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Music of Northumbria - Definition and Overview |
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Northumbria is a region of the United Kingdom, known for its distinctive smallpipe tradition. Smallpipes are a kind of bellows-blown pipe, known to exist since the late 17th century. There was much variation in the instrument's design at the time, ranging from the conical bore, closed fingering style and others. The earliest manuscript of the instrument comes from the 18th century, when the smallpipes' form became settled and a few musicians' names are recorded. After about 1780, closed-end pipes became the most widespread form in Northumberland, and remained so until the revival of the half-longs in the 1920s and the Border pipes in the 1970s and 80s. Many families have been associated with traditional Northumbrian music, such as the Clough family, which produced six generations of pipers and taught the legendary 20th century piper Billy Pigg.
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