When did they start playing the bagpipes in the Praza do Obradoiro?

[dick bird]

Leading off from another thread, which will remain anonymous, I am curious to know when they started playing the bagpipes in the archway leading into the Praza do Obradoiro. They certainly weren´t doing it in the late 1980s, and I don´t remember there being a bagpipe player the first time I strode triumphantly into the Praza in 2012. Bagpipe playing is thirsty work, I have been told, so maybe the resident piper was off boosting their fluid intake, but I´m not sure if they were there in 2015 either. Now they seem to be a regular feature, a feature I suspect the Xunta tourist office may have a hand in, but does anyone know who the players are, how they get the gig and when they started?

 

[Anhalter]

The pipe player was there when i walked in the first time in 2019. I would not be surprised if that thing started some years earlier.
After having walked in a few more times now, I am not so sure if I really like it. But i can see how it is nice for the first timers...

I would guess as with most places it is some kind of license you acquire from some kind of authority in SdC.

 

[trecile]

The pipe player was there when i walked in the first time in 2019.

There was a bagpiper there my first time in 2016.

 

[caminka]

The bagpiper was there in 2022, he was also there in 2016, I am pretty sure he was there in 2012, he may have been there in 2009 but I dragged myself into SdC half sick and don't remember much at all, and I don't remember if he was there in 2005.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

And there was one playing on my first Camino in 2015...nothing beats the happiness I felt that first time!

 

[J Willhaus]

I've been there when it was a guitarist so maybe they also switch out with other buskers.

 

[mspath]

There was no bagpiper at the end of my first camino in 2004 nor for any of the next years through 2014. However the cathedral bells always sounded wonderful.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I don't remember one in July 2015. When did you get there in 2015 Chris?

There was one near the 100 km mojone though (a kilometer or so away).

 

[Stivandrer]

There was no bagpiper at the end of my first camino in 2004 nor for any of the next years through 2014. However the cathedral bells always sounded wonderful.

Odd, he was there June 1st, ´14!!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I don't remember one in July 2015. When did you get there in 2015 Chris?

There was one near the 100 km mojone though (a kilometer or so away).
View attachment 179175

I didn't see your guy, Rick, but I walked through on May 16, 2015 and heard the bagpipes loud and clear. I guess he was taking his del dia lunch break when you passed by.

 

[JLuis]

There was one player there in 2001, September 9.

 

[John Crawford Howell]

A piper was there in early June, 2017.

 

[Desert Bruce]

There are a number of pipers that rotate playing in the arch, as well as other musicians. They sign up on a schedule that is kept in a space in the rock behind where they play. So I learned on a walking tour of the Plaza.

 

[chook]

Heard a bagpiper in September 2005 and each time since as I’ve arrived at the cathedral the nasal droning has been a familiar welcome.

 

[Rex]

There was a bagpiper there playing “Amazing Grace” when I finished in October 2013. It was my late father’s favorite hymn and made me think of him as I walked those final steps in the gentle rain.

 

[Guy Strachan]

Leading off from another thread, which will remain anonymous, I am curious to know when they started playing the bagpipes in the archway leading into the Praza de Obradoiro. They certainly weren´t doing it in the late 1980s, and I don´t remember there being a bagpipe player the first time I strode triumphantly into the Praza in 2012. Bagpipe playing is thirsty work, I have been told, so maybe the resident piper was off boosting their fluid intake, but I´m not sure if they were there in 2015 either. Now they seem to be a regular feature, a feature I suspect the Xunta tourist office may have a hand in, but does anyone know who the players are, how they get the gig and when they started?

There was definitely a piper there when I finished my first Camino in 2013.

Being Scottish it seemed like an appropriate welcome!

Been one there aswell every other subsequent time I've passed through

 

[sillydoll]

There is a previous thread about the gaita players here https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/curious-about-the-bagpiper-in-santiago.74249/

 

[Keyser]

There was a piper playing on our first Camino in 2010. Mostly they play the Galician pipes called Gaita Gallega. Some play the Scottish war pipes (bag pipes). One of the current pipers is a lady from Ireland.

 

[Theatregal]

Oct. 13, 2012

View attachment M4H06098 (1).mov

 

[trecile]

I've been there when it was a guitarist so maybe they also switch out with other buskers.

I have also seen a guitarist and violinist playing there.

 

[JennN]

There was someone playing the bagpipes my first time there in November 2001. Fifteen years later when I finally made it for the second time, and as the emotion was building coming closer to the cathedral, I heard the bagpipes again. Well that’s all that was needed for the tears of joy! Long live the bagpiper!

 

[t2andreo]

Someone was there, playing his GAETA - not a bagpipe - in late May 2013 - when I first arrived off the Camino Frances. There are structural differences between the classic Irish, Scots bagpipes and the Galician gaeta. I believe the gaeta is considered the forerunner of the bagpipe.

As I am not a musician, and cannot carry a tune in a bucket, I defer to those more learned for a description of the differences between the historical Galician gaeta and the bagpipes.

Hope this helps.

Tom

 

[-karioo-]

The bagpipes sounded beautifully in September of 2012

 

[MariaSP]

I went to college in Santiago in the 90's and there were "gaiteiros" around the cathedral already. Maybe not every day or for so many hours, But it was happening already. In fact, the boyfriend of one of my friends used to play there sometimes, whenever he needed some extra cash.

Nowadays, there are a few of them, who take turns, as this article explains: https://www.elcorreogallego.es/sant...ardia-musical-catedral-santiago-89690786.html

 

[Rmarkob]

I think I heard that there is a rotating group of musicians from a local music school that sign up. In addition to pipers I also saw a harpist once. On the day after I arrived in Santiago for the first time in 2021 I was hanging around the plaza to greet some arriving friends and noticed there was no piper for an hour or two in the afternoon. I felt badly for first time pilgrims who didn’t get to experience the music.

 

[David Tallan]

There was a bagpiper there my first time in 2016.

There was a bagpipe player for me in 2016, too, but I don't remember one in 1989. I'm sure that narrows it down a lot.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

When I came into the plaza in May 2001, a woman was there, singing an aria from "The Magic Flute."

 

[Anamiri]

I have also seen a guitarist and violinist playing there.

And in 2019 there was a woman singing opera in the afternoon, by the morning the piper was back

 

[henrythedog]

Might one ask ‘when will they stop?’

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Might one ask ‘when will they stop?’

I'm never quite sure if people give them money to encourage them, or maybe to make them go away?

 

[Jeff Crawley]

There certainly was on 16th October 2001. I walked into the plaza with a young German pilgrim and she said "They must have heard Roland (a Scottish Presbyterian minister walking with our "shoal") is arriving and they've laid it on in his honour!"

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I'm never quite sure if people give them money to encourage them, or maybe to make them go away?

The latter.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Leading off from another thread, which will remain anonymous, I am curious to know when they started playing the bagpipes in the archway leading into the Praza de Obradoiro. They certainly weren´t doing it in the late 1980s, and I don´t remember there being a bagpipe player the first time I strode triumphantly into the Praza in 2012. Bagpipe playing is thirsty work, I have been told, so maybe the resident piper was off boosting their fluid intake, but I´m not sure if they were there in 2015 either. Now they seem to be a regular feature, a feature I suspect the Xunta tourist office may have a hand in, but does anyone know who the players are, how they get the gig and when they started?

FAR too early in the morning.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Supposedly the archbishop of Santiago lives in the adjacent building. He clearly enjoys very good sound-proofing!

 

[henrythedog]

There’s a tiny bar not too far from the busker; obviously family operated by a couple of octogenarians.

Last time there I asked ‘when did they start playing the gaitas?’

‘Which gaitas?’

 

[Bradypus]

There certainly was on 16th October 2001. I walked into the plaza with a young German pilgrim and she said "They must have heard Roland (a Scottish Presbyterian minister walking with our "shoal") is arriving and they've laid it on in his honour!"

For some reason I have had it in my mind for a long time that my second Camino was in 2002. But your post prompted me to look again at my Compostela for that walk. Sure enough it says 16 October 2001! And although I had a solid Presbyterian upbringing by that point I had defected to the Anglicans...

 

[Trekker One]

I don't mind bag pipes at all when played well and performing an actual song, but I haven't encountered well played bag pipes on my six trips into Santiago. Bag pipes don't lend themselves well to jazz.
On a positive note though, I've never encountered a snake in Santiago so the bag pipe playing does seem to have a positive effect in this regard...

 

[Jeff Crawley]

For some reason I have had it in my mind for a long time that my second Camino was in 2002. But your post prompted me to look again at my Compostela for that walk. Sure enough it says 16 October 2001! And although I had a solid Presbyterian upbringing by that point I had defected to the Anglicans...

View attachment 179186

What a coincidence! Can you believe it's been 23 years? I've been reading my journal this past week - shocking how naïve I was then.

 

[Bradypus]

What a coincidence! Can you believe it's been 23 years? I've been reading my journal this past week - shocking how naïve I was then.

I found my 1990 Camino diary last year when putting all my house contents into storage. I thought I'd lost it years ago. A little sobering to realise that the person writing was less than half my current age! On my first solo journey abroad. No live music on that first arrival in Santiago but a souvenir shop in the Praza da Quintana was playing a tape by the wonderful Galician group Milladoiro. A young woman in front of me turned to her partner and said "They have music like this in Scotland." Exactly my thoughts at the time! I bought a tape of their "O Berro Seco" album. Now available on YouTube. Listening to it even now takes me straight back to that time and place.

 

[grayland]

There was one there in 2008-2009 and every Camino since (about 13 times I think)

 

[Jeff Crawley]

I found my 1990 Camino diary last year when putting all my house contents into storage. I thought I'd lost it years ago. A little sobering to realise that the person writing was less than half my current age! On my first solo journey abroad. No live music on that first arrival in Santiago but a souvenir shop in the Praza da Quintana was playing a tape by the wonderful Galician group Milladoiro. A young woman in front of me turned to her partner and said "They have music like this in Scotland." Exactly my thoughts at the time! I bought a tape of their "O Berro Seco" album. Now available on YouTube. Listening to it even now takes me straight back to that time and place.

Wow, 1990. Just 4918 Compostelas issued!

 

[Bradypus]

Wow, 1990. Just 4918 Compostelas issued!

Indeed. Looks as though this year will be about 100x that number.

 

[jimmyc]

He was there is July 2015 when I arrived.

 

[dick bird]

Sounds like it is an informal system that grew up out of busking in the 1990´s with busking in the arch a regular thing by 2001. I had a friend who busked in London underground stations way back in the 70´s and they had the same system, intending buskers would meet together and arrange who had the pitch and for how long. If anyone has any more info, please share it. I´d love to know more.

 

[Ellen Gotts]

Was there 2013 when I arrived after my first Camino . Remember it well. So special.

 

[cecelia]

Definitely there is 2003. What an amazing welcome - it brought tears to my eyes! (I didn't ask my pet snake what she thought of it though Trekker One)

 

[Optimistic Traveler]

Might one ask ‘when will they stop?’

We celebrated the completion of our camino in 2018 by staying in the Parador. Turned out, our room was very close to the bagpiper! We fell asleep listening to those dulcet (?) sounds!
Those bagpipes did not get in the way of our getting a good night's sleep - we have no clue when he stopped playing !

 

[John Hungerford]

There was a bagpiper playing in 2009.

 

[JillGat]

My father-in-law started a bagpipes program at Carnegie Mellon University. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/15/...rent-beat-when-bagpiping-becomes-a-major.html
Even though my heritage is Scottish, I was never a big fan. But I get chills when I hear the plaintive bagpipes in the tunnel before the cathedral in Santiago.

 

[Vacajoe]

My grandfather came over from Portugal in the late early 1910s. At our annual festa West Sacramento, he always insisted on having bagpipes in the procession because it reminded him “of the old country.” What a treat for me to hear them and think of my Papa as I finished my first Camino years ago.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

Sounds like it is an informal system that grew up out of busking in the 1990´s with busking in the arch a regular thing by 2001. I had a friend who busked in London underground stations way back in the 70´s and they had the same system, intending buskers would meet together and arrange who had the pitch and for how long. If anyone has any more info, please share it. I´d love to know more.

I know that Dublin has it strictly regulated. Grafton Street is THE place, you are allowed a one hour slot and have to have a city licence.
There's some incredible talent performing there including Allie Sherlock who has been busking on a Saturday for eight years now. She's 19!

Allie Sherlock

I would assume that in earlier times Santiago would have attracted street entertainers such as troubadours and jugglers as well as the more commonplace cutpurses and ladies of negotiable affection . . . I really must read the Canterbury Tales again!

 

[Scott Sweeney]

There was a bagpiper there my first time in 2016.

There was the bagpipe player in 2013. I couldn't tell you of it was the same person or not.

 

[Flog]

They are paid employees of the Junta, all of them. They regularly rotate and play to a schedule.

 

[Theatregal]

They are paid employees of the Junta, all of them.

I'm curious how you know this?

 

[sinein]

Cue memories of highland games and finishing the camino - a very emotive combination!

 

[dick bird]

They are paid employees of the Junta, all of them. They regularly rotate and play to a schedule.

There’s a link in post 24 that says otherwise. Incidentally, it is Xunta, with an X.

 

[dodo]

There was a bagpiper playing in 2009.

Yes, there was when I came in as well. The sound of the Gaita from afar then and every time since has moved me to tears. I´m one who donates money for them to never stop greeting us.

 

[Pelegrin]

They are paid employees of the Junta, all of them. They regularly rotate and play to a schedule.

Saying Junta for Xunta is similar ( not the same) as saying Ourselves for Sinn Féin.

 

[Flog]

Apologies, my grasp of Spanish and indeed Gallego is appalling at the best of times. Xunta, of course!


Ach, go raibh míle maith agat

 

[dick bird]

Apologies, my grasp of Spanish and indeed Gallego is appalling at the best of times. Xunta, of course!


Ach, go raibh míle maith agat

Tá fáilte romhat.