Traditional Gaelic Piping 1745-1945

In the 20th century, traditional Scottish Gaelic piping has all but disappeared. Few recordings were ever made of traditional pipe music and there are almost no Gaelic speaking pipers left. Recording an important aspect of Gaelic culture before it disappears, John Gibson chronicles the decline of traditional Highland Gaelic bagpiping - and Gaelic culture as a whole - and provides examples of traditional bagpipe music that have survived in the New World. This study throws light on the ways pipers and piping contibuted to social integration in the days of the clan system and on the decline in Scottish Gaelic culture following the abolition of clans. It also illuminates the cultural problems faced by all ethnic minorities assimilated into unitary multinational societies.