Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Save the African Blackwood


Bagpipes
Originally uploaded by MNicoleM.
Scotsman.com | Bagpipes a threat to the environment (and we're not talking noise pollution)
THEY were once outlawed for being used as seditious weapons of war. Now, bagpipes have been blasted as an environmental menace.

Over-intensive logging means that the African wood used to make Scotland's national instrument faces being wiped out.

Conservation groups are letting out skirls of protest, urging musicians and instrument manufacturers to make sure their pipes come from eco-friendly sources.

As part of the campaign, Scots are being asked to fund the planting of "bagpipe trees" in a bid to atone for the environmental damage.
Anything that reduces the numbers of bagpipes in the wild has to be good.

I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made object never equalled the purity of sound achieved by the pig.
-Alfred Hitchcock

How can you tell a bagpiper with perfect pitch?
He can throw a set into the middle of a pond and not hit any of the ducks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hmm... I once rented an apartment the lease for which forbade 'the playing of any musical instrument _or saxophone_' after ten p.m.

Wonder how the landlord would have felt about bagpipes...