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  • Scotland Magazine

    PIPE UP

    Oct 23, 2020 4 minutes
    Words by JAMES IRVINE ROBERTSON

    Bagpipes are displayed on a Hittite slab at Eyuk, Turkey, which dates from around 1,000 BC. Rather than a fiddle, Nero was likely playing his bagpipes as he watched Rome burn. The pipes were widespread throughout Europe and many countries still have their own version. So how did this ancient instrument and its music come to represent Scotland?

    Like clan tartans and much of the iconic symbolism that today characterises the Scottish, the Great Highland Bagpipe of today was a product of the revival of interest in Gaelic culture pioneered by the Highland Society of London during

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