A glorious program on bagpipes; well worth a listen.

Last week, CBC Radio 1 aired a wonderful program that “explores the rise, fall, and revival of the bagpipes – the instrument that simply refuses to go away.”  The program is Ideas, one of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s oldest programs that continues to run on CBC, and which was once hosted by the venerable Lister Sinclair. Paul Kennedy succeeded Sinclair as host.

Idea’s episodes are audio documentary gems, delving into fascinating topics that impact on the world around us. These are well researched, well thought-out and produced radio docs that are very popular on CBC. The episode I am linking to here is, of course, about bagpipes. The programs looks into the history and background of a glorious instrument that needs little further introduction from me.  It goes back to the Roman times, interviews Paddy Maloney of the Chieftains (coincidently, I too interviewed Maloney in Halifax once, and we spoke almost exclusively about bagpiping) and provides an in-depth background of the bagpipes that every piper should know.

Click here for “A Glorious Racket”.

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