All over Europe people have been making and playing the bagpipe since
ancient time. The bagpipe has come a long and winding road from a simple
flute to the bagpipes of later date. In a hand-written manuscript from
the 9th century there is a picture of a simple bagpipe with a bag made
from a urinary bladder from an animal. Nowadays, the bagpipes often have
several pipes, which together create complete harmonies.
Both the British and the Romans have used the bagpipe in warfare, while
in France it became an instrument for the nobility.
One region in Scandinavia where the bagpipe has been used is western
Dalarna. There the bagpipe could be heard in the late 19th and the early
20th century. It was played for dancing, for example at weddings, sometimes
as a solitary instrument, but often together with the violin. Bagpipe
was played for the dance polska, bridal marches, long dances and folk
songs.
The
parish of Järna is between the villages of Uppsälje and Snöborg.
From this region there are seven historically known bagpipe-players. The
last one was Gudmunds Nils Larsson. He would tell about his father, who
was also a folk musician, that he used to play and then sing at the same
time, while there was still air in the bag, so he could create music.
When he wanted to start blowing again he had to search for the mouthpiece
with his mouth, like a piglet for the teat ... It was very hard for him
to tune in the pipe. He could be going on for hours. He had to pull a
strand of hair from a woman's head and use that to tune with.
Gudmunds Nils and his father Lars used to bring the pipe out in the woods. Nils was never really interested in the bagpipe, but it still became his distinctive mark. He was an eccentric, a joker and a real party lover. Gudmunds Nils has mentioned that ”the custom was that the music both started and ended in the tower wall of the church”. At the local festivities he used to walk around and play, with a band of children from the neighbourhood after him.