Galician gaita

Galician gaita

The (Galician) gaita or "gaita de fole" is a traditional bagpipe used in Galicia (Spain), and Portugal.

The name "gaita" is used in Galician, Spanish, Asturian and Portuguese as a generic term for "bagpipe".

Just like "Northumbrian smallpipe"' or "Great Highland Bagpipe", each country and region attributes its toponym to the respective "gaita" name: "gaita galega" (Galicia), "gaita trasmontana" (Trás-os-Montes), "gaita asturiana (Asturias)", "gaita sanabresa (Sanabria)", "sac de gemecs (Catalonia)", "gaita de boto or gaita aragonesa (Aragón)," etc. Most of them have a conical chanter with a partial second octave, obtained by overblowing, in the same way as e.g. the Eastern European "gaida". Folk groups playing these instruments have become popular in recent years, and pipe bands for some models.

It is possible that the name originates with the "ghaita" (also spelled "rhaita" in Morocco and "algaita" in Niger) a North African oboe similar to the zurna whose name derives from an Arabic word meaning "farm,", and/or the Eastern European bagpipes bearing similar names, such as gaida, gajda, and gajdy, but the linguistic relationship, if any, between these instruments is still unclear.

The word "gaita" might also be derived, according to Joan Corominas, from a Gothic root meaning goat ("gait" or "gata"), as the bag is a whole, case-skinned goat hide; Gothic was spoken in Spain as late as the eighth century due to Visigothic invasions.

The instrument

s playing these instruments have become popular in recent years.

The playing of close harmony (thirds and sixths) with two gaitas of the same key is a typical Galician gaita style.

Famous Galician gaita players

* Pablo Carpintero
* Avelino Cachafeiro
* Perfecto Feijoo
* Os Campaneiros
* Moxenas
* Os Rosales
* Mike de Conéricut
* Edelmiro Fernández Parada
* Juanjo Fernández
* Pepe Temprano
* Carlos Núñez
* Xosé Manuel Budiño
* Cristina Pato
* Susana Seivane
* Milo Romero

ee also

* Types of bagpipes
* Associação Gaita-de-fole
* [http://mobile.blumlein.net/spot/samples/040718_11.mp3 "Jata da Mahia" performed by Javier Celada (Heiligkreuzkirche Berlin, 2004)]


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