance in Gaelic Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He argues that these anachronistic cultural forms provide a vital link to the vanished folk music and culture of the Scottish highlanders. This definitive study throws light on the ways pipers and piping contributed to social integration in the days of the clan system and on the decline in Scottish Caelic culture following the abolition of clans. It also illuminates the cultural problems faced by all ethnic minorities assimilated into unitary multinational societies.

Full Product Details

Author:   John G. Gibson ,  John G. Gibson
Publisher:   McGill-Queen's University Press
Imprint:   McGill-Queen's University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.90cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.60cm
Weight:   0.580kg
ISBN:  

9780773521346

ISBN 10:   0773521348
Pages:   406
Publication Date:   24 November 2000
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS: PART ONE PIPING IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: AN UNBROKEN TRADITION 1. Introduction 2. The Roots of Jaobitism and the Disarming Act 3. Policing the Gaelic Highlands after Culloden 4. Postscript on the Disarming Act PART TWO MILITARY PIPING, 1746-83 5. Military Piping in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6. Piping in Four Eighteenth-Century Regiments 7. Highland Pipers in the American Revolutionary War and in India PART THREE REPETOIRE OF CIVILIAN AND MILITARY PIPERS, c. 1750-1820 8. Exclusivity of Repetoire: The Evidence Against 9. The Revival of Cel Mr 10. Cel Beag and Dance-Music Piping 11. The Small Pipe, the Quickstep, and the College PART FOUR TRADITION AND CHANGE IN THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW 12. The Turning Point, 1790-1850: Innovation and Conservation in Scotland 13. Influences on Piping in Nineteenth-Century Nova Scotia: The Middle Class, the Church, and Temperance 14. Transition to Modern Piping in Scotland and Nova Scotia 15. Highland Games and Competition Piping 16. Traditional Pipers in Nova Scotia 17. The Survival of Tradition in Nova Scotia APPENDICES 1. The Disarming Act, 1746 2. An Act to amend and enforce so much of an Act ... as relates to more effectual disarming of the Highlands in Scotland, 1748 3. Letter from William Mackenzie, Piper 4. Other Immigrant Cel Mr Pipers Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

"""A must-read for all piping aficionados and those with a taste for the sacred cow."" The Voice ""This is a book that every piping enthusiast should read."" Celtic Heritage ""Traditional Gaelic Bagpipings contribution to the regions cultural history is priceless."" Atlantic Books Today ""By studying and reinterpreting the historical relationship between traditional Scottish and New World preliterate piping Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945 vastly enriches our knowledge of both of them. A monumental contribution to Scottish and Canadian cultural studies."" Robin Lorimer, musicologist"

A must-read for all piping aficionados and those with a taste for the sacred cow. The Voice This is a book that every piping enthusiast should read. Celtic Heritage Traditional Gaelic Bagpipings contribution to the regions cultural history is priceless. Atlantic Books Today By studying and reinterpreting the historical relationship between traditional Scottish and New World preliterate piping Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945 vastly enriches our knowledge of both of them. A monumental contribution to Scottish and Canadian cultural studies. Robin Lorimer, musicologist

""A must-read for all piping aficionados and those with a taste for the sacred cow."" The Voice ""This is a book that every piping enthusiast should read."" Celtic Heritage ""Traditional Gaelic Bagpipings contribution to the regions cultural history is priceless."" Atlantic Books Today ""By studying and reinterpreting the historical relationship between traditional Scottish and New World preliterate piping Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945 vastly enriches our knowledge of both of them. A monumental contribution to Scottish and Canadian cultural studies."" Robin Lorimer, musicologist

A must-read for all piping aficionados and those with a taste for the sacred cow. The Voice This is a book that every piping enthusiast should read. Celtic Heritage Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping's contribution to the region's cultural history is priceless. Atlantic Books Today By studying and reinterpreting the historical relationship between traditional Scottish and New World preliterate piping Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745-1945 vastly enriches our knowledge of both of them. A monumental contribution to Scottish and Canadian cultural studies. Robin Lorimer, musicologist

Author Information

John G. Gibson is the author of Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping, 1745–1945 and Old and New World Highland Bagpiping. He lives in Judique, Nova Scotia.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions