When the English playwright William Congreve wrote that music has charms to sooth the savage breast (not beast, as most people miss-quite), he probably wasn’t thinking about bagpipes. Now don’t get us wrong, we think bagpipes are awesome, but they are no pianos and lutes, and a savage breast is needed to pull off playing those instruments. We’ve tried.
A lot of those will be gathered at Ethnographic museum this Friday, September 30th, as top tier bagpipers from nine countries present their traditional music and instruments on the 10th Croatian bagpipe festival (also called the international festival of traditional instruments).
Bagpipes (and variations of them) were the most common traditional instrument in most countries, and we’ll have the opportunity to listen to traditional songs in authentic renditions from Belgium, Slovenia, Slovakia, Scotland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Italy, Senegal and Croatia.
The concerts start at 9pm, but before that there’s a free workshop of playing Scottish bagpipes held by Lindsay Davidson and starting at 7pm. You’ll also be able to check out the current exhibition Folklore festivals and symbols of identity.
All events on Friday are free and are held at Ethnographic museum, Mažuranića square 14.