Asturian-American Migration Forum

Hi, Everyone.

I'm new to the forum so I guess I should introduce myself briefly. My name is Marc and I have been trying to learn the gaita asturiana. Art has been very helpful to me and he suggested that I pose the following question to members of this forum.

I was thinking about the gaita and have heard that it is sometimes used for Masses and religious festivals. So I searched for examples and found a reference to the CD called "Misa Asturiana de Gaita" at this link:

http://www.asturshop.com/asturshop/info ... ducto=1200


I tried to find the CD on Amazon and iTunes but no luck. I think the asturShop website says that I can't use it to order online. But maybe I'm supposed to contact them via email to place an order. In any event, has anyone ever used the asturShop site before? If not, does anyone know of other good examples of the gaita used in Mass?


Thanks in advance for any help. Take care.
Marc

Hi, Marc.

Yes, there was a Mass repertory for bagpipe in Asturies, arrived till our days as a minoritary tradition, depending on the concrete priest of each parrish, some more tolerants and some others less. The person that more damage inflicted to these traditions arrived from the Middle Ages was a foreigner (Castilian) bishop called ironically Pisador (treader), Bishop of Oviedo between 1760-1791.

Concerning to this kind of repertory, I played it myself a lot of years ago. I only know two records referring to the use of bagpipe in the Mass, this one and an old cassette record of "Cuarteto Cea" of Llanes accompanied by the piper Ignacio Noriega, passed out about two years ago.

You can write to Asturshop, but I have also found this:

http://www.priceminister.es/offer/buy/1 ... en-cd.html

http://busqueda.fnac.es/Misa-asturiana-de-gaita/ia80570

I don't know the first seller, but FNAC is a well known and reliable shop.

You can find some other pieces of Mass or sacred repertory, but not usually reunited in one disc. For example, there are a lot of versions of a piece called 'Les Vielles' (sic) on 'La Isla de Hélice' disc of Avilés band Trasgu, also known as 'Entemediu de Misa de Xuanín de Mieres" or simply 'Xuanín de Mieres':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA1QITJB9_A

Here you can see four videos from Asturian TV program 'Camín de Cantares' about the Bagpipe Mass in county Ayer, conduced by a good friend of mine, Xose Ambás:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yz-qjHHPP0

This fifth video is a reconstruction of the local Mass (only Kyrie) with the two women (the brown haired 88 years old) and Llorián García as piper:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0nKc3ty ... re=related

You can also find fake traditional pieces, as for example 'Marcha Procesional de Llanes', actually an ecclesiastical Cantabria's song imported to Asturies by Ignacio Noriega, a story I know very well.

Regards.

Gracias, Carlos!

Thank you for the background information.

I have placed an order through FNAC. It would be great to find the music written out but perhaps the music is passed down by ear and by listening?

Thanks also for the links to the youtube videos. I will need to listen a couple of times to understand! My main language, as you can tell, is English.

Regards,
Marc