Quote Originally Posted by Brother Falldown View Post
I think we will all find this **** group less offensive. Clearly they are not all cut from the same cloth. Thank God

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8eiJCL9zB8&NR=1
They vary a lot. Obviously, I picked the particular clip that I did for it's amusement value. It's not supposed to represent typical Pakistani playing, and in fact it's worse than most, although many aren't much better.

There are always a lot of clips from the festival that takes place in Sialkot, where the Pakistani bagpipe/kilt etc. industry is based, and the standard there is pretty low. Sadly, even the bands turned out by the places that make the bagpipes aren't very good.

There are some YouTube clips of Indian bagpipe bands that seem rather better than the Pakistani ones on average. However, you can find bagpipe bands from any country in the world, just about. There is one clip of a guy in his bagpipe and highland regalia shop in Bethlehem, Palestine. He is very ably playing the highland bagpipes. Mind you, it must have been ear-splitting if you were there, inside the shop! Someone should tell him it's not an indoor instrument.

You can also find many clips of people playing other versions of the pipes, e.g. German and central European versions of the small pipes, or Eastern European bagpipes with a single bass drone pointing downwards. I particularly like the sound of the latter, as found in Hungary and Romania. I think they are called Ghaiba, or something like that. The original pipes that came out of the Middle East must have been something like that.