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"bagpipe trees", has this got to do with our, 'BW'? ;-)He is always talking about his, 'Plantation'!Time to 'own-up' BW and stop that annoying noise your 'LOML' is making in the background, trying out you new, "Bagpipes" ! :-D
Hello All,
Just when I think the Environmental Whackos can't get any more whacko, they prove me wrong.
All this effort against the Sovereign right of Tanzanians and other East Africans to develop their natural resources, by a bunch of people doing the modern Leftist Version of Manifest Destiny.
Once again the 'superior' (HAH, what tripe!) elitists of the Caucasian Persuasion, are telling their 'little black brethren' what is 'really good' for them!!!
Racism at its most starkly nasty expedience.
I'd say for the E.Whackos to get lives, but they've nary a clue.
Cheers from the Rockies
Bagpipes are best heard in the open air, preferably from a considerable distance.
We learn that 'African Blackwood... proved to be far more resilient [than native woods such as bog oak] and produced a sweeter sound.'
In that case, ban its use at once. I can live without sweeter sounds from distant bagpipes.
Enough to make one play a lament.
mcmurchie,your a disgrace to the regiment,money grubber
The sooner this dreadful instrument is banned, the better. It sounds awful.
banning the pipes? And why not just bulldoze edinburgh castle and build a car park while your at it. theres nae better sound than the skirl o the pipes
Green Bagpipes...hahahahahaha
We are slowly losing the plot as a species....lmao
Can we have some facts and figures here?
How many chanters does one tree provide? How long does a chanter last? How many chanters are sold each year? How much does a Mpingo chanter cost? How much does a plastic one cost? How do you pronounce 'mpingo'? Could chanters be made out of Australians?
#1. Interesting idea Charles. You know I have carrot-trees. I never considered the wood to be used for anything other than just being a tree.
Thanks, Chuckles ... I will now consider this plan a threat to make to them, when any one of my trees decides not to grow my usual bumper crop.
Now pipe down and go see to your FYW munchies!!!
After 2years in the Black Watch & getting put to bed with them & then wakend up by them you don't realy want to hear them again. Mind you i have seen more pipe bands & heard more pipes in NZ than i ever did in Scotland.
#8 - An Australian
Typical of an Ozzie...aw his taste is in his mooth!
Cheers,Haggis MacBagpipes™©
Not just the environment - the noisae is a threat to sanity.
i hate bagpipes but the idea that they are causing significant environmental damage--other than noise--is complete bollox. perhaps if everyone had a proper job there might be less of this nonsense
Any of you tone deaf numpties that claim they don't like the pipes have probably only ever heard learners or very poor pipers playing them. Get hold of some experts playing piobaireachds, and then you can appreciate the purest, sweetest sounds made by man.
I like them played by ACDC — Long way to the shop if ya wan a sausage roll —
"it has been heavily exploited for woodwind instruments like bagpipes and stocks are now seriously depleted."
Ah, the old selective journalism again. If woodwind instruments are to blame, how many sets of pipes are made annually as against all the other orchestral instruments?
"Breathes there a man with soul so dead", after a trip back home to Scotland, I was astounded to see the paucity of trees! God, a thousand years ago, montrous Oaks were present all over Scotland. They were cut by the English and naive Scots for ship building! Replant, replant, ye sinners!
did anyone take into accout the the pipes where banned for years, only the pipes being picked on here, this sounds like a Mugabe plot "blame the British"
Time they banned the infernal things anyway.You just neeto walk along Princes St and you`ll hear how bad they sound.
12. Boy Wonder , Less of the "FYW", Ive told her what you said about her,She said... WHAT A B****'Y CHEEK!!Yad better watch oot, or you wont just have red cheeks, with playing your Pipes!"A -SLAP-IN-THE-FACE-WITH-A-WET-FISH" come to mind?
I prefer a concert with two or three Pipe Bands to cars, vans, lorries, busses, coaches, tractors etc (diesel or petrol) staying unused around for hours with running engines while the owners shop and chat. THIS is real pollution, waste, money destruction,and a incredible waste or the dwindling World ressources.
No.8 An Australian,your comments are ignorant.The bagpipes are like the violin or similar instruments - when played well they sound beautiful but when played badly they sound terrible. It's they quality of the playing that makes the difference.
Just as well we don't make similar mistakes to you and reckon that all Australians are pathetic just because one obnoxious twit wants to be noticed in a Scottish newspaper posting and does so by making inane comments.
Well done no. 14, Haggis MacBagpipes - I couldn't agree with you more. Australia is the land that time and taste forgot.
3)8)13)15)22) should all be removed as they are scurillous, racist, ignorant, and irrelevant attacks uponScottish ethnicity.Such would not be tolerated if the were directed againstwomen, the disabled, blacks, or moslems. I demand that the Scosman ceases this discrimination againstit's own people.
"The African tree takes 80 years to reach just 40cm in height."
Wouldnae be a tree then, more like a small shrub. More like 4-7 metres.
MacMurchie is both right and wrong. Right in that bagpipes use a small amount of the wood harvested (it is used for many other woodwinds) and a lot is used by local communities. Wrong in that instruments require perfect wood with no holes, resulting in a 90% reject rate of milled wood. The rejected wood and its natural flaws are sometimes used by African craftsmen and toolmakers, along with the pieces that clearly weren't suitable.
#5 - read the article - Africans ARE doing something - they're not the backward ones here.
#19 - exactly, but that doesn't let MacMurchie off the hook.
#21 - Zimbabwe is not a major Mpingo exporter.
I love the sound of the pipes,one of the best wind instruments i have heard.The pipes are part of our herritage and should remain so,what we need to do is ban austrailian idiots from wrighting such comments.
im a scot.....been in australia over 50 years,the australians love the bagpipes..........this is just another english/westminster spin.......the sound o, the pipes still frightens the sh*** oot o, them.
what a lot of rubbish, oh! that's not environmentally safe either!!!
Aye they are guid fur bringin a tear tae the een at a funeral.Mind, all these chimneys cannae be guid fur the climate.When Africa runs oot ae wid we can use bog oak (invest in bog oak). If yae think listening tae them is bad trying playing them. Wettin yer reeds, lookin efter yer bag, an tunnen the drones al’ stick tae the drums….
The success of St. Andrew's Day was obviously too much for Anglicised Scots on Sunday - what a pathetic article.
How many people buy "quality pipes" each year -- in other words, how many pipers are there of such skill that they demand the best pipes? And how much wood does it take for each one?
It's ridiculous to think that bagpipe-manufacturing can be endangering a species!
28. DoctorAl,
NO it isn't! and I never implied that it was, suggest you read again! Africans have a habit, like Mugabe of blaming everything on the British ,try a little humor! its good for you.
For those who do not believe in the beauty of the bagpipe sound it is time they looked at the following site and be educated.www.lindsaydavidson.co.ukor in particularhttp://www.lindsaydavidson.co.uk/philharmonic_bagpipes.htm
Hellish noise, compounded by dirges such as 'Flower of Scotland' and other meaningless drivel.
This most stirring sound I have ever heard was one hundred pipers as they marched behind the late Queen Mothers Funeral Parade, it had such an impression I don't remember any other bands who were there, it was astro, so for the knockers amongst you my message is you have a missed out...
And I am one of the hated Londoners....xx
# 20, dina blame the English for oor trees going awa. The last of oor large forests were taken doon by Canadian lumberjacks during WW I. For the war effort, remember the war that you Yanks spent no more than six months on the front lines, and that's strethin it.
one of the most stirring sights and sounds i recall on film was approx one hundred pipers marching into 'Tobruck' with the 8th British Army.
Tell your environmentalist to get a check on reality. In San Diego, CA a company is exploring what the termite stomach enzymes can digest. If this comes true then maybe our next source of alternative energy may be trees.
That will distract their attention away from trees grown for bagpipes. for awhile.
jennifer
Very funny comment - I laughed MUCHLY.
Boy Wonder
Oh God, those "carrot-trees" again. Will we ever be rid of your referring to them? Do they actually exist or just a figment of your imagination or one of your more obscure "experiments" in your secret laboratory.
I really enjoy the interplay of ideas and insults between yourself and Charles Linskaill. They most times liven up some pretty dreary forums.
Charles Linskaill
I see by your comment @ 23 who wears the pants in your family - but isn't that always the case?
#22 - if all pipes were like those often played on Prince's Street, I'd agree with you. I am constantly amazed by how poorly the buskers play there.
#2: Neaderthal75"All this effort against the Sovereign right of Tanzanians and other East Africans to develop their natural resources, by a bunch of people doing the modern Leftist Version of Manifest Destiny."
No, they're asking us to try to help them develop their resources instead of destroying them. Buying at current market prices is encouraging clear-felling of woodlands.
Clear-felling is cheap, which in classical economics implies efficiency, but we know to our cost that it's a false efficiency.
Environmental awareness interferes with development? So does minimum wage legislation, but I'd encourage all countries to have some of that.
At the same time, of course, we should be replanting our own native woodland. Contrary to popular belief the majority of the trees didn't die out due to climate change 2000 years ago -- most were cut down during the industrial age, as others have pointed out.
Your correspondent should get his facts right-but then a trend of Scotland on Sunday and Scotsman journalists is to prefer the dramatic twist than the hard fact. It is certain that the pipes would not have been played at Bannockburn.Neither were the pipes outlawed in Scotland. In fact the Government saw to it at the time that the best way to get rid of the Gaels was to have them leading the English Imperialist crusade around the world in their policy of ethnicide against the Gaels. [Pitt said it as well as well as General Wolfe] They recognised that the pipes were an important symbol to the Gaels in War and therefore they encouraged piping in the Military as a result. (as you referred to in passing..)They were successful. The Glens are now sparse and lacking in Gaels....The percentage of total use for Bagpipe making is small in comparison to total consumption. But it is typical of the insecurity of the Scottish psyche and the deep inferiority complex of these jornalists that it is presented to us in this way. Shameful; and should only reflect on the intelligence of the journalist himself.
bagpipes are best listened to over a body of water.The atlantic ocean is about right!!
What a piece of 'not very good journalism'!
The world is being swamped, with bagpipes destroying the forests of Africa is it?Perhaps like the fishing industry there should be a quota system introduced?
Why not:Pianos and other wooden instruments a threat to the environment (and we're not talking noise pollution)?
What are the carbon footprints of musical instruments, shouldn't we be considering a ban on all of these ?
Anything to make a headline, I'm surprised MARC HORNE hasn't managed to squeeze in a wee knock at the First Minister while he's at it.
So somebody cuts down a tree to use for musical instruments and nobody thinks to plant another to be available in future?
Who's fault is that, the forester or the instrument maker?
Get real Mr Horne.eg Aren't newspaper printers also destroying the planet?
As for those wind up artists having a go at the sound of 'the pipes', you are in a small minority. Just about every nation where British forces have ever served, and beyond, have their own version of Scottish pipe bands, such has been the impression they have carried with them.
Even last week in England we saw on the tv news the funeral procession of the firefighter killed with his colleagues in the big warehouse blaze was graced by two highland pipers. Before that for example the memorial service for the victims of the World Trade Centre Twin Towers atrocity had pipers front and center, etc, etc, etc,...
It is a pity that they didn't run out of blackwood years ago!
Then I would not have wasted my life trying to play the bloody things!
Would have left me more time to try and play golf!
This article is a Joke. How many pipers you think scotland has? specially with blackwood pipes. ?
another attempt to kill scottish culture.
its not anti - English , its anti british. When you all gonna see that. The english should want nationalism as much as the scots.
and if you cant stand Pipes, then why do you live in Edinburgh?
Damm your Ignorance
Plant more trees. Make more pipes. Fill the air with our beloved music. Also, cane a hippy just for fun.
Whoever came up with this lame brained proposal must be right off their tree. How many trees do you think were killed to make the enchanted chanters.
Bagpipes well played are a wonderful musical instrument...ever hear Amazing Grace played on a guitar, harmonica, piano or steel drums? Sounds awful doesn't it.
For goodness sake, come up with something just as good or better instead of knocking the bagpipes. It is so easy to throw stones...try picking them up for a change mister greenie man.
Hey what do we do with all those Police and Military Pipe Band all around the world...use plastic chanters made in China?
Yea right...dream on
No more pipe band parades anymore? Not on you haggis in my life time.
Where do I send money to help with the bog oaks? It could be big bucks...
Doctor Al - the comment "wouldnae be a tree" was THE BEST!
I LOVE bagpipes!
I love the sound of bag pipes. I would take listening to them over the loud jet engine sounds blasting out of car stereos that plagues places everywhere in this day and age on a daily basis. Don't lose your heritage Scotland, invent, replant, whatever you need to do.
Scottish bagpipes made from scottish oak:-
www.bagpipes.freeuk.com
8. An Australian / 8:57am 2 Dec 2007
" The sooner this dreadful instrument is banned, the better. It sounds awful."
Yea sure.... and yer didgeridoo rocks.
The philosophy of many environmental groups involves making people feel guilty about what they do however innocent the activity.
They have exhausted the major activities of mankind thanks to the global warming religion and are gradually working their way through the more obscure things we do.
I for one am glad that I have a blackwood set of pipes and that some family in Africa has had the benefit from my purchase.
#8. This from the country that has the Digeridoo.
My Dad, followed 'the piper' in WWI - the sound pulled him through and saved his life. Bless the piper.
Here is my problem with enviro whackos, most of them dont believe in God and therefore why listen to me. Hear me out. If it is all "survival of the fittest" then there is no difference between destructive humans and swarms of locusts. Things go extinct, always have always will. If that is true and there is no afterlife, then why take up ANY cause. Why not just party? If there is a God, then He demands we take care of the earth. But people who don't believe in absolute truth have no business telling people which truth to live by. If we are just animals, then our discussions have no more meaning than dogs howling at the moon.
I like bagpipes, but only because I am Scottish descended and my dad was a police officer so everytime I hear them, I get choked up. If I wasnt, I probably would not like them. Playing national tunes can pump up your troops and confuse/annoy a foreign army. For example, I knew some guys who BLASTED obnoxious heavy metal in Panama in the '80s to get Manuel Noriega to leave where he was holed up. Rob Halford over and over for hours can level most armies.
As a retired regimental piper, my most popular request was, "Can you play far, far away?"When we were at a function with the 'royals' present, in the distance we could hear a piper playing yankee doodle or wearin' of the green.
The pipes are but one aspect of a cultural heritage recognized around the world. The jealousy of those with no culture or heritage is not pretty.
There is a story told about the commander of a Canadian company in the days following the Normandy invasion who, its is said, upon encountering heavy German resistance radioed the regimental headquarters requesting reinforcements. He requested either five tanks or one bagpiper, whichever was more immediately available.
To those who have never been under fire you know not of what you speak. To the rest of us chosen few; I know I would gladly and proudly march to the gates of Hell itself to sound of the pipes and in defence of Scotland.
The bagpipe, aside from being God's Noblest Instrument, is the only musical instrument determined to be a Weapon of War in a Royal Court of Law. The pipes are a critical component for Scotland's defence and should be safeguarded.
Renewable resources, absolutely!Ban the pipes, over my dead body!!!
Thank-you #38 Scosha, Dorset, I moved to the web site you suggested and listened to beautiful music.It was so restful and lilting. I agree, with the others,save your heritage Scotland!! We don't all have appreciation for the same sounds. But this was truly worth listening too.
Thank-you #38 Scosha, Dorset. I moved to the suggested web-site and found such beautiful music.Save your Heritage Scotland, don't let other's try to take away what your forefather's have given their live's up for. And I don't mean just the bagpipe's either. Everyday here in America, we sadly watch as the communist take our country down piece by piece. I know you don't think very highly of us, but we think highly of you.
I thought most chanters these days came from the Polypenco tree.
#57 & #59 The didge does rock — see Yothu Yindi.Bummer it's made frae wood an a — och well, I saw someone playing a plastic one once.
Ah the leftist greenie tree hugger tossers have found something else they want banned. Ss their no end to their studidity. I doubt it they will always find something they claim is ruining the environment. Maybe if they shut up for a while the greenhouse gases might just reduce significantly
they should be named as the national emblem
There are far more clarinets, oboes and English horns on this planet made from African Blackwood (Grenedilla) than bag pipes.
Why target the pipes only ... think about it.
What kind of Scot hates the pipes?
Be proud of your heritage and defend it. Once it is taken away from you, you'll regret it.
don't judge all Australians by the obviously mis-informed No.8. I would probably guess he has never even seen a bagpipe, let alone heard one being played.
No. 25 sandra3mac, your comment"Australia is the land that time and taste forgot" if that's the case why are you here, go back home to your lousy weather.
It seems to me that bagpipes are a scapegoat here. I think it is a great idea to plant bagpipe trees if this timber makes a sweeter sound but the mind boggles and the volume of sound made if all or even a large proportion of the forests went into bagpipes. I dinna believe that here are that many pipes in the world.
On another note, you have changed this to a MUCH smaller font and it is shockingly hard to read. Freedom of the press demands a larger font.
no. 73 "go back home to your lousy weather."
Typical unimaginative Aussie comment. Why is it whenever you Skips don't like what you hear it's followed by "Go back to where you come from". Well just remember, I came here in planes not chains!!
Why do some Scots insist on taking the pipes out of their element and play them w/ orchestras or as the Tannahill Weavers do, play them in a non-pipe band and attempt to scream over them. The best Scot music (non-highland piping) is played by Irish bands. They don't try to stick the highland pipesinto groups they do not belong in.
Hello SandraMac,
Re your number 75, please allow me to inform you that those who survived the chains, survived to form a nation, fill the bellies of the 'well to do's' who only had the stomach to come MUCH later (even in planes) with the beef and sheep they raised, and carved out a culture, which is respected the world over.
I'm a knuckle dragging American of German, Irish, and Cherokee descent, and my Father's people (the Cherokee) survived the 'tender mercies' of the well to do's and the 'morally superior'.
We who've known the chains, the whip, and the bars of prisons, are the ones who save the butts of people like you, when things get nasty.
Because it's Christmas and that Jesus really IS the Reason for the Season, I'll not suggest what you can do with your 'moral superiority'.
The Pipes are dulcet upon the ears,making my heart wander,Back, back through the years,To times and friends, and loves deep and near,so play ye please,the pipes loudly and me imbue,to a time when my heartwas still open and new,Play me back again,O Play me back,and let my heart renew.
Those who do not love the Pipes are of dull wit and little culture, and no heart at all.
This will be great news for those poor souls that live on the Royal Mile and have to put up with the awful racket every single day of the week
Dear no. 78 ,
you do not know the background to my comments. Before you shove your moral superiority down my throat stop and listen: We have had nothing but racism since we came to this country. My daughter has been been punched by so-called Australians because they thought her parents "talked funny". If we stand up for ourselves we get told to "get back to where we came from". If I get sick of Australian put-downs and choose this occasion to fight back, that's up to me. Merry Christmas O Superior One.
Why do they not simply replace the trees that were cut down? Problem solved.
fosset of what shakespeares has described was found the best species of the modern day construction ,.............. mpingo without echo .,,,,and natural god gift ,.......... inapatikana kuwa jangwa .,,,,,,the rebirth of ancient enginers than the one confused like adams smith of 16th and 17th century over the hypothesis of mercantile trends .,,,,,,the so call the irish turn out was told to rebirth mpingo theory in ancient terrain highlanders
64. Russell M, Stirling, Scotland My uncle Walter Stewart was a regimental piper who was killed during the North African campaign of WWII.His name is recorded on the war memorial in Edinburgh castle.
Before he died it was reported that some of his mates had asked if it might not be easier for them if he would just play a tune the Germans liked.
#81. WL, livingston
Looks like the ancient technique of coppicing is an art that could do with some revision in Africa.
76. Mickey O', Montreal Musical apartied?Who says what does and doesn't 'go'?
The Red hot Chillie Pipers winning 'When will I be famous?'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwrvHnYpwkk&feature=re...
Well it seems that this article has worked quite well, despite (or rather because of) the fact that the journalist has been selective with his portrayal of the facts.
* All those who read it now know the type of wood that many bagpipe chanters are made of* They know that the trees are being cut down at an unsustainable rate (whether for wind instruments or local use. etc)* They know that there is now a project to try and do something about it* They know that they can contribute to this if they wish
That knowledge can only be a good thing, even if it irritates some people (as all good news stories should)
Job done, I'd have thought.
livilion #85
Bad taste is a personal preference.
#85 livilion
An anglo saxon lowlander trying to instruct the Celtsabout the piob mohr.
I'm a piper and an environmentalist. The whackoes are those who pimp the common environment for the private good, and include those that denuded the British Isles and a good part of the Americas. Cut the wining and disinformation, plant the trees, and "experiment" with other wood. Simon Fraser said that ebony wood chanters had the sweetest sound. And why does a remedial or beginning piper need a top quality instrument anyway?
#41 - Blackie - I should know better than to feed the wee trolls. U.S. troops only needed sixt months on the front lines to win it.
"Most pipe manufacturers believe that no other wood has the same durability and resonance as the Blackwood. The African tree takes 80 years to reach just 40cm in height."
Somebody needs to proofread this. Could the intention have been 40cm in diameter?
Privately owned plantations would be the long term answer. Isn't this what is done with teak?
#90. Seamus O'Toole, Cape Breton
I hope you were smiling when you wrote that Pilgrim.Round these ways that's fighting talk.
You wouldn't be related to the Wootton Bassett O'Tooles from Wiltshire?
89. Mickey O', MontrealFair enough, if you suffer from bad taste that's as you say a personal issue.You just be what you wanna be, live like you wanna live man, it's a free country.
You wouldn't happen to be one of yon poe faced Cock o' the North Hielan Lairdies decked out as Bonny Prince Charlie in his polyester plaid, perchance with a tear in his e' for the auld country?
I enjoy pipe music in all its guises, I've even restored 1930's cinema organs but then maybe that's straying a bit too left field.
I merely observe that music is not absolute, these young men have given hundreds of thousands pleasure and were invited to play before the Queen at the State opening of the third session of the Scottish Parliament.These are top grade pipers in their own right and confident enough of their art to have some fun with it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxNqnkrTpoY
Highlight for me was a year or two back, when the Isle of Skye Pipes and Drums turned up in full regalia from a gig in Portree after midnight to help 'christen' my sister's neighbour's new byre, drunk every drop of drink in the village and played until it got light.
A bumper or two of the Talisker apparently is chust suplime for getting the very best out of a reed.
Proper highland piping.
Are Journalists supposed to ask for actual facts? As in, how many sets of pipes are sold annually worldwide, at a cost of how many trees? As in, how many trees are cut down for other uses? Worldwide, are new pipers actually making a dent in the supply of Blackwood trees all by themselves?? I'm just a wee bit skeptical.Meanwhile, please don't tell these guys how many Spanish reeds we go through every year. Or how much hot air we contribute to global warming. We'll be done for sure!
Anyone who has been around pipes and pipers knows the real ecological danger from bagpipes is the abundant beery flatulance which is always present and is an unavoidable byproduct from the pipers main source of inspiration.
If, as is often the case, the source of inspiration also includes distilled spirits as well as fermented brew, then the methane and carbon dioxide levels increase ten-fold. Not to mention the side effect of yards and yards of woolen tartan permeated with, ummm, fetid, humid air.
Off the deep end again! I wonder how many other wind instruments are made of the same wood and why this article picks on the 'pipes? I mean, what are the statistics of say the clarenet v. bag pipe useage world wide? So now its down with wind instruments... what is next? Drums? Folks, time to start hording your guitars, and violins... Orchestras and bands the world over are soon to be an extinct species because the instruments are not environmentally friendly! "NUTS!"
The production of Highland bagpipes consumes an estimated 10% of the worldwide export of mpingo from the only two nations which hold enough stocks to export it - Tanzania and Mozambique. Most of that production happens in Scotland.
Oboes, clarinets, whistles, flutes, recorders, piccolo are also made of the same timber, called mpingo in Swahili, it has 100 other local names as it occurs naturally throughout sub-saharan Africa.
Of all the instruments made of mpingo, the 14 pieces of highland pipes use the most in one instrument. To be precise 0.000628 cubic metres which = 4 x clarinets, 5.5 x oboes, 7 x recorders or flutes or 12 x medium sized whistles
Its scientific name is Dalbergia melanoxylon, one of the rosewood family.
Attempts to manage international trade in endangered species happens through the mechanism of a convention called CITES, to which most of the nations of the world have signed up.
On the list of timbers of highest conern is also Dalbergia nigra, Brazilian rosewood, the 'very best' timber for making classical guitars.
In the second league of conservation concern are pernambuco, the best timber for use in violin bows and Bigleaf Mahogany, a timber which most guitar makers find hard to replace as the best for neck construction.
The same convention this year saw fit to consider Dalbergia stevensonii, the timber of choice for xylophone bars, and Dalbergia retusa, also called Cocobolo, which is occasionally used for woodwinds, prized as a guitar timber and features in the odd clarsach harp.
Ebonies feature on virtually every good violin and most top guitars. The name refers to a tree of the family Diospyros. Most of the 50 species which produce black timber are also running out.
Instrument makers are not however wholly responsible for the degradation of stocks of these extraordinary timbers. Few people involved in highlighting conservation concern for them would advocate that they are bann
PS The following wackos lead the way in keeping the issues of instrument timbers of conservation concern on international agendas.
www.fauna-flora.org - The world's oldest international conservation agencywww.unep-wcmc.org - The UN's Environment Programmewww.bcgi.org - Botanic Gardens Conservation International
...through the collaborative mechanism of the Global Trees Campaign - www.globaltrees.org
For # 41. Yes, I remember WW1 well. My Dad is buried in Arlington cemetary. Washington DC. Because of that war. You are offensive.
Now as for the BAG PIPES. I love the sound of them. Flower of Scotland or Off Kilter Band. We have some wonderful Pipers over here. Come vist if yours sound badly.
Stinking Wattle, Gidgee, Acacia cambagei is a superior wood for the manufacturing of bag pipes.it was used in th 19th century for the manufacture of musical instruments.it is found in north western new south wales and south western queensland in very large numbers of trees.suggest Longreach /cunnamura/
Pipers heralding a new dawn for blackwood
We were delighted to see our work featured in the article by Marc Horne on 02/12/07. However far from lambasting a symbol of Scottish tradition and blaming bagpipe manufacturers, we are enthusiastic to highlight the part pipers can play in protecting African heritage. Stocks of blackwood have declined due to wide-scale illegal logging, the amount of wood used to make pipes makes up a small but significant part of this. The Mpingo Conservation Project, supported by UK partners Fauna & Flora International and the Environment Africa Trust, is a professional organisation that enables communities to take control of their local forests and manage them sustainably. Although certified timber will not be available until 2010 we will be embarking on an awareness raising campaign over the next year. There were unfortunately a few minor factual errors which slipped in, for instance blackwood takes around 80 years to achieve a 40cm diameter trunk suitable for logging (not height as was suggested in the article). For more enquiries please go to www.mpingoconservation.org The Good Gifts Company that supports tree-planting northern Tanzania is linked to another organisation, the African Blackwood Conservation Project, their web-site is www.blackwoodconservation.org.
The Environment Trust Africa (EAT) has secured funding for a feasibility study on the market for certified blackwood in the UK, working with the Mpingo Conservation Project in Tanzania.
We are currently carrying out two studies:1. A RETAIL SURVEY – musical instrument shop owners and managers2. A MUSICIANS SURVEY - teachers, owners, players of musical instruments
Do you run a music shop? Would you like to fill in our retail questionnaire? OR are you a woodwind instrument player? Would you like to fill in our musician’s questionnaire?
Please email to be sent a questionnaire: enquiries@environmentafricatrust.org.uk
Put the subject RETAILER or MUSICIAN depending on which you would like to be sent.
It would be of real use to have your contributions. The more the merrier. Jokers need not apply; we would like to see sustainably managed blackwood traded in the UK and need to know what people in the industry think. UK citizens only.
Deadline for us sending these out is 10th December, and deadline for receiving them from you in completed form is 17th December 2007.
NOTE: Information gathered will only be used for research purposes and will not be used to identify individuals unless those individuals themselves request to be identified. Research is being carried out for Environment Africa Trust (EAT). The work is in support of activities being developed by EAT and their partners the Mpingo Conservation Project in Tanzania to develop ecologically and economically sustainable trade in African blackwood (mpingo). The aim is to benefit all users from rural African communities to musical instrument retailers and players without threatening the sustainability of African blackwood species and habitats.
EAT, 5th December 2007.
Princess Ann 102 - 103
We are on this side of the ocean because of the Hanoverians and are suspect of North Americans who take on royal titles.
Fog........ I see you can't stay on the subject. I did not think of the feelings about Royalty in Scotland. It is just a nickname. There is a possiblity that I am of royal Russian blood. Or I could be related to the Pilsburys. We don't really care. It is meant in jest. I did go Up North once. You really don't have a sense of humor do you? As to the bag pipes, I do mean what I said. We have many wonderful pipers here. Love to have you visit.
