Blog hub
Traditional Music
The Asturian gaita, the repertoire and the roots: living tradition, not a museum piece, in dialogue with the Atlantic arc.
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GuideWhat is Asturian traditional music?
Asturian traditional music is not an instrument or a museum piece: it's a system with repertoire, oral transmission and real social contexts. Here I explain it in full, and place the gaita where it actually fits within it.
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ComparisonAsturian bagpipe vs. Great Highland Bagpipe: the real differences
Two bagpipes that get confused from the outside but sound and play differently: single drone versus three drones, flexible scale versus fixed scale, solo-piper tradition versus pipe band. The real differences, from having played both.
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EssayThe Asturian gaita today: conservatory, schools and reference bands
How an Asturian piper trains today: from the professional and higher conservatory to the band schools, with a look at the bands and reference figures that sustain the instrument's current fabric.
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Essay"Gaita de fol": the etymology of a name
Where «fol» comes from and why «gaita de fole» is, according to philology, the more precise term for a family that «zamorana» or «sanabresa» name only in part. And why in Asturies we say «gaita de fuelle».
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EssayA guide to the bagpipes of the Atlantic arc
A guide to the most representative gaitas of the Atlantic arc —Scottish, Irish, Breton, Galician, Asturian and more— ordered by organological axes rather than by country. Where the Asturian gaita fits and why it is not just one more «Celtic bagpipe».
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ComparisonAsturian gaita vs. Irish uilleann pipe: the real differences
Two gaitas that share an Atlantic root and an oral-tradition music, but whose mechanics and sound take them to different worlds. Here I tell the real differences from the experience of having played both.
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EssayWhy bagpipes play at American funerals
Bagpipes at American funerals were not born of an aesthetic decision. They were born of the Great Famine, of the only jobs left to Irish and Scottish immigrants, and of a 1972 record that burned the image into the collective unconscious.
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EssayThe evolution of our sound: how the Asturian bagpipe learned to play with the world
The bagpipe you hear today in public squares and on stage is not the same instrument as a hundred years ago. It is a tempered bagpipe. The story of how that change happened, why it was necessary and who made it possible.
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EssayGaita, bagpipe, cornemuse: what to call the Asturian gaita in each language
Why I call the Asturian gaita a gaita in English and French too, how it relates to «bagpipe» and «cornemuse», and why keeping the proper name is a cultural decision, not an oversight.
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GuideTuning the Asturian gaita: C, B flat, D and how to choose
The tunings of the Asturian gaita (C, B flat, D and others), what each one means, why there are several and how to choose yours according to what you plan to play.
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ComparisonAsturian gaita vs. Galician gaita: the real differences
The real differences between the Asturian gaita and the Galician gaita —tuning, repertoire, technique and sound— without the cliché that they are the same, nor the souvenir rivalry.
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GuideWhat is the Asturian gaita? A guide for the curious
What the Asturian gaita is, what parts it is made of, what keys it is tuned in and what repertoire it serves. A clear guide for anyone starting from scratch.
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