More Couso Autumn Fest: Bring on the Pipers!

This is more video from the amazing Couso Festa de Outono on 7 Nov, 2009. This video features three of the gaita (bagpipe) based groups we saw.

There were at least two others, maybe more. I spent most of the time inside the pig-smoky room watching the tambourine groups (pandeiretera groups) because1) I like that music a lot; and, 2) It was closer to the beer supply!

Carlos was outside most of the time. Considering how much he likes percussion, this was interesting. So there must have been some other motivation for that (other than, for many new to this music, the pandeiretera stuff can get monotonous)????? Oh, and the fact that Carlos doesn't like beer!!!!

The pipes, of course, came with the Celtic settlers who arrived a few hundred years BC and were a huge force there for hundreds of years.

Interestingly, in the past 15 years or so, even the Irish group the Chieftains have gone to Santiago to record with some of the major artists there including the leading gaita player, Carlos Nuñez.

Check it out: