Alfonso Franco even has a doctoral degree in Traditional Galician Music from the University of Santiago de Compostela! Their main group is Bulla Timpánica, a trio of the two Alfonsos and Josiño Liz (bouzouki and requinta, a flute). Franco was involved with the revival of Galician folk music in the 1980s and Merino was Franco’s student in the traditional music school of Vigo. The two Alfonsos have been working together for the last decade. I got this month’s tune from two Galician fiddlers, Alfonso Franco and Alfonso Merino. Galician tunes are traditionally played on bagpipe (gaita) and drums, but there are a number of groups that tend to feature fiddles. Susana Seivane, also a gaita player, is an exciting newer artist. The Celtic revival movement over the last decades, which even includes a “Galician” recording by the Chieftains, may have blurred any distinctive local musical tradition.Īmong the best known international performers are Milladoiro (a band that has been recording for more than 30 years) and gaita (Galician bagpipe) player Carlos Nuñez. However, there is something to Galician and Asturian folk music that has similarities to Irish and Scottish folk styles, but how much of it has made it across the years and how much has been an international revival phenomenon will remain unknown. Claims that Galicia is a “Celtic nation” seem tenuous given that even the traditional language is similar to Portuguese and feel more like marketing ploys by the tourism department. There has been a long-running debate whether Galician and Asturian music have roots in a Celtic history of the region. Here is a video and transcription to one tune that our family and friends regularly play, Muiñeira de Cabana. Today, the triangle on one or both sides of the hat sticks stiff and straight up and is a part of just about every traditional gaitero’s outfit.Galicia, in the northwest corner of Spain, is an unlikely candidate for Celtic session tunes, but there are many cute tunes that work well. Over time, the hats became so associated with gaita music and tradition that the general look of the hat became more important than its actual functionality. As for the history/evolution of the hats, apparently, the pointy triangles sticking up on the hats used to be the same size on both sides and able to come down and cover the ears for warmth in the winter. Thanks to a reader, Maria Jenson, I was able to discover the correct name for it-the hat is called a montera picona. You’ll notice, too, that sometimes they wear some pretty interesting hats (see below). The outfits can vary from person, group, and region, but they still maintain the same general look overall. As you can see, many women in Galicia and Asturias also play the gaita (Spanish bagpipe) and they have their own traditional clothing as well. The picture to the left is what a traditional “ gaitero” (Spanish bagpiper) wears. Galicia and Asturias, the northwest regions of Spain, may be a Celtic relative to Ireland and Scotland, but the epic kilt is one thing not shared in common. ![]() So who do you think rocked the gaita asturiana more, Los Archiduques in 1967 or Sonohra in 2013? Watch the videos and cast your vote below!Īs you can see from the picture, the quick answer to the question “Do Spanish Bagpipers Wear Kilts?” is no. Since then, they’re popularity has continued to grow by leaps and bounds. In 2008 they won the Sanremo Music Festival. Sonohra, if you don’t know, is an Italian band of two brothers from Verona, Italy. The song is awesome-great sound and melody and I love how they’ve integrated the gaita throughout the song. I just came across Sonohra’s “Si chiama Libertà” featuring Hevia, the amazing Asturian gaita player. They so nailed it.įorty six years later, BOOM!-another band explodes on the scene rocking the gaita asturiana again. Electric guitars, mustaches, and a gaita asturiana. ![]() If there is a Spanish word for “groovy”, these guys are it. I couldn’t stop smiling through the whole video. I came across it a few months ago and it blew me away. I think the gaita gods were somehow guiding them because not only did they create this epic gaita song but they also did a music video. In 1967 the biggest pop band from Asturias, Spain- Los Archiduques-rocked the gaita asturiana (bagpipe from Asturias, Spain) in their song “Lamento de Gaitas”.
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