German bagpipes, y'all

December 1, 2011 10:01 PM

I've been enjoying listening to this German guy playing the German bagpipes. That is, the Hümmelchen. Check out the cool tuning maneuver at the 0:57 mark of this clip for some hot Hümmelchen tuning action! And here he employs a groovy canned beat. Ya! He also dabbles in the Irish pipes, and loans out his workshop on occasion as a spot for some of the locals to get a little wild. Oh, and, of course, he also plays the Rauschpfeife. Yes, the Rauschpfeife. Hören!
posted by flapjax at midnite (16 comments total)

BTW, his name is Mario Siegismund, and here is his website (in German, as you might've guessed.)
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:06 PM on December 1, 2011

Oh, and, sorry for misspelling "ja"...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:10 PM on December 1, 2011

reading guesses as to the etymology of Hümmelchen- mightn't it be an alternate spelling of "Himmelchen," or little heaven? I mean, this sounds pretty heavenly, to me at least.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 10:14 PM on December 1, 2011

This guy is GOOD!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 11:20 PM on December 1, 2011

ethnomethodologist: A Hummel is a bumblebee, Hümmelchen (the diminutive form of Hummel) means consequently little bumblebee.
posted by michael.ka at 12:17 AM on December 2, 2011

little bumblebee.

This etymology is one of two mentioned in the brief Wikipedia article on the Hümmelchen that is linked to in the FPP.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:21 AM on December 2, 2011

flapjax: Of course, the only link I didn’t click. I will hang my head in shame now.
posted by michael.ka at 12:24 AM on December 2, 2011

I will hang my head in shame now.

Haha! No need!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 12:35 AM on December 2, 2011

Gute alte Sackmusik.
posted by homodigitalis at 2:24 AM on December 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, and, sorry for misspelling "ja"...

It is just a slight shame the post was not titled "German bagpipes, j'all"
posted by howfar at 4:29 AM on December 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

great post - these instruments have such fantastic sounds -
posted by facetious at 7:56 AM on December 2, 2011

Just a quick correction. The link to Irish pipes are actually smallpipes which are either English (Northumbrian) or Scottish. They are essentially a small version of the Great Highland Bagpipes which are the bagpipes everyone thinks of when thinking of bagpipes. Irish bagpipes, or uilleann pipes are quite a bit different. Here's a link to the great Irish piper Mick O'Brien.
posted by misterpatrick at 2:32 PM on December 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Gibt es einen Rauschpfeife in deine Lederhosen, oder sehst du mir nur gern?

Weil wenn es fürwahr eine Rauschpfeife sei, das dann kann ich wohl spielen!
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:08 PM on December 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Had to run that through Google translate, Pallas Athena. Funny!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:58 PM on December 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

You want to bring in the noise, bring in the funk? You need Macedonian bagpipes
Pretty typical song with bagpipe, drum, gusla, etc:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQLqm8vDZ_U&feature=youtube_gdata_player
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 11:29 PM on December 2, 2011

You need Macedonian bagpipes

Yup, got some Macedonian pipes (and Bulgarian, Hungarian, etc) in this post from 2007. Great stuff.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:42 PM on December 2, 2011