112 Javier Campos Calvo-Sotelo
would not allow any men to join them.
15
In their performances, they “edu-
cate” the audience about the importance of women in society and for the
traditional repertoire. Marina also affirms Galician-ness, but moderately,
as her musical-ideological positioning is mostly concerned with gender.
When performing, she hears from time to time: “being girls, you don’t do
it that bad, but better if you go out in a bikini”. And if she enjoys “play-
ing the bagpipes” (maliciously).
16
“That is, the instrument is still strongly
associated with the male phallus”. She believes that the bagpipe is domi-
nated by men in Galicia (PC 2018). In fact, Maraghotas originated as a
reaction to the perceived maleness of the instrument, at the Ponteareas
pipe contest (Pontevedra; an obligatory rite of passage for every Galician
piper). In the contest “almost all musicians are male, as well as the entire
jury,” which exasperated Marina. Nevertheless, she admits that being
female is fashionable now, and female bands “currently have an advantage
because of the pro-feminine social awareness;” in fact, “the combination
of girls + pipes sell well,” and Maraghotas had played recently in O Rosal
(Pontevedra), Pardiñas (Lugo), Foz (Lugo), and were going to perform in
Santiago (PC 2018).
Figure 6.4 shows the band in ripped jeans and with no Galician-
traditional semiotics in the scene, but the instruments and the music cer-
tainly are. It is the new female interpretation of tradition, performed in
their own style, and relying on determined aesthetic codes.
17
Marina holds a degree in English Philology and is currently completing
her bagpipe studies at the Conservatory of Vigo (Pontevedra).
18
She also
earned a master’s degree in Theatre and teaches bagpipe in two cultural
associations, but the benefits are limited. Marina entirely concurs with
Leticia and Dunia that “the valuation of the bagpipe by Galicians is really
low”. Maraghotas charge between 600 and 800 euros per performance, a bit
Figure 6.4 Maraghotas, performing femaleness
Source: Photo courtesy Maraghotas, 2018.
113 She Plays the Pipe
more than Cinco en Zocas, “but it leads nowhere”, they cannot make their
living on that basis (PC 2018). In his 2018 PC González agreed, stating
that bagpipes are popular in Galicia but assumed as low culture, not really
appreciated, being impossible to earn a living just with the instrument.
19
Interestingly, Maraghotas introduce regularly avant-garde subtleties
in their tradition-based pieces, which doubtlessly stem from their ample
musical formation. They transform vocal pieces into instrumental ones and
arrange tonal melodies inserting strong dissonances (of major seventh) and
atypical progressions. Their instruments are “authentically” Galician, dis-
daining the massive and controversial novelties of the last decades. Marag-
hotas are intending to record a CD, but the negotiations are far from solved.
They have recorded the repertoire of Los Pacheco, a quartet from Mon-
doñedo (Lugo) a century ago; it is part of the PhD thesis of Xiana (piper
of Maraghotas) but not yet published (PC 2018). However, some video
clips featuring Maraghotas are available on the Net; like the “Maneo de
Caión” (http://bit.do/eS85A), where the avant-garde orientation is applied
to a very traditional piece; Marina is the brunette piper. Part of their inter-
vention at the 2018 Festival of Pardiñas can be seen on http://bit.do/eS85T.
With respect to Seivane, Pato, and Peón, in their respective 2018 PCs
Leticia stated that “they were a model of female vindication”; for Dunia
they had “a lot of projection”, but she did not experience them as “a model
to imitate”; and Marina believes that they were “fundamental as symbols”,
although she is not on the same musical wavelength. Going ahead with the
generational comparison, it seems relevant that none of the recent pipers has
recorded an album, to some degree because of their limited repertoires so
far, but mostly due to the lack of interest from record labels and general audi-
ence; their public dimension is restricted to live performances, a few files on
the Internet, and presence in social networking sites. However, compared
to Peón, Seivane, and Pato, it is unclear whether pipers like Marina, Dunia,
and Leticia are not gifted or musically so inferior; maybe the surprise effect
has passed, and today a female piper does not generate massive attention,
with the correspondent consequences for the music industry.
CONCLUSIONS
The main content of this study has relied upon the contributions of the pip-
ers. They were and are the protagonists of the female revolution that has
shaken the realm of Galician bagpipe practice since the 1990s. The social
perception of their labor was positive in general, with virtually no adverse
gender segregation. A simple conclusion could be that females on stage
sell but, in the cases considered, the social background and the strictly
musical contents go far beyond this. In this sense the musical quality of
their output should be underlined, to avoid an approach limited only to
sociological criteria.
From the three stages considered, Meniñas de Saudade opened a door to
reverse the passiveness and low status imposed to Galician women in the
past. Nevertheless, it was not possible for a true female-musical revolu-
tion at that time. With the three bagpipers, however, a real change took
114 Javier Campos Calvo-Sotelo
place in the local scene, triggered by a quite different socio-cultural frame
and collective mentality. The very fact of their individuality is relevant in
itself: Pato, Peón, and Seivane did not definitely integrate in a band; rather,
they formed their own ensembles, giving their names to them. Their differ-
ent musical trajectories, ideological projection, and business involvements
also prove a remarkable sense of independence, leadership potential, and
creative capacity. They were successful and outstanding musicians as well
as representatives of a new Galician feminine profile which laid the foun-
dations for the future. In fact, they were hardly paralleled among the female
personalities of Galician culture during those years. In their wake, Leticia,
Dunia, Marina, and other pipers are developing interesting combinations of
musical tradition and hybridization, with gender identity as a cross-cultural
marker that pervades their production to different extents. They also unveil
a less successful side of current piping, perhaps constituting a form of sub-
culture in comparison to the high-status environment of the instrument.
Certainly the relationship with, and repercussions within, the music indus-
try have been quite different, from the ‘silent’ Meniñas in the 1960s to the
explosion of the 1990s. Currently the number of recordings, concert tours,
and media interest has declined, as the figure of the female piper is already
installed in Galician society and fails to attract much attention.
Geographically there has been a shift from the rural rooting to the city;
i.e., from Meniñas (Ribadeo) to Maraghotas (Vigo). However, nowadays
the phenomenon of new traditional music economies and rural cultural
recovery is aiding the return of certain repertoires. Concerning the distinct
faces of identity involved, Galician nationalism has been assumed in a
number of ways by the pipers. For example, Peón and Dunia convert it into
the emotional and ideological core of their lives and activity, while Pato
and Leticia are more distanced from this positioning. This may constitute a
helpful locus to increase synergistically the alterity marked by femaleness,
but also an obstacle due to the possible conflict of interests. Within this
complex dialectic frame, glocality can thrive as a rather de-nationalized
combination of local elements and the global culture/economy.
The profile of the average female piper has evolved considerably in the
last decades in Galicia. Today these women access the university and under-
take standardized studies of bagpipes. Frequently they will become involved
in the defense of identity and gender issues, even at the expense of their time
and economic interests. The metamorphosis has been radical, from a pleas-
ant ornament (Saudade, without ignoring their merits) to engaged women
with remarkable critical capacity and well-defined objectives. These pip-
ers develop a struggle and resistance discourse intertwined with the purely
musical, thus adding an ideological factor to the contemporary interpretation
of Galicia, and a referential framework of realization to femininity.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply grateful to the Galician female pipers who have generously
contributed to this chapter, with relevant personal testimonies, opinions,
photographs, and assistance in accessing other sources. They have been the
115 She Plays the Pipe
real basis for this study: Dunia Alvarez, Marina Fernández, Leticia Oubiña,
Cristina Pato, and Mercedes Peón. María Acuña was the main source for
the study of her mother’s band, Meniñas de Saudade. At the beginning of
the research, the contributions by Marco Antonio Costa (cultural promoter
based in Cambados, Pontevedra) and bagpipe teacher Nacho González
were important in order to focus the fieldwork and contact several pipers.
NOTES
1. In this paper all the translations into English are by the author.
2. The specic language of each PC is indicated in the list ‘Personal communi-
cations cited’.
3. In this chapter, the working method has mostly consisted of nine personal
communications with the protagonist pipers and three more related people.
They are cited in quotation marks or in dierent indentation, with the com-
mon abbreviation PC (personal communication) and the year.
4. The Dagenham Girl Pipers, from London, were very popular; they started in
1930 and recorded at least two albums with Capitol Records in the 1950s.
5. Francoism is the period during which the military government of Francisco
Franco ruled Spain, from the end of the Spanish Civil War (1939) until his
death (1975).
6. Here, and also in regard to the other Galician female pipers and bands dis-
cussed in this paper, the lack of material recordings is an outcome of vari-
ous circumstances. For example, Galicia has historically been a poor region,
where records were a luxury reserved for the wealthy few. Record labels
have also been conservative in attitude, and more so when audiences for such
music are likely to be scarce.
7. Also in the 1990s, it started the controversial Real Banda de Gaitas (Royal
pipe band), based in Orense and integrated both by males and females.
Women wore uniforms that covered the full body, so that the face was barely
seen; and the colors and dress style were equal to the masculine ones. This
band did not exploit the feminine image, but subordinated it to a collective
and anonymous performance, rather gender-less and dominated by disci-
pline. They received strong nancial and media support, recording regularly
and touring the world (Campos 2019).
8. For example, in the record covers of Seivane’s Alma de Buxo and Pato’s
Xilento and Latina.
9. Released shortly before Seivane’s rst record, it was not the rst record ever
by a female piper, as has been wrongly stated. For instance, Kathryn Tickell
released as a pipe soloist On Kielder Side in 1984 (Saydisc).
10. An illustration of her singing skills, followed by a remarkable pipe perfor-
mance, in the beginning of her participation in Luar, can be seen on http://bit.
do/eS88G.
11. Marina Fernández (see next) claried that: “boxwood is a protected spe-
cies, and therefore very scarce. In addition, its wood is not very dense in
comparison with the grenadilla’s, having a softer timbre and less power;
over time it tends to twist. Nowadays a boxwood pipe is almost a whim”
(PC 2018).
116 Javier Campos Calvo-Sotelo
12. Advert produced by Microsoft Ibérica and Xunta de Galicia (Galician Auton-
omous Government) in 2011; broadcasted by TVGA.
13. E.g., on October 20, 2018, she presented there FA , her last record, followed
by a short concert.
14. In this video, performed at the Radio Pontevedra station, Cinco en Zocas
accompany voice with shells and pans, to underscore the musical-traditional
roots of those objects.
15. The name “Maraghotas” comes from a Galician coast sh. It involves an
untranslatable word game that transforms the phonetics of the end of the
word into “jotas”, a very popular and lively musical genre. It also vindicates
the Galician traditional pronunciation, quite dierent from the ocial one.
16. In Spanish and Galician, to “play” (an instrument) is “tocar”, which means
both to play and to touch.
17. The Galician costume became a cultural marker of integration with Francoist
folklorism. Maraghotas wear jeans with that critical intention, but all of them
with the same style. So, there is still a sense of discipline, although self-
imposed and not from an external authority.
18. At this ocial center, the degree in Bagpipes is actually long: four years of
Infant level; six years of Professional level; and four more years of Superior
level (Marina Fernández, PC 2018).
19. These grievances about the contempt for bagpipes may seem contradictory
with the aforementioned status of the instrument as the soul of Galicia and an
irreplaceable fetish. Both social perceptions are quite real, in the same way
as the Galician population is diverse. The cultural division that surrounds the
reception of the instrument forms part of a deep cleavage installed in Galician
society since two centuries ago.
REFERENCES
Acuña, M. (2013) “Grupo Saudade. Gaiteiras de Ribadeo, pioneiras da música
folclórica galega liderada por mulleres,” http://bit.do/eS8Vf. Accessed
June 9, 2018.
Anderson, R. M. (1939) Gallegan Provinces of Spain: Pontevedra, La Coruña,
New York: The Hispanic Society of America.
Arias, J. (1980) Viajeros por Galicia, Sada: Edicións do Castro.
Barreiro, M. (2012) “O imaxinario feminino na música popular galega,” in
M. Capelán et al. (eds.), Os Soños da Memoria, Pontevedra: Deputación
Provincial de Pontevedra, pp. 133–146.
Busto, M. (2005) “Gaiteros com senhorita,” Etno-Folk 1: 61–66.
Campos, J. (2007) Fiesta, identidad y contracultura. Contribuciones al estudio
histórico de la gaita en Galicia, Pontevedra: Diputación Provincial de
Pontevedra.
———. (2009) La Música Popular Gallega en los Años de la Transición Política
(1975–1982). Reificaciones Expresivas del Paradigma Identitario [PhD
Diss.], Madrid: UCM Eprints. http://eprints.ucm.es/8801/.
———. (2015) “Around the Origins of Bagpipes: Relevant Hypotheses and
Evidences,” Greek and Roman Musical Studies 3: 18–52. Doi: 10.1163/
22129758-12341026.
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