---
title: "Atlantic arc"
slug: atlantic-arc
type: concept
definition: "The cultural space of Europe's Atlantic seaboard —from Scotland to Galicia, through Ireland, Brittany and the Cantabrian coast— where the bagpipe is the common instrument. Not a generic \"Celtic\" label, but a real geography with related organological families."
synonyms: ["Atlantic seaboard", "arc atlantique"]
publishedAt: 2026-06-30
---
The **Atlantic arc** is Europe's Atlantic seaboard understood as an old
space of cultural relation, reactivated in the present: from **Scotland**
to **Galicia**, through **Ireland**, the **Isle of Man**, **Wales** and
**Cornwall**, and **Brittany**, down the Cantabrian coast —**Asturies**,
**Cantabria**— to the north-western Iberian Peninsula and northern
Portugal.

The **bagpipe** (a bag-and-pipe instrument) is the common thread that runs
through the whole arc. But sharing an instrument doesn't mean "everything
is Celtic": the Atlantic arc is a **real geography with related
organological families**, each with its own identity. Within it, the
[Asturian traditional music](/concepto/musica-tradicional-asturiana)
holds a specific place, sister to the Galician and gaita de fole
traditions, cousin to the rest of the arc —a **living** tradition, not an
export label.

## Why this frame matters

Thinking of the Asturian gaita within the Atlantic arc —rather than under
the vague umbrella of "Celtic"— allows placing it with precision: what it
shares with its neighbours (the family, the bag-and-pipe design, certain
sonic traits) and what sets it apart (its tuning, its drone at the root,
its repertoire). The frame describes kinship without diluting identity.