DOI: 10.3986/Traditio2020490201 TRADITIONES, 49/2, 2020, 7–29
This paper describes how the bagpipe revival process in 
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, begun in the 1970s, has 
been influenced by historical and ethnographical sources, 
ethnomusicological scholarship, and certain personalities. 
Popular and academic views on the relationship between 
the instrument and ethnic identity—and contemporary 
developments in musical life—have undeniably had a 
considerable impact as well.
Keywords: traditional musical instruments, folklore 
movement, reinterpretation, bagpipe, folk revival concept, 
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
V članku je predstavljeno, kako so v Estoniji, Latviji in Litvi 
na proces oživljanja izdelave in igranja na dude vplivali 
etnomuzikologija, nekatere osebnosti ter na katere zgodovinske 
in etnografske vire so se pri tem sklicevali. K oživljanju so 
nedvomno pripomogli tudi poljudni in akademski pogledi 
na razmerje med inštrumentom in etnično identiteto, a tudi 
sodobni razvoj glasbenega življenja.
Ključne besede: tradicionalna glasbila, folklorno gibanje, 
interpretacija, dude, koncept glasbeni preporod, Estonija, 
Latvija, Litva
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL 
SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
The three Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—have experienced similar 
cultural developments in the second half of the twentieth century, yet the bagpipe revival 
since 1970s displays significant regional differences in terms of intensity and forms. Bagpipes 
have become a more prominent component of musical life in the Baltics at the end of the 
twentieth century and the first two decades of the twenty-first century, and they are present 
at cultural and social events, but there has not been very much documentation and study of 
the instrument’s contemporary situation. This study traces the important ideas, personalities, 
and events in bagpipe revival, which represents a conscious effort to study, practice, and 
develop the traditions associated with the instrument and its music. It describes how the 
revival process was influenced by historical and ethnographical sources, ethnomusicological 
scholarship, and personalities, as well as by other circumstances.
In this study, the historical comparison of piping traditions in all three countries is 
based on previously published works, including Igor Tõnurist’s “The Estonian Bagpipe” 
(1976), Valdis Muktupāvels’s “Musical Instruments in the Baltic Region: Historiography 
and Traditions” (2002), “Über einige Musikinstrumente in litauischen und lettischen Bibeln 
des 16./17 . Jahrhunderts und in der Alltagspraxis” (2010), Folk Music Instruments in Latvia 
(2018), Rūta Žarskienė’s “Užmirštieji muzikos instrumentai: dūdmaišis ir Lietuva” (2011), 
and others. Descriptions of bagpipe recordings from the early stages of revival are based on 
7-inch vinyl discs and LPs, and more recent stages on selected CDs. The basic empirical 
material for the study has been collected as interviews of people active in bagpipe revival 
(performers, instructors, instrument makers, researchers) in all three countries: Kaspars 
Bārbals, Leanne Barbo, Antanas Fokas, Arūnas Lunys, Cätlin Mägi, Māris Muktupāvels, 

8
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
Vytautas Musteikis, Celia Roose, Sandra Vabarna, Eirimas Velička, and Evaldas Vyčinas,
1
 
thus providing a strong insider’s, or emic, view and knowledge. The author refers also to his 
own engagement in the revival since its early stages and continuous performance practice 
for four decades, a strong point here being his personal view of the general picture of the 
process and knowledge of the significant actors involved.
Taken together, the central research question here is how the popular and academic 
views on the relationship between folk instruments and ethnic identity on one hand and 
modern developments in musical life on the other have interacted with the revival process 
and thus affected bagpipes’ contemporary situation.
HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES OF PIPING  
IN THE BALTIC REGION
It is generally accepted that a piping tradition has existed in the Baltics since the sixteenth 
century or earlier (Tõnurist 1976; Brauns 2002; Žarskienė 2011). In some cases, scholars 
extend it to the fifteenth century (Allmo 1990: 298), fourteenth century (Tampere 1975: 22) 
or even as early as the thirteenth century (Jaago 2008: 49). Most of the historical evidence 
in the Baltics dates from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries (Tõnurist 1976; Muktupāvels 
2002, 2018; Žarskienė 2011), thus marking this period as the “golden age” of piping. To 
understand better the role of bagpipes in traditional Baltic cultures, some references to 
the sources from that period are helpful. For instance, the Livonijas kronika (Chronicle of 
Livonia) by Balthasar Rusovs, which covers the period to 1583, contains several references 
to the use of musical instruments in sixteenth-century Livonia,
2
 particularly to the large 
bagpipe, which was well known in every village. Also, the situation with many bagpipes 
playing together is vividly described in the chronicle (Rusovs 1976 [1584]: 60–61). In later 
centuries, the similarity of Latvian and Estonian musical traditions—and particularly those 
of the bagpipes—is highlighted in at least one former part of Livonia, namely, Livland 
(Liivimaa EE, Vidzeme LV). In his 1777 essay about Livland and Estland, August Wilhelm 
Hupel writes: “The bagpipe is the most common—and presumably a very old—instrument 
for both peoples [Latvians and Estonians], which they make themselves and blow very 
rhythmically in two voices with a lot of skill”
3
 (Muktupāvels 2018: 23). Johann Christoph 
Petri in his 1809 work Neueste Gemählde von Lief- und Ehstland and Johann Georg Kohl in 
his 1841 work Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen adopt a very similar stance and refer 
to bagpipes as the favorite or perhaps even most beloved instrument of the Latvians and 
1 
I am very grateful to all the interviewees for the information and opinions they shared.
2 
The medieval Livonian Confederation is the predecessor of both Latvia and Estonia.
3 
„Beyder Völker gemeinstes und vermuthlich sehr altes musikalisches Instrument ist der Dudelsack 
(Sackpfeife) den sie selbst machen und zweystimmig mit vieler Fertigkeit sehr taktmäßig blasen.“  

9
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
Estonians (Muktupāvels 2018: 24). Such a shared tradition was undoubtedly manifested 
in the design, manner of playing, repertoire, and use of the instrument. 
Particularly interesting from the organology point of view are the first translations of 
the Bible into the Baltic languages. Thus, the Lithuanian manuscript was prepared in the 
Duchy of Prussia by Jonas Bretkūnas in 1591. The last page of the sixth volume contains a 
list of the Lithuanian and German names of thirteen musical instruments, in which large 
and small bagpipes are mentioned. The first complete translation of the Bible into Latvian 
was prepared by Ernst Glück in 1685 to 1691, in which the original Old Testament word 
nēbel is sometimes translated as Sohma-stabbules (= bagpipe; Muktupāvels 2010: 18–19). 
The translator surely looked for terms and expressions that were in current use and that 
could be properly understood by as many readers as possible.
A fairly rapid decline in piping took place at the end of the “golden period.” In the 
Latvian case, that can be largely attributed to three factors (Muktupāvels 2018: 265–266), 
the first of which was legislation. In her book Latviešu deja (based on Carl Gottlob Sonntag’s 
1821 work Die Polizei für Livland), Elza Siliņa writes:
Thus in 1753 the use of bagpipes was limited to smaller fairs. And on 15 December 
1760 they were outlawed completely, with physical punishments for the player 
and a fine of five rubles for the master. The reasoning of the law was grounded 
in the following: the unruliness of drunken non-German servants tempts others 
to villainy. On 20 April 1765 this prohibition and punishments were renewed, 
and in 1773 a bagpipe player could still be fined three thalers. (Siliņa 1939: 131)
The second factor in the decline of bagpiping was intolerance based on religious 
ethics, with a special role played by the Unity of the Brethren (Herrnhuter) congrega-
tions in Vidzeme. Joahims Brauns writes about the disappearance of many older musical 
instruments in the eighteenth century and, based on Rudolph Minzloff ’s work Beiträge zur 
Bagpipe tune from Estonia (Hupel 1777, note supplement Nr. 1).

10
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
livländischen Sittengeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts, tells about the writings in 1740 of von 
Ekesparre, a representative of the Brethren movement: “They completely destroyed their 
bagpipes, violins, and harps” (Brauns 2002: 62). 
The third factor in the bagpipe’s decline was the introduction of the violin. The first 
evidence of violins and violin playing dates to the turn of the seventeenth century, and by 
the eighteenth century the violin had become a beloved and popular instrument. It was 
probably a superior instrument as well, due to its broad diapason, suitability for various 
repertoires, and predictable tuning. Even though the bagpipe and violin existed side-by-side 
for a time and were even played together, the bagpipe era was nevertheless soon replaced 
by the violin era, as evidenced by such statements as “now [they] dance to fiddles, back 
then to bagpipes” from Latviešu Avīzes in 1865, or “earlier in olden times [it was] horn and 
bagpipe blowers, later fiddle players” from Ernests Dinsbergs’ 1890 article about wedding 
traditions in the Dundaga area in feudal times (Muktupāvels 2018: 265–266). The Estonian 
and perhaps also Lithuanian situations may be somewhat similar.
As a result, when the documentation of bagpipe traditions and collection of music 
and instruments began at the end of the nineteenth century, the tradition was still in 
existence in only a few eastern Baltic regions. 
According to Igor Tõnurist, “the bagpipe was 
longest preserved in West and North Estonia 
where folk music retained archaic characteris-
tics for a longer time” (Tõnurist 1976: 48); the 
scholar also specifies that in the 1950s there 
were still living bagpipers in Hiiumaa (op. cit.: 
53). In the Latvian case, in the second half of 
the nineteenth century and the first half of 
the twentieth century bagpipes could only be 
found in western Kurzeme, especially in its 
Catholic enclave known as the Suiti region, 
where the last recordings were made in the 
1930s, around Alūksne in northern Vidzeme, 
in eastern Latgale, and around Ilūkste in south-
east of Latvia (Muktupāvels 2018: 266–267). 
As Rūta Žarskienė concludes, “in the second 
half of the nineteenth century they still knew 
the bagpipes in most of Lithuania, and in the 
first half of the twentieth century it was played 
at weddings, baptism, village dances, and other 
events” (Žarskienė 2011: 203). Memories about 
piping in eastern Lithuania, especially in the 
Labanoras area, were still alive in the 1960s. 
Historical bagpipe and piper Juhan Maaker 
from Hiiumaa, Estonia, 1928 (Photo: Karl 
Akel. Estonian Theatre and Music Museum 
ETMM 9424 MO 238:1/39:6).

11
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
Historical bagpipe from Alsunga, Latvia, the last quarter of the 19th century (Photo: Aleksandrs 
Okonovs. National History Museum of Latvia CVVM 22290).
Historical bagpipe from eastern Lithuania (Photo: Zenonas Slaviūnas. Institute of Lithuanian 
Literature and Folklore LLTI 8972).

12
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
Though there have been dedicated efforts to document the tradition in all three Baltic 
countries, the corpus of notated and recorded materials differs significantly. The Estonian 
bagpipe music collection is truly remarkable: the earliest notations are from the end of the 
eighteenth century, and today the Estonian Folklore Archive holds more than 140 recordings 
of bagpipe music on wax cylinders, shellac discs, and magnetic tapes played by seven players 
in the period from 1913 to 1956, and thus the playing of the last living bagpipers was well 
recorded. Various Estonian museums take pride in the possession of several instruments.
The traditional tuning of Estonian bagpipes is described as follows by Igor Tõnurist:
The drones were tuned an octave or a fifth below the chanter keynote. The 
chanter had a diatonic scale, and then he provides four different tuning notations: 
1. drones G2 D3, chanter F♯4 G4 A4 B4 C5 D5 E5; 2. drones A2 D3, chanter 
C ♯4 D4 E4 F♯4 G4 A4; 3. drones A2 D3, chanter D4 E4 F♯4 G4 A4 B4; 4. 
drone C3, chanter B4 C5 D5 E5 F5 G5. (Tõnurist 1976: 49–50)
The documentation of bagpipe music in Latvia did not have an auspicious beginning: 
the composer and folklorist Andrejs Jurjāns, during his notable field work expedition in 
the summer of 1891, met with a piper whose instrument, unfortunately, was kept in a 
shed that was full of hay at the moment, so he could not demonstrate his playing (Jurjāns 
1980 [1892]: 116). The composer and folklorist Emilis Melngailis recorded approximately 
fifteen bagpipe melodies in the 1920s and 1930s in western Kurzeme, but most of that 
material was written down from singing instead of directly from playing the instrument. 
Only one piece, played by Pēteris Šeflers, was recorded by Latvian Radio; his playing was 
also included in the film Dzimtene sauc, commissioned by the Ministry of Interior Affairs 
and produced in 1935. 
As chanters from western Kurzeme tend to have five finger holes, the player must 
work within a hexachord, although its structure can change to a certain extent. The most 
commonly found scale in Emilis Melngailis’ materials is G4 A4 B4 C5 D5 E5 or A4 B4 
C ♯5 D5 E5 F♯5; the same scale in Pēteris Šeflers’s case has the upper four tones consider-
ably lowered, almost by a whole tone. The only drone is tuned an octave or an eleventh 
(an octave and a fourth) lower than the chanter’s lowest tone. 
The documentation of Lithuanian bagpipe music has been more successful than that 
of the Latvian music, but still hardly to be compared with the Estonian situation. Rūta 
Žarskienė mentions as “the basic source of bagpipe repertoire” the nine phonograph record-
ings by Eduard Wolter in 1908, recorded in eastern Lithuania: six bagpipe solo tunes by 
Juozas Voldemaras and three tunes played by a bagpipe and violin duo (Žarskienė 2011: 211). 
All these recordings are preserved in the Berlin Phonogram Archive. One bagpipe tune, 
played by Jurgis Gudynas with only the chanter and without the drone, was recorded in 
1937 at the Lithuanian Folklore Archive in Kaunas. Three more tunes played by Antanas 
Žygas were recorded in 1964 in eastern Lithuania. Unfortunately, the quality of recordings 

13
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
Bagpipe tune from Alsunga, Latvia, played by Pēteris Šeflers in 1934, transcribed by Valdis 
Muktupāvels in 1985 (Muktupāvels 2018: 320–321).
was compromised, as Žygas had stopped playing more than 30 years ago and did not have 
his own instrument anymore. The folklorists assembled bagpipe parts borrowed from the 
museum, but the resulting instrument was impossible to tune (Žarskienė 2011: 205).
Notations of recorded music suggest the tuning of Lithuanian bagpipes: Juozas 
Voldemaras’s bagpipe had an A drone and a chanter E4 G4 A4 B4 C ♯5 D5 E5. The drone 
of the bagpipe given to Antanas Žygas was tuned to A and the chanter D4 E4 F♯4 G4 A4 
B4 C ♯5 D5. Thus, in both cases the chanter’s scale spans an octave and the drone is tuned 
a fourth or fifth (plus octave) lower than the chanter’s lowest tone.

14
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
THE REVIVAL’S ORIGINS:  
IDEAS, PERSONALITIES, AND INFLUENCES
One of the first ideas of bagpipe revival was expressed by Emilis Melngailis. In his article 
“How one should revive the musical past” he discussed “a captivating idea to revive the 
music of ancient instruments” (Melngailis 1949
4
: 23). At that time significant efforts were 
being invested in assembling a “folk instrument orchestra,” and thus Melngailis’ article 
seems to be a timely contribution to the stock of ideas regarding how this orchestra should be 
organized. The central place in this orchestra should be allocated to three groups of kokles,
5
 
and a group of recorder-type pipes, drums, and other instruments could be added. He was 
quite positive about the bagpipe revival, but not in the framework of this folk instrument 
orchestra: “The bagpipe players, though not to be tolerated in a concert in closed space, 
will find their appropriate place in the future, and will perform noisily with their pipes, 
4 
The article seems to have been written in 1947, as one can conclude from Emilis Melngailis’ remark 
“some 25 years ago (around 1922).”
5 
Kokles – one of the most valued folk music instruments in Latvia, known also as the Baltic psaltery; 
a kind of a box zither with slightly fan-shaped strings. Modernized forms were introduced in music 
education and art music from the mid-twentieth century.
Bagpipe tune from Tverečius, Lithuania, played by Juozas Voldemaras in 1908, transcribed 
by Rūta Žarskienė in 2010 (Žarskienė 2013: 60).

15
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
two drones, and one usual, in various celebrations outdoors or in nature.” (op. cit.: 25). 
Unfortunately, for some reason this did not come to pass and remained a mere intention.
In reviving bagpipes in Estonia there was almost no break in the tradition, since it was 
initiated by Olev Roomet, who “was greatly interested in the bagpipe and could acquire 
the basic methods of playing from still-living bagpipers” as early as the 1950s (Tõnurist 
1976: 53). This is how Igor Tõnurist described the initial stage:
In the course of preparations for the republican dance festival in 1970 it was decided 
that the ancient art of playing on the bagpipe should be revived. 25 bagpipes were 
made by O. Roomet and Voldemar Süda, a master of musical instruments. In 
making the instruments an ethnographic example was followed in all authentic-
ity. Only the bag was made of rubber and imitation chamois glued and stitched 
together. About 20 people (from the age of 14 to 70!) learned the foundations of 
bagpipe-playing under the direction of O. Roomet. Their orchestra performed 2 
pieces at the festival. Later the orchestra was dismissed, as it proved technically 
difficult to tune such number of instruments all at the same time. A part of the 
instruments were adopted for use by the ethnographic ensembles Leegajus and 
Leigarid. In Riidaja in the Valga district (South Estonia) a bagpipe quintette has 
existed for three years already. […] A united ensemble of 10 bagpipes also took 
part in the dance festival of 1973. (Tõnurist 1976: 53)
With Igor Tõnurist as the artistic director, the Leegajus ensemble became a flagship 
of Estonian folklore movement in 1970s and 80s. Promoting authentic traditional music in 
general, they contributed significantly to establishing the status of bagpipe as an important 
traditional Estonian musical instrument. This was made especially visible when the ensemble 
released their LP Leegajus in 1975 with a large picture of group member Ain Sarv playing 
bagpipe on the cover (Leegajus 1975). Actually, only one track “Räditants” with bagpipe 
(plus other instruments) was included, but this recording spurred further interest in the 
instrument. T wo years later Leigarid ensemble released their first vinyl 7” disc (Leigarid 1977) 
with three bagpipe tracks, combining Alfred Nurmik’s bagpipe with other instruments and 
singing, as well as a bagpipe and a mouth harp duo in “Leika-Aadu Liisu.” Five years later 
in their second disc (Leigarid 1982), two more bagpipe tracks “Tori labajalg” and “Targa 
rehealune” were included. The same year, the folk music ensemble Torupill from Riidaja 
released their album Pill kutsub with four bagpipe tracks “Harju valss,” “Torupillipolka,” 
“Veli, hella vellekene,” and “Viru polka” (Riidaja rahvakunstiansambel Torupill 1982). 
Though the cover notes mention only Ants Taul as bagpipe player, several pipes together 
can be clearly heard, which may serve as evidence of Igor Tõnurist’s remark about a bagpipe 
quintet. Another vinyl 7” disc with three bagpipe tracks “Kivikasukas,” “Torupillivalss,” 
“Torupillilugu,” released in 1983, was a recording of the Linnutaja ensemble, consisting of 
eight female pipers (Linnutaja 1983). This may be considered as a substantial move towards 

16
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
the establishment of women as pipers in modern Estonia.
6
 Moreover, an authentic recording 
“Loppevalts” from 1936 of the piper Jaagup Kilström from Kuusalu was included in the 
anthology of Estonian traditional music (The Folk Music of Estonia 1986).
The beginning of the bagpipe revival in Latvia was significantly influenced by Estonian 
developments. Valdis Muktupāvels—one of revival activists—obtained the Leegajus LP 
during a visit to Tallinn in 1978 and was emotionally and conceptually moved by the 
look and content of the album, offering the sounds of revived ancient instruments and 
performance of traditional vocal music styles. A year later, as a member of the Skandinieki 
folklore ensemble, he and Guntis Veiskats did their best to render playable two bagpipes 
that the ensemble leader had obtained from Estonia, apparently made by Voldemar Süda. 
Piping became an integral part of Skandinieki performances from this time. In addi-
tion, two albums with bagpipe music tracks were recorded: the vinyl 7” disc Senie balsi 
(Skandinieki 1982) with four bagpipe tracks “Apaļais mēness,” “Alšvangas dancis,” “Dūdu 
balss,” and “Diždancis,” and the LP Divi duči rotaļu kopā ar ‘Skandiniekiem’, which was 
published only in 1988 (Skandinieki 1988). Likewise, the anthology of musical folklore 
was published with one bagpipe music track (The Latvian SSR Musical Folklore 1986). By 
the early 1980s bagpipes were played by more participants of the Skandinieki ensemble, 
including by Valdis’s brother Māris Muktupāvels. It was through frequent performances 
of this ensemble that bagpipes became a very familiar instrument in Latvia, and was soon 
played by more musicians. Another noteworthy moment in making bagpipes better-known 
in Latvia was the film Latviešu folklora. Gadskārtu dziesmas (Latviešu folklora 1983), which 
was commissioned by the Ministry of Education for Latvian folklore studies in general 
education and was distributed nationwide. The film was based on musical performances 
by the Savieši folklore ensemble, led by Valdis Muktupāvels. The twenty-minute film 
concludes with a masked mummers’ procession with the mask of Death playing bagpipe 
in the foreground.
It is also possible to speak of a certain influence of Skandinieki on bagpipe revival 
in Lithuania, because their performances in Vilnius in 1982 sparked activity among local 
piping enthusiasts, foremost of whom is Evaldas Vyčinas. Having extensive knowledge and 
practice with other traditional instruments, he soon started to play the bagpipe brought 
to him from the Estonian maker Ants Taul in Riidaja, and to instruct new players in his 
folklore ensembles VISI and Jievaras, as well as others. There is little documentary evidence 
of piping in that period; just one track “Gyvatuks” with bagpipe, violin, double bass, and 
hammered dulcimer on the Jievaras album (Jievaras 1988) can be mentioned. Even the 
anthology of musical folklore, published at the same time as Estonian and Latvian ones 
(Folk Music of the Lithuanian SSR 1986), does not have a single bagpipe recording.
6 
The ensemble is still active, and in 2018 they released the anniversary album Linnutaja 40 (Linnutaja 
2018).

17
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
BAGPIPE MAKERS AND THEIR CONCEPTS
Though there was a break in the bagpipe-making 
tradition in Estonia, the revival seems to have 
started at the point where some traditional feel-
ing was still “in the air”; that is, memories about 
pipers, their instruments, and their music. The 
dance festival of 1970, infused with Roomet’s 
and Süda’s traditional knowledge, inspired the 
South Estonia Taul family from Riidaja to engage 
in bagpipe making. The bagpipe researcher and 
player Cätlin Mägi
7
 writes: “Johannes and Ants 
Taul (father and son) started reviving the bagpipe 
making tradition based on the old bagpipes which 
were stored in archives. Thus, the shape and design 
of the bagpipes have the look of those that were 
used at the beginning of the nineteenth century” 
(Mägi 2015). In fact, Ants Taul introduced some 
innovations, for example, instead of traditional 
one or two drones, he made instruments with 
three drones tuned to G2, D3, G3: a basic bass 
tone, a fifth above, and an octave above. He also 
invented tuners for the drones: metal slides for shortening the vibrating part of the reed,
8
 
with which one could not only adjust the drone, but change its pitch by a considerable 
interval, up to a fourth. Often the traditional diatonic seventh F♯4–E5 of the chanter was 
extended, adding one lower D4, or D4 and E4. With Ants’s son Andrus taking over his 
father’s techniques, bagpipe making has become an inherited trade. Andrus Taul’s instruments 
visually follow a traditional pattern, whereas the tuning is more sophisticated: instruments 
are made with one, two, or three drones, and the pitch of the D drone can be tuned one 
tone up. Using double holes and two holes on the backside, several tones of the chanter’s 
scale can be altered D4 E4 F♯4 (F4) G4 A4 (G ♯4) (B ♭ 4) B4 C5 D5 (C ♯5) E5. Thus, the 
Taul family has established a sustainable standard for contemporary Estonian bagpipes. 
There have been other bagpipe makers in Estonia, too, of whom the musician and 
brass band conductor Tarmo Kivisilla should be mentioned. He has made other instru-
ments like the hiiukannel as well, but with his interest in spreading the piping tradition, 
he has taught instrument-making workshops in the last two decades, where several people 
learned to make their own bagpipe.
7 
Maiden name Cätlin Jaago.
8 
This unique construction is not evidenced, to the author’s best knowledge, in any other bagpipes.
Cätlin Mägi with Andrus Taul’s bagpipe 
(Photo: Maritta Anton, 2018).

18
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
Māris Jansons, one of the most productive bagpipe makers in Latvia, was involved in 
the traditional music revival in the mid-1980s. At some point he heard bagpipes performed 
live by an Estonian piper and also at the Baltica Festival in Lithuania in 1987, where a 
group from Brittany played their pipes, drums, and bombards. He was already making 
kokles and other instruments, and his impulse was to make a Latvian bagpipe. He studied 
the instruments in Latvian museums, trying to reproduce the same type: single reeds, a 
short chanter with five to eight
9
 holes, and a single drone. Satisfied with his results, he 
concluded: “I was going in the same directions as the traditional makers” (Paterson 2005: 
39). Initially, his bagpipes were tuned similarly to Ants Taul’s instruments: one or two 
drones G2, D3, chanter F♯4 G4 A4 B4 C5 D5 E5. In the first half of the 1990s he made 
several instruments with significantly lower chanters: one or two drones A2, D3, chanter 
C ♯4 D4 E4 F♯4 G4 A4 B4 C ♯5 D5. After seeing a seventeenth-century engraving of a 
bagpipe with two drones and a long conical chanter,
10
 he started to experiment with double 
reed chanters. T o justify his disposition towards “non-traditional” double reed instruments, 
he claimed that if the old instrument makers had an idea, they “would immediately put 
it into their instruments without worrying whether it was ‘traditional’ . . . . I am trying 
to understand tradition, continue it and develop it; tradition is not in the museum. What 
is in the museum is dead and ‘dead’ is not traditional” (op. cit.: 39). Māris Jansons has 
also taught several bagpipe-making workshops, with about ten new participants in each.  
Eduards Klints joined the folklore movement at about the same time and was impressed 
when he saw Māris Jansons’ bagpipe. He began making pipes, by learning from his own 
experience and that of others, especially from Estonian maker Ants Taul, whom he visited 
for that purpose. He believes that with bagpipes “the sound and the Latvian identity – they 
go together. That is why I study early instruments in museums and try to reproduce them 
. . . the search for one’s roots, maintaining one’s heritage” (Paterson 2005: 39). Eduards 
Klints’s instruments have single reed chanter with up to seven/two holes, and sometimes 
double holes for half tones, resulting in the tuning D4 E4 F♯4 (F4) G4 A4 (G ♯4) (B ♭4) 
B4 C5 D5 (C ♯5) E5. The one, two, or three drones, tuned G2, D3, and G3 respectively, 
are “topped with an apple-sized expansion chamber that markedly lowers the tone and 
enriches the timbre” (op. cit.: 39). 
An effective impulse for making bagpipes in Lithuania was the activity of Evaldas 
Vyčinas, because he tried in 1983 to make new instruments based on Taul’s sample. Vyčinas 
was not the first one to try; some experiments to make “elaborated” bagpipes were under-
taken before, by Pranas Kupčikas for the Lietuva ensemble and by Arvydas Karaška and 
his father for the Ratilio ensemble, but the results were unsatisfactory. Since the mid-1980s 
such well-known folk music instrument makers as Jonas Bugailiškis and Egidijus Virbašius 
9 
From Mike Paterson’s interview with Māris Jansons. In fact, bagpipe chanters in Latvian museums 
have five to six fingerholes.
10 
This is probably the engraving in Adam Olearius’s travel description Vermehrte Moscowitische vnd 
Persianische Reisebeschreibung, published in 1663.

19
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
Valdis Muktupāvels with Māris Jansons’s bagpipe (Photo: Oskars Ludvigs, 2015).
Eduards Klints’s bagpipe (Photo: Eduards Klints. 2018).

20
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
have made some bagpipes, but their production was not regular and the instruments did 
not receive the necessary appreciation.
Though the revived bagpipes in Belarus have made since the early 1980s by Ales’ Los’ 
(Inanec 2015), it was the beginning of the 1990s when the artist Todar Kaškurėvič started 
making his instruments and selling them in Lithuania as well. He tried to reproduce the 
instrument known as the “Vilnius bagpipe,” and for this purpose studied instruments in 
Belarusian and Lithuanian museums. The historical connection to Lithuanian tradition 
and the quality of craftsmanship were the main reasons that Kaškurėvič’s bagpipes were 
and still are in demand, making him the most productive bagpipe maker in Lithuania.
SOME ASPECTS AFFECTING THE BAGPIPE CONCEPT  
IN THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
It can be observed that, by and large, there are more similarities in Estonian and Latvian 
situations, whereas the Lithuanian concept seems to have more differences. The Estonian 
and Latvian commonalities have been shaped historically: common statehood in the 
form of medieval Livonia, membership in the Hanseatic League, the Swedish times, and 
the Baltic German cultural heritage. In his comprehensive study of bagpipes, Anthony 
Baines discusses the similarities between Swedish and Estonian bagpipes, and together 
with Latvian bagpipes attributes them to the northern or Baltic type: bell-less single-reed 
pipes with single chanters (Baines 1960: 70–71). Characterizing the Baltic type, he also 
mentions that the bass drone has “a bottle-shaped or bell-shaped termination with narrow 
orifice” (op. cit.: 90–91).
On the contrary, Lithuanian historical memory is rooted in the Grand Duchy of 
Lithuania, uniting present-day Lithuania and Belarus, as well as the period of the Polish-
Lithuanian Commonwealth, so one would expect certain similarities between Lithuanian 
and Belarusian bagpipes. Though Anthony Baines does not refer to Lithuanian bagpipes 
directly, in his discussion of eastern European bagpipes he distinguishes the western type, 
mentioning “huge horn bells” and their distribution in Bohemia, Moravia, Poland, and 
White Russia [Belarus], and eastern Lithuania is also included on his map (op. cit.: 69–70). 
Rūta Žarskienė refers to Todar Kaškurėvič who suggests using the term “Lithuanian 
bagpipe” instead of “Belarusian bagpipe,” thus pointing towards the common origin and 
distribution of both (Žarskienė 2011: 202).
Academic and popular publications display a significant difference in the Baltic 
countries in categorization of the bagpipe as an “ethnic” or “folk” music instrument. Since 
the end of the nineteenth century, when the first extensive lists of folk music instruments 
were published, Estonian and Latvian sources display a very similar attitude towards the 
bagpipe as old, inherited, and deeply rooted in local culture. For example, in the first long 
essay written in 1879 about Latvian folk music in olden times, Andrejs Jurjāns mentioned 

21
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
the trumpet, horn, drum, frame drum, pipe, bagpipe, dūkas [another type of bagpipe?], 
violin, kokles, and other instruments (Jurjāns 1980 [1879]: 18). The bagpipe is registered as 
old-time instrument alongside many others in the catalogue of the “Latvian Ethnography 
Exhibition” of the “10th All-Russia Archaeologists’ Congress” in Riga in 1896, compiled 
by Rev. Vilis Plutte (Olavs) (Muktupāvels 2018: 27). The same is true of all significant 
Estonian and Latvian publications of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including 
such recent comprehensive works as Eesti rahvapille (Tõnurist et al. 2008) and Folk Music 
Instruments in Latvia (Muktupāvels 2018).
The Lithuanian situation has developed differently. Composer and musicologist Juozas 
Žilevičius published several articles from 1927 to 1968 about Lithuanian folk instruments 
and proposed a classification according to their morphology and origin. From the viewpoint 
of origin, he distinguishes three groups: 1) instruments of local origin, 2) transmigrational 
instruments, which were brought to Lithuania, existed for some time and then disappeared, 
and 3) superstratial instruments, which were brought to Lithuania, were adopted, and 
became established in traditional musical life (Žilevičius 1927). It is not clear to which of 
these three categories he would attribute the bagpipe, but obviously it is not included in 
the local origin group. It is mentioned after such “migrated” instruments as the hammered 
dulcimer, monochord, and violin. His systematic approach has been highly appraised by 
organologist Romualdas Apanavičius:
[T]he first classification of the ethnic musical instruments proposed by this author 
in 1927 was not only the first attempt on the way of scientific systematization 
of the ethnic musical instruments but made a very big influence for latest sys-
tematizations of the ethnic musical instruments of other Lithuanian scientists. 
[sic] (Apanavičius 2013: 10)
Obviously, the idea had its appeal to Apanavičius and his colleague Marija Baltrėnienė, 
and it underwent further development in their authoritative monograph about Lithuanian 
folk music instruments, which are formally classified following the Hornbostel and Sachs 
system, but complemented by two more categories: 1) objects utilized as musical instru-
ments and lesser-known instruments, and 2) foreign (literally “of other nations”) and 
classical instruments (Baltrėnienė and Apanavičius 1991: 5). Bagpipes are included in the 
latter category, not in the class of aerophones, surprisingly (op. cit.: 163–164). Moreover, 
all the information about bagpipes is on one page, compared to nearly five pages about 
cowbells, for instance, thus indirectly hinting at intentional or unintentional marginaliza-
tion of the former.
It should be mentioned that three years earlier Antanas Fokas presented and defended 
a bachelor’s thesis on Lithuanian bagpipes at the Klaipėda University Music Conservatory 
(1988). The previous year also saw the publication of a twenty-three-page textbook 
Labanoro dūda about one type of Lithuanian bagpipes, written by Klaipėda University 

22
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
ethnomusicologist Rimantas Sliužinskas for use at the Continuing Professional Education 
Institute for Cultural Workers (1990). Nevertheless, a comparatively small number of copies 
of this work (only 300 copies, compared to 10,000 copies of Baltrėnienė’s and Apanavičius’s 
book) had significantly less potential to influence popular views about the bagpipe.
The concept of bagpipes has been shaped to certain extent by folklore texts or, more 
specifically, by folksongs. This is the case especially in Latvia, where the corpus of materials 
reflecting the tradition is so meagre that it cannot meet the needs of willing enthusiasts. 
Three main Latvian folksong motifs are related to piping: firstly, pipes are made from an 
oak tree, cut before leaving for military service, and also drums are made of the same stem; 
secondly, pipes and drums are played together at various points in the wedding ceremony, 
and thirdly, thrice nine
11
 pipers play on a hilltop for a solemn occasion and also weddings. 
This last image, along with a short remark from Andrejs Jurjāns’s 1891 fieldwork inter-
views, in which he was told that during a visit to Liepāja of the heir to the Russian throne 
[Alexander III?] an ensemble from the Suiti district performed “in a special music pavilion, 
with seven playing bagpipes and eight playing goat horns” (Jurjāns 1980 [1892]: 117) served 
as a strong argument for aggregating bagpipes into ensembles in contemporary times.
THE CHANGING ROLE OF BAGPIPES SINCE 1970S
IN EDUCATION
The institutionalization of Estonian piping occurred when Viljandi Culture College
12
 
introduced piping instruction along with that of other traditional instruments. With an 
emphasis on acquiring authentic tradition, they promoted mixing traditional music with jazz, 
thus creating a promising fusion that has been labelled ethno jazz or folk jazz. This is how 
one of the graduates, Cätlin Mägi, describes the implementation of piping tradition there:
At the beginning of the 1990s, Estonian music students started to revive the old 
music and instrument traditions using the model which had been employed, with 
great success, in Scandinavian music schools. The Viljandi Culture Academy 
under the guidance of Ando Kiviberg was instrumental in this and students were 
able to learn tunes from archive recordings so that they could imitate the style and 
techniques of the old players. The Estonian bagpipe has now been taken to another 
level by younger players, such as myself, Sandra Sillamaa [now Sandra Vabarna], 
and Juhan Suits, who had all studied at the Viljandi Culture Academy. (Mägi 2015)
11 
Though several scholars treat ‘trejdeviņi’ (thrice nine) as ‘three times nine equals twenty-seven’, 
mythology experts like Janīna Kursīte suggest that it is a number defined by ritual or an entity rep-
resenting space and time (Kursīte 1996: 119–127).
12 
Since 2003 the Viljandi Culture Academy.

23
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
There are also other institutions offering the study of Estonian bagpipes: the Estonian 
Academy of Music and Theatre, music schools in Tallinn, Tartu, and Viljandi, and others.
In addition to these regular opportunities to study piping there have been various 
courses and workshops. In 2000 a workshop in Tallinn was held for approximately twenty 
new pipers, with Igor Tõnurist, Viljandi College teacher Celia Roose, and Tarmo Kivisilla 
as the main instructors. Most participants came with their own bagpipes, and the rest had 
the opportunity to buy Ants Taul’s instruments. With the aim of bagpipe promotion in 
2015 Sandra Vabarna initiated the project “100 Bagpipes,” in which the main idea was to 
invite well-known people —musicians, actors, teachers, athletes, TV personalities, cultural 
figures—and teach them to play the instrument in just thirty minutes. The project lasted 
for a year, and the project episodes were filmed and distributed on social media, thus sharply 
increasing public interest in learning to play the bagpipes (Sillamaa 2015).
After enrolling in ethnomusicological studies at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy 
of Music, students can specialize in playing of one of traditional instruments including 
bagpipe, yet very few have chosen this option. Interest in piping has been significantly 
stronger in the public sphere. For instance, to meet the increasing needs for some kind of 
teaching tools, the musician and piper Kaspars Bārbals has prepared and published a “teach 
yourself bagpipe” method, which is a set including an instructional book and a CD. The 
teaching material seems to have been prepared using some Highland piping instructional 
books and personal expertise of four Latvian pipers (Bārbals 2006). It has been used by 
piping enthusiasts mostly in a circle of Kaspars’s friends and acquaintances, and remains 
unknown among the wider public.
The information gathered in this study indicates that there have not been very many 
institutional opportunities to learn piping in Lithuania, and thus the educational aspects have 
been left in the hands of amateurs to a large extent. Arūnas Lunys, an instrumental folk music 
specialist at the Lithuanian National Culture Centre, has prepared a compilation of 123 tunes, 
which are transcriptions of archive recordings and also traditional vocal and instrumental 
melodies that he considers bagpipe tunes or at least suitable for playing on bagpipes (2014). 
The compilation is accompanied by Rūta Žarskienė’s article about bagpipes in Lithuania 
(Žarskienė 2014). Like in Estonia and Latvia, there is some institutional support for tradi-
tional instrument workshops, and if there happens to be a piping activity, it is supported, too.
IN MUSICAL LIFE
Though the Estonian ensemble Linnutaja has existed since 1978, the very idea of a perma-
nent ensemble with several bagpipes or a pipes-and-drums group has not been employed 
frequently. Yet, one such unit could be mentioned: a band of four pipers and a drummer 
that performs during national festivities, military parades, and other public events has 
existed for a long time. The band is associated with the Estonian paramilitary organization 
Kaitseliit, and its leader Ando Kiviberg is well-known folk musician and faculty member at 

24
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
the Viljandi Culture Academy. Evidently, besides being simply a noisy instrument suitable 
for playing outdoors, the bagpipe displays a certain aspect of Estonianness in this case.
From this viewpoint Latvia has some noteworthy developments. One of the first 
bagpipe ensembles in Latvia performed in a symbolically significant event: during the 
international folklore festival Baltica ’88 in Riga it was secretly decided to publicly display 
the three Baltic countries’ national flags, which were strictly prohibited during Soviet occu-
pation. The opening ceremony in the grand hall of the Sports Palace started with a group 
of pipers making a circle in the middle of the arena and then all the three national flags 
were brought in and taken inside the circle. Thus, the instrument was strongly positioned 
as representative of national culture and resistance to the occupying power. The subsequent 
street procession was spontaneously headed by some pipers, violin players, and drummers, 
and since then the practice of piping in similar outdoor situation has become self-evident.
The pipers’ ensemble Dūdinieki (literally “pipers” or “bagpipe players”), which brought 
together nine musicians, was founded by Māris Jansons in 1994, but disbanded after two 
years. The main reason was the problematic ensemble playing, because single-reed pipes 
in comparatively low registers produced a buzzing overtone that prevented clear perception 
of the melody line.
The idea about bagpipe ensemble was still “in the air,” and in 2003 the pipes-and-
drums group Auļi, incorporating some pipers from the ensemble Dūdinieki, was founded. 
This predominantly Latvian male group also features one Estonian female piper, Leanne 
Barbo. She learned piping while studying at Tartu University, and was invited to play with 
the group by Mikus Čavarts, the founder. Kaspars Bārbals, who was and still is the musical 
leader of the group, consciously introduced instruments with double reed chanters—mostly 
made by him, but also bought in Spanish Galicia and later—in Moravia. The drums were 
made by the ensemble members themselves: they were of impressive size and appearance, 
resembling wooden stems, thus establishing a clear reference to the folksong texts about 
making pipes and drums from the oak tree. Auļi’s music is created by the group members 
themselves, using varied drumming patterns and modified folksong melodies or their own 
compositions, but seldom traditional bagpipe tunes. The ensemble members wear stylized 
medieval stage costumes and they present their performance as “the pipes-and-drums music 
from Latvia.” In popular perception the group represents a kind of Latvianness, and the 
bagpipes they play also conform to the concept of “Latvian pipes.”
An interesting development has occurred in the traditional piping region in western 
Latvia, Suiti. With the initiative of the local Roman Catholic priest Andris Vasiļevskis, 
several local people obtained their pipes from Eduards Klints and in 2014 founded the 
group Suitu Dūdenieki, with four pipers and a drummer. Notably, two male and two 
female pipers in the group clearly testify to the shift from a masculine-dominated piping 
tradition to a more balanced gender situation. With a reference to the status of bagpipe in 
the first Latvian Bible, the group has played in religious festivities, as well as on different 
local occasions, from weddings to drone music festivals, since then.

25
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
Though bagpipes in Lithuania are played predominantly solo or with other instru-
ments, a few performances with bagpipes groups are known. Composer Kęstutis Antanėlis 
created parts for three pipers in his oratorio Keturios lietaus šalys (1986), played by multi-
instrumentalists Evaldas Vyčinas, Skirmantas Sasnauskas, and Vytautas Labutis; at that 
time, they all performed with Ants Taul’s bagpipes. Several bagpipes together have per-
formed at some of the “Nationwide Song and Dance Celebrations” since 1987. A public 
performance of several pipers usually accompanies the bagpipe meeting in Antanas at the 
Jonas Juška museum of ethnic culture, which takes place since 2008 in Vilkija, and ten 
to twenty pipers from Lithuania and other countries participate there. Six bagpipes and a 
brass band play together in album Kompromisai / Compromises (Sutaras+ 2018), compiled 
by Antanas Fokas.
The focus on traditional music and its fusion with jazz or other modern kinds of 
music in Viljandi Culture Academy has facilitated development of the piping tradition 
in two directions. Firstly, the recorded bagpipe tunes are not simply imitated, but new 
variations are created that preserve the style, characteristic techniques, and motifs. This is 
particularly present in Cätlin Mägi’s two solo albums, In Bagpipe Tradition (Jaago 2002) 
and Soolo (Jaago 2010). Secondly, based on a solid mastery of the tradition, the creation of 
new material leads to a result that can be still recognized as related to the tradition. This 
trend can be illustrated by such innovative folkjazz bands as Ro:toro, in which bagpipes 
played by Cätlin and Sandra Vabarna interplay with a saxophone, or in the performance 
of “Trad.attack!”, in which Sandra’s bagpipe fuses with guitar and percussion.
The fusion of bagpipes and saxophones has also turned out to be fruitful in other Baltic 
countries. An ensemble of a bagpipe and saxophones has been present at several programs 
of the Riga Saxophone Quartet and Valdis Muktupāvels: “Oak” (2012–2014), “Flight of 
the Black Stork” (2014–2016), “Pictures at an Exhibition” (2016–2017), and “Sonorous 
Epochs” (2018). The interplay of two bagpipes and a saxophone permeates the Lithuanian 
album Tylos Labanoro (Kovėra et al. 2005), which is presented as a part of a project sup-
ported by UNESCO and intended to revive a forgotten tradition of Labanoras bagpipe. 
The pipers are Gvidas Kovėra from Lithuania and Todar Kaškurėvič from Belarus, and 
the saxophone is performed by Petras Vyšniauskas, thus again proving the role of historical 
connections in contemporary revival processes.
Another type of contemporary music involving bagpipes is folk rock and folk metal. 
Such Latvian folk rock groups as The New Moon and Iļģi have used bagpipes as a strong 
accent connecting their music to the folkloric past. The bagpipes in the Estonian folk metal 
band Metsatöll and Latvian Skyforger represent the ancient heritage and also the spirit of 
a brave fight against the enemy both in mythical pagan times (when, in fact, there were 
no bagpipes yet) and in World War I (when, in fact, piping tradition was almost gone). 
The bagpipes in Skyforger were played by Kaspars Bārbals from 2004 until 2012, when 
he left the group because of the uneasy feeling during concerts of being overwhelmed by 
the massive guitar sound.

26
THE ROLE OF HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL SOURCES IN THE BAGPIPE REVIVAL IN THE BALTICS
Evidently, piping is becoming more and more varied in the Baltic countries, and in 
addition to traditional contexts the instrument is also used in other situations. To reflect 
this variety in Latvia, at the turn of the millennium Valdis Muktupāvels compiled the 
bagpipe music album Bagpipes in Latvia (Dūdas Latvijā 2000) with seven different pipers 
and their music, both solo and in ensemble with other instruments and with singing. A 
year later the same album, now renamed The Bagpipes of Latvia (2001), was published by 
UK-based ARC Music company. A selection of Lithuanian bagpipe music Tir lir dūda 
dūda (2016), both archive recordings and various contemporary music projects, including 
bagpipe with a brass band, was compiled in 2016 by Arūnas Lunys and published by the 
Lithuanian National Centre for Culture.
The increased interest in piping in the Baltics has resulted in several notable festivals. 
In Estonia, every other year in August the Lahemaa Bagpipe Festival, founded by Ants 
Taul, takes place at Palmse Manor. The bagpipe event Bagpipes Plus (Torupill ja teine), 
where bagpipes are played alongside other instruments, such as fiddle, bowed harp, mouth 
harp, and others is a part of the Hanseatic Days festival in Viljandi. In Latvia, bagpipe 
music has been integral to the Drone Music Festival in Alsunga since 2004, and the fifth 
of these festivals took place in 2017. Bagpipe solos and ensembles are heard at medieval 
festivals, the most prominent of which has taken place in Cēsis since 1997. Bagpipe music 
is usually performed at Black-Horned Moon (Mėnuo Juodaragis), a festival of contemporary 
Baltic culture and alternative music in Lithuania. 
CONCLUSIONS
The three Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—share more than half a millen-
nium of piping traditions, which had gradually disappeared by the mid-twentieth century. 
A comparatively well-documented bagpipe music and tradition-oriented education have 
promoted renewed attention to and respect for the revived piping tradition in modern Estonia.
In academic and popular discourse in Estonia and Latvia, the bagpipe tradition is 
mostly perceived as inherent to the local or native musical environment, whereas some 
authoritative sources in Lithuania treat it as “foreign” or “borrowed,” and thus not really 
part of Lithuanian tradition. This approach has indirectly influenced the production of 
instruments, the study of bagpipe playing, and institutional support. The historical con-
nections between Estonia and Latvia on the one hand and between Lithuania and Belarus 
on the other have certain impacts on developments in contemporary musical life.
With respect to bagpipe playing, some locally specific developments have occurred, 
such as the shifting of the male and female balance, ensemble play, and fusion with other 
instruments and contemporary musical styles. Nevertheless, international cooperation and 
globalization processes have also determined common tendencies in the development of 
bagpipe playing in the Baltic region.

27
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
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AUDIO RECORDINGS
Dūdas Latvijā. 2000. Dūdas Latvijā: Bagpipes in Latvia (CD), compilers Valdis Muktupāvels and Māris 
Muktupāvels. UPE CD 017.
Folk music of the Lithuanian SSR. 1986. Folk Music of the Lithuanian SSR: Anthology, Authentic Folk-Lore 
(LP), compiler Genovaitė Četkauskaitė. Melodija М30 46847 008.
Jaago, Cätlin. 2002. In Bagpipe Tradition (CD). Forwards Studio.
Jaago, Cätlin. 2010. Soolo (CD). Cätlin Jaago.
Jievaras. 1988. Jievaras: Liaudies folklorinis ansamblis (LP). Melodija С30 27445 009.
Kovėra, Gvidas et al. 2005. Tylos Labanoro: Tranquilities of Labanoras (CD). Gvidas Kovėra and Petras 
Vyšniauskas.
Leegajus. 1975. Estonian Folk Songs and Instrumental Pieces (LP). Melodija C30 05807-8.
Leigarid. 1977. Leigarid (vinyl 7” disc). Melodija C32-04941-2.
Leigarid. 1982. Leigarid (vinyl 7” disc). Melodija C32-17717-8.
Linnutaja. 1983. Linnutaja (vinyl 7” disc). Melodija C32-18983-003.
Linnutaja. 2018. Linnutaja 40 (CD). H. Valk.
Riidaja rahvakunstiansambel T orupill. 1982. Pill kutsub: Eesti külakapelle (vinyl 7” disc). Melodija M32-41813-4.
Skandinieki. 1982. Senie balsi: Latviešu tautas instrumentāla mūzika (vinyl 7” disc). Melodija C32-16487-8.
Skandinieki. 1988. Divi duči rotaļu kopā ar “Skandiniekiem” (LP). Melodija C30-18795-6.
Sutaras+. 2018. Kompromisai / Compromises: Lithuanian Folk Music (CD), compiler Antanas Fokas. Kukū SMF 057 .
The bagpipes of Latvia. 2001. The Bagpipes of Latvia (CD), compilers Valdis Muktupāvels and Māris 
Muktupāvels. ARC Music EUCD 1692.
The folk music of Estonia. 1986. The Folk Music of Estonia: Anthology, Authentic Folk-Lore (LP), compiler 
Ingrid Rüütel. Melodija M30 46729 004.
The Latvian SSR musical folklore. 1986 (corrected to 1988). The Latvian SSR Musical Folklore: Anthology, 
Authentic Folk-Lore (LP), compilers Arnolds Klotiņš and Vilis Bendorfs. Melodija M30 46913 005.
Tir lir dūda dūda. 2016. Tir lir dūda dūda: Dūdmaišio melodijos: Lietuvių liaudies instrumentinė muzika 
(CD), compiler Arūnas Lunys. Vilnius: LNKC.

29
VALDIS MUKTUPĀVELS
FILMS
Dzimtene sauc, film director Aleksandrs Rusteiķis, bagpipes played by Pēteris Šeflers, Ministry of the 
Interior, 1935.
Latviešu folklora. Gadskārtu dziesmas, film director Andris Slapiņš, bagpipes played by Valdis Muktupāvels, 
Riga Film Studio, 1983.
VLOGA ZGODOVINSKIH IN ETNOGRAFSKIH VIROV  
PRI OŽIVLJANJU DUD NA BALTIKU
Raziskava razkriva, kako so v Estoniji, Latviji in Litvi na proces oživljanja igranja in izdelave 
dud vplivale etnomuzikologija in nekatere osebnosti ter na katere zgodovinske in etnografske 
vire so se pri tem sklicevali. Avtor se osredinja na različne vidike, na pomembne mejnike v 
procesu preporoda, na specifičen razvoj v vsaki državi, npr. na izdelavo dud, njihovo vlogo v 
izobraževanju in glasbenem življenju, na spajanje tradicionalne glasbe z drugimi vrstami glasbe 
ter naposled na njihov pomen v zvočnih posnetkih in drugih medijih.
O tradicionalnih dudah v Estoniji obstaja razmeroma veliko dokumentov, v Litvi in Latviji 
pa bistveno manj. Prav tako se je oživljanje igranja in izdelave dud v Estoniji začelo precej prej. 
V akademskem in popularnem diskurzu v Estoniji in Latviji tradicijo dud večinoma dojemajo 
kot tipično za lokalno ali domače glasbeno okolje; v Litvi pa jo nekateri veljavni viri obravnavajo 
kot »tujo« ali »sposojeno«, tj., da dude niso del litovske tradicije. Posredno je to vplivalo tudi 
na izdelovanje dud – v Estoniji in Latviji jih delajo sami, največ litovskih dud pa prihaja iz 
Belorusije. Študij igranja na dude je v Estoniji institucionaliziran, medtem ko v Latviji obstaja 
le nekaj potencialne institucionalne podpore, v Litvi pa je to večinoma ljubiteljska dejavnost. 
V igranju na dude odsevajo tudi nekateri specifičnimi dogodki na Baltiku. Na sodobnem 
estonskem prizorišču prevladujejo ženske, v Latviji igrajo tako moški kot ženske, v Litvi pa 
nastopajo le moški. Ansambli dud so bili ustanovljeni v Latviji, v Estoniji in Litvi je znanih 
manj primerov skupinskega igranja na dude. V popularni glasbi danes lahko slišimo dude skupaj  
s saksofoni ali drugimi instrumenti, so pa tudi v folk rock ali folk metal glasbenih zasedbah. V 
veliki meri pa so osnovne trende oživljanja igranja dud na Baltiku določili tako mednarodno 
sodelovanje kot procesi globalizacije.
Prof. Dr. Valdis Muktupāvels    
Department of Latvian and Baltic Studies, Faculty of 
Humanities, University of Latvia 
Visvalža iela 4a, Rīga LV1050, Latvia, vm@lu.lv