Bagpipes in Santiago?

[carolinasf]

We are arriving in Santiago on Monday, October 2o. We should be entering Santiago in the morning--yea!
Just a simple question, do you know if they play bagpipes every day when pilgrims arrive or is that scheduled at different times of day? If so, what times? We wanted to listen to them if possible.
Thank you!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

We wanted to listen to them if possible.

Is it possible NOT to hear bagpipes when they are playing?

There is a crackdown on street performers in Santiago, so the answer is "maybe". The bagpipers alternate with other musicians. I found them most often in the late morning.

 

[Tincatinker]

@carolinasf, congratulations! The pipers play when they want to, there is no schedule. That said there was a recent kerfuffle and an attempt to ban the buskers. This has apparently been negotiated down to a restriction after 9pm. See https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...-in-the-praza-do-obridoiro.29237/#post-247198.

i love the sound of the Gaita, though not when they are playing U2 hits.

 

[andonius]

Don't worry, during the day there's always a Bagpiper in the small tunnel between the Azabacheria door of the cathedral and the Plaza del Obradoiro, which is the normal entrance you will take if are following the Camino Frances. They are usually there because the sound in the tunnel is excellent.
It's great to begin to hear the bagpipe as you're reaching the end of the Camino.
In the evenings and the night the bagpiper can be replaced by someone with a guitar or another kind of instrument. I once saw one guy playing with a big Viking-tipe horn..
And sometimes, in the late evening, you can hear the University Tuna (popular and funny bands of supposed university students that play popular music dressed in medieval clothes). They use to play in the Arches of the Obradoiro Square, just in front of the cathedral.
¡Buen Camino!

 

[carolinasf]

Thank you to all of for the info and the links--it helps.
So excited to be in Santiago soon! I was injured earlier on the Alto del Perdon. Thought I was going to have to fly back to the U.S. but I rallied back and was able to stay and finish. I'm all jazzed and elated that I'm still here! Thanks for the bagpipe info

 

[Arn]

I've been in and out of Santiago over the past week. I am very use to the bagpiper in the tunnel.
Last Monday, as I departed the Convent de San Francisco, I heard the voice of an angel rolling down the entire long block from the Cathedral. At first I thought the Sister that sings at Mass was being piped into the Plaza.
But, No...this beautiful, clearly operatic in quality voice was emitting from the very same tunnel where other entertainers practice their trade.
A not to be missed event if you are so fortunate to be present.

 

[scruffy1]

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Congratulations on perseverance and finishing! I hope the piper is there for you. Buen camino.

 

[CISSA69]

Semingly there are four pipers in Santiago who share the arch with an array of other musicians and buskers .... they all meet early each morning to arrange the rota for that day, each set is 1.5 hours. If you look at the wall opposite you will see a piece of rolled up paper placed in a crevice in the wall. This is the daily rota ...

 

[Diefenbaker]

I once saw a bagpiper practising on the Galician hills, in the middle of nowhere, early in the morning and in thick fog; I could barely make his figure out. I had to chuckle to myself, imagining his poor wife throwing him out of the house saying 'You're not playing that thing in the house, get out!'. He was so awful that I couldn't imagine any other reason for him being so far away from anywhere .
When I reached Santiago I saw a small group playing and a young woman singing classical music beneath the arches and it was a lovely way to end the Camino. The following day, at the same time of day I saw the bagpipers and they too were good, thankfully the man I saw a few days earlier wasn't with them, or at least it didn't sound like it .

 

[Mike Savage]

Thank you to all of for the info and the links--it helps.
So excited to be in Santiago soon! I was injured earlier on the Alto del Perdon. Thought I was going to have to fly back to the U.S. but I rallied back and was able to stay and finish. I'm all jazzed and elated that I'm still here! Thanks for the bagpipe info

Congratulations Carolinasf!

 

[nigeloz]

We are arriving in Santiago on Monday, October 2o. We should be entering Santiago in the morning--yea!
Just a simple question, do you know if they play bagpipes every day when pilgrims arrive or is that scheduled at different times of day? If so, what times? We wanted to listen to them if possible.
Thank you!

Yes Bagpipes can be at any time of the day... Our favorite are the two tenors, beautiful voices... We found out just as we were leaving Santiago 10 days ago (we walked Camino Frances) that the Americans have a visitors centre in a street behind where you recieve your Compostela, It sounded a good place to visit... Enjoy Santiago... it is a special place.
Cheers
Nigel & Marilyn

 

[CISSA69]

We are arriving in Santiago on Monday, October 2o. We should be entering Santiago in the morning--yea!
Just a simple question, do you know if they play bagpipes every day when pilgrims arrive or is that scheduled at different times of day? If so, what times? We wanted to listen to them if possible.
Thank you!

You could request somebody in Santiago to check out the schedule of Musicians (a rolled up piece of white paper stuffed into a crevice in the wall opposite to where they sing) early in the morning, e mail or text you so that you can stage your entrance.

Better still, hire a piper (possibly the one practising in the field and referred to in this thread) and get them to pipe you into Santiago ...... it has been done before .. a group of Irish pilgrims sailed for five days on a Tall Ship called the "Jeanie Johnson" from Dublin to Ferrol on the north coast of Spain, walking along the Camino Anglaise into Santiago accompanied by a piper ...... The pilgrims were past pupils of or connected with Blockrock College and the date was October 2008 .....

 

[Arn]

I once saw a bagpiper practising on the Galician hills, in the middle of nowhere, early in the morning and in thick fog; I could barely make his figure out. I had to chuckle to myself, imagining his poor wife throwing him out of the house saying 'You're not playing that thing in the house, get out!'. He was so awful that I couldn't imagine any other reason for him being so far away from anywhere .
When I reached Santiago I saw a small group playing and a young woman singing classical music beneath the arches and it was a lovely way to end the Camino. The following day, at the same time of day I saw the bagpipers and they too were good, thankfully the man I saw a few days earlier wasn't with them, or at least it didn't sound like it .

The Dr is IN: last week, making a very wet Way to Finisterre and possibly among the very same hills, I too approached what could have been an idyllic location only to be accosted by the most aweful screeching. The good news is that his wife likely put her foot down and said make a choice ... the bagpipes or me. The bad news: he now has a saxophone