Search - Bagad Brieg :: Gogo Droch

The bagpipe marching bands of Brittany, or bagadou (bagad is the singular), make fast and complex music, far beyond the scope of the better-known but comparatively ponderous Scottish leviathans. The Bretons augment their agile local bagpipes (known as biniou and veuze) and rattling drums with consorts of screaming bombardes, a type of barely tamed double reed. The combination of sounds can be thrilling or terrifying depending upon the skill of the players and the state of the listener's hangover. Bagad Brieg are heard here in all their glory, taped live in Lorient during the 1998-99 national championships. They mix step-lively dances and haunting complaints with imaginative hybrid forms. How they have encompassed grandeur, humor, pathos, and sex is a mystery to be stated but not solved. Bagpipe music usually doesn't swing, but this outfit makes it happen. --Christina Roden